The First Thanksgiving: Remembering and Repenting

Today’s post comes to us from Area Director Jordan Sharp.

 

Before I dive into the content, I need to offer a caveat: being an Anglo-Saxon man who spends a significant amount of time on Native American Reservations, I feel incredibly unqualified to be writing this post.  I consider my knowledge rudimentary at best, but hope to offer a sliver of a different perspective on Thanksgiving that I myself have learned from my own readings and, more importantly, from some dear friends.  With that said, here we go:

 

Like many of the readers of this post, the holiday of Thanksgiving for me conjures up images of families gathered around copious amounts of turkey and pumpkin pie, parades, shopping on Black Friday, and other all-American themed imagery.  And of course, all of this is done to take a moment to be thankful for what we have.  In the midst of this celebration we remember “the First Thanksgiving,” a picturesque meal shared by our Anglo-European ancestors and the ancestors of the original inhabitants of the North American continent.  We paint a picture of two different people groups, vastly different from one another, one adventuring to a new land to escape persecution, the other friendly and welcoming of these weary travelers.  Well, this is what I used to think of prior to about four years ago when I gained a new perspective on the significance of this American Holiday tradition.

 

While the story of the “First Thanksgiving” is a beautiful one, and does contain some semblance of historical accuracy, it is important to not over-simplify or romanticize the past.  So what did happen on the First Thanksgiving?  What happened after that?  And most importantly, what is its significance now?

 

Although there are many historical details that are contested, the generally agreed upon historical outline happened as such:  the Europeans (pilgrims) who arrived in December of 1620 at Patuxet, a Wampanoag village (later called Plymouth Harbor), struggled t­hrough their first winter, and many of these travelers did not survive.  In fact, most of them probably would not have survived to the first Thanksgiving if it had not been for a Wampanoag man named Squanto.  Squanto had been captured by Europeans previously and enslaved before escaping back to his tribe, because of this he knew the language of these struggling pilgrims, a very important factor.  Choosing compassion and hospitality over vengeance, Squanto taught these pilgrims local agriculture, hunting, and fishing so that they could survive in this new environment.  He also helped negotiate a (temporary) peaceful agreement between the pilgrims and the local Wampanoag tribe, who greatly outnumbered the Europeans with their more than 50,000 people living in the region.   The exact details of the feast that happened in October/November 1621 are not entirely clear, but here is what we do know:  The first feast was certainly not a gigantic meal cooked by the pilgrims who then sent a dinner invite to their new Wampanoag friends.   It was, however, a meal shared by the Europeans and the Wampanoag where much of the food was provided by the Wampanoag. It is really important to point out that the Europeans did not introduce “giving thanks” to their Wampanoag friends.  Many of the tribes in this region practiced forms of giving thanks and being grateful for what was provided.

 

So far so good, right? While this is a wonderful story and has many lessons we can learn from and pass along; unfortunately, this is where the happy story ends.  This was one of the only examples of peaceful relationships between Indigenous tribes and the European immigrants arriving in North America.  And in the case of the Wampanoag and the inhabitants of Plymouth, the peaceful relations did not last.  Conquest, warfare, genocide, and disease brought the population of the Wampanoag from around 100,000 in 1615 to around 4,000 today.  The Wampanoag are just one of the thousands of North American tribes who suffered similar (or in some cases worse) fates.  For many Native American still living in the region, the fourth Thursday in November is time to remember a different holiday; they gather at Plymouth Rock to remember a Day of Mourning.  This tradition, which began in 1970, is now recognized by many tribes across the US.  Some Native American leaders have pointed out the irony that Thanksgiving, this holiday which greatly misrepresents their history, happens during American Indian and Alaskan Native Heritage Month.

 

So, now what? I do not pretend to have the answers.  I cannot undo history, right previous wrongs, fix current issues, or even have a plan for how to do any of these things. However, what I can do is offer a few tips I try to live by and would suggest for others as well because of what I have learned:

• Learn (y)our history.  Check your history books and what you learned in school.  Then read the other side of the story.  You are not helping anyone when you are not honest first with yourself.
• Think (differently) about who lived here first. (Here is a quick two minute introduction to that http://youtu.be/tE7149KdZOk)
• Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water.  Yes, the First Thanksgiving was a much more messy and complicated story than what we learned as children. Should we then stop being thankful? No. I think we can all agree that taking time to be thankful to the Creator for what has been provided is a beneficial thing.
• (Re)consider what story you tell at Thanksgiving. Think about recognizing a Day of Mourning with your family and friends this year.
• Remember the single most important person from the first Thanksgiving story. Squanto, a man who had been wronged in so many ways, and had great compassion on his new neighbors. Not only did Squanto befriend and help out his new neighbors, but his new neighbors were also his former oppressors and enslavers. I think we can all learn from this kind of radical hospitality.

 

When we step outside of the world we know, things get messy. What might have been clean and pretty before becomes more complicated. When we read someone else’s history book, it raises many questions for own history books. But, in the end, we will understand our own history better.

 

Yes, walking in someone else’s shoes, seeing through their eyes, sitting at their table, and visiting their home can be awkward, uncomfortable, and challenging. But, we owe it to them, ourselves, their children, and our children. Unfortunately, we cannot change what happened to the Wampanoag or other Native American tribes, which is why we must work even harder for what will happen to all of our futures.

 

So what am I thankful for this year? I am thankful that four years ago I got to go to someone else’s home on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation and hear a different story. I am thankful for the many friends on different reservations who have treated me with so much hospitality and shared their stories with me. This year I think I am most thankful for the many stories and lessons I have learned from my Native American friends about what it means to be hospitable, compassionate, and… well… thankful.

 

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Jordan has worked in the Western Region in a variety of capacities over the past several years, culminating in his current stint as an Area Director, where he oversees seven sites in South Dakota, two in the southwest, and one in Oklahoma.