“Thanks”giving & the Truth
Indigenous Counter-Celebrations, the History of Thanksgiving, & Resources to support Native peoples
In 1620 the Mayflower arrived on the shores of Cape Cod after a 66 day voyage. The Wampanoag people, the tribe mentioned in the Thanksgiving myth, had villages, fields of corn, roads, monuments, cemeteries, and agricultural methods long in practice and proven to yield good results. Thanksgiving posits that the first interaction between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag was when they forged an alliance.
The reality is this was not a first-contact encounter, but one that took place after episodes of violence that had been happening since 1524. The first recorded of which had European explorers kidnapping coastal Wampanoag people to be sold into slavery overseas, killed, or trained as guides and interpreters. The Wampanoag people reached out to the Pilgrims in spite of this bloody history, but also because of it.
In 1616 a European ship incited an epidemic that severely affected the Wampanoag population, which was followed by repeated raids by the Narragansett tribe. The sachem (“chief”) of the Wampanoag tribe, Ousamequin, wanted the English to act as their tribe’s military allies, and wanted access to weapons from Europe in order to defend their tribe. The main messenger and mediator for this alliance was Tisquantum, who could speak English because he had spent years in captivity in both Spain and England before somehow returning home despite the odds.
The politics involved with this tenuous alliance between Wampanoag and English people were complex, and the myth erases this and the way the alliance deteriorated. After Ousamequin dies in 1660, the alliance degrades further as European settler-colonialists continue their aggressive and underhanded expansion (which later culminated in King Philip’s War of 1675-1676 where thousands of Indigenous people were killed, and thousands more enslaved). “Thanksgiving” events were held to celebrate special occasions or victories. A “Thanksgiving” was held after the completion of King Philip’s War, and earlier in 1637 when volunteers massacred 700 Pequot people.
The National Day of Mourning has been happening since 1970 when, for the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrim’s arrival on Wampanoag land, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts invited Wamsutta, also known as Frank James, the leader of the Wampanoag tribe, to make a speech. When anniversary planners reviewed what he had prepared, they deemed it “inflammatory” and therefore inappropriate.
A public relations employee prepared a revised speech despite Wamsutta’s being based on a firsthand account by a Pilgrim on the first year in “America.” As an act of protest, he and several supporters went to Ousamequin’s (Massasoit sachem) monument that looks over the Mayflower replica in Plymouth Harbor. There he gave his original speech, and that day was the first Day of Mourning.
The United American Indians of New England (UAINE), a self-sufficient Native-led activist organization, organized for an annual protest to be held in the same location as a counter-”holiday” to Thanksgiving in the hopes of raising awareness and educating people about the true context of Thanksgiving and the history of the Wampanoag people. It is also a day to mourn the colonial, genocidal violence and exploitation inflicted on Indigenous peoples in the United States, and how the settler-colonial government has tried to erase and reframe that history, and continues to erase and silence Indigenous people in the U.S.
Un-thanksgiving is another counter-”holiday” also known as The Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Ceremony. It is held on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, the site of many Indigenous activist protests. It has been held annually since 1975 to commemorate the 1969 occupation of Alcatraz Island by the Alcatraz-Red Power Movement (ARPM), and is organized by the International Indian Treaty Council and American Indian Contemporary Arts. (x)
89 Native members of Indians of All Tribes (IOAT) of the ARPM and their supporters lay claim to Alcatraz Island in accordance to the terms outlined in the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie that designated “surplus government land” to Native people in the U.S.. The protest was led by Mohawk member Richard Oakes, Shoshone-Bannock member LaNada Means, and several others, and Isani Sioux member John Trudell served as spokesman.
This occupation lasted from November 20, 1969 to June 11, 1971 (19 months), but it was ended with force by the U.S. government where electricity and phone services were cut off, and several fires of unknown origins destroyed various buildings on the island. With no electricity, fresh water, dwindling supplies and simultaneously flickering support and sympathy from the public, the protestors’ populations decreased as people left the island. On the last day, June 11, a large force of government officers removed the remaining fifteen people from the island.
Un-thanksgiving is meant to honor and celebrate the survival of Indigenous peoples in the U.S. and their continued existence despite efforts to erase them, as well as promote awareness and highlight the continued marginalization and silencing of Native people.
On Thanksgiving, please remember the harsh context and reality of the “holiday,” the genocidal violence and erasure committed against Indigenous people in history, and the continuation of that violence and colonialism today.
Help the Quileute Tribe Move to Higher Ground
Support Native Families and Communities by buying from small Native Businesses (food)
Buy authentic Native artistry
Donate to the Bail Fund for those defending Oodham Land
Donate to and support Indigenous organizations fighting for the environment like Honor the Earth
Donate to the Navajo Water Project
Donate to the Navajo and Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund
Donate to and support the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center
Donate to the Pueblo Relief Fund
Donate to the Sovereign Bodies Institute
Donate to Justice for Joyce
Seriously, please Donate and offer Support for Covid Relief if you can
Donate to the White Mountain Apache Covid Relief Fund
Buy a mask and have one donated to the Navajo Nation
Be aware of the colonial violence committed against First Nations peoples in Canada and donate to help
There are so many communities and causes you can donate to
Educate yourself on the continuation of colonial violence, both in the U.S. and in other places. (x) (x)
Thanksgiving as a day to reflect, be grateful, and celebrate community, friends, and family is nice, but please make efforts to be aware of the context and history behind the holiday, and the counter-celebrations and mourning that Indigenous people observe.
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