2. Let’s think about the basics of the
story of the first Thanksgiving
• The pilgrims land and are not prepared for
this new land
• The American Indians, who were friendly,
help them survive
• The next year, learning from the natives,
The Pilgrims have a successful
harvest and celebrate the first
Thanksgiving
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3. Lets think about that first feast...
• It would have looked very different from
our traditional feast today.
* First, there was no milk, so
therefore no butter
* There was little to no sugar, so no
berries
* There were no ovens, so no
roasted turkey or pies
Christopher, George W. “Biological Warfare; A Historical Perspective.” Journal of the American Medical Association. 278.5 (1997):
412-417. <http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v278n5/fpdf/jsc7044.pdf> .December 6, 2002
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4. • “Considering that virtually none of the standard fare
surrounding Thanksgiving contains an ounce of
authenticity, historical accuracy, or cross-cultural
perception, why is it so apparently ingrained? Is it
necessary to the American psyche to perpetually
exploit and debase its victims in order to justify its
history?” - Michael Dorris
If all this is different from the historical myth...
Then maybe other differences exist as well
Lets see by looking at the
first Thanksgiving through
the eyes of Squanto...
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5. Some Context
For decades before the
Pilgrims landed, British
and French fisherman
came to the coasts of
southern New England to
fish.
It is likely that they
brought some of their
European germs and
diseases to the New
World before any settlers.
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6. • One wave of fisherman/New England
native contact occurred in 1617. Within
three years, disease had wiped out between
90% to 96% of the native New England
population.
“Whole towns were
depopulated. The living
were not able to bury the
dead; and their bodies were
found lying above the
ground many years after.”
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7. The pilgrims land in 1620
• Although many textbooks say
that the pilgrims bribed their
captain to land in Massachusetts
and not Virginia, historical
sources find this difficult to
believe. The pilgrims were only
35 of the 102 passengers on the
ship, the others were ordinary
settlers.
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• Massachusetts was attractive to
the pilgrims and settlers alike for
one reason that Virginia was not
- few native peoples. They
might also have heard the area
described by Squanto ...
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8. WHAT?
• How could Squanto have described the land to
the European settlers and pilgrims in
Europe??!!
Let start with the myth
that when the Pilgrims
arrived they had to
“start from scratch”
After landing, the Pilgrims chose to
live near “beautiful cleared fields,
recently panted corn, and ...fresh
water.”
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9. •
Indeed this beautiful land was already a
town. It was Squanto’s home village of
Patuxet! to disease; the
Since the native peoples had died due
Pilgrims moved right in, plundering and using native
materials.
One colonial sailor’s account noted that “we found
a place like a grave. We decided to dig it up. We
found first a mat, and under that a fine bow…we
also found bowls, trays, dishes, and things like
that. We took away several of the prettiest things
to carry away with us…”
It wasn’t “like a grave” it was a grave!
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10. More importantly, the Pilgrims found
Squanto, who spoke English.
Squanto’s Story
• In 1605, Squanto was captured by a British captain
during a summer fishing trip.
• He was taken to England where he spent
nine years working, the last three for Captain
Gorges on his ship.
•In 1614, a British slave raider seized
Squanto and some fellow Indians and
sold them into slavery in Spain
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11. Squanto’s Story II
• Squanto eventually escaped from Spain and made his
way back to England.
• He then traveled to Newfoundland, and in 1619
convinced Captain Tomas Dermer to take him back
to New England on his next fishing trip.
Squanto returned to his village to find that
“he was the sole member of his village still
alive.”
All the others had perished in the
epidemic.
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12. As sociologist/historian, Jim Lowen has noted “No
wonder Squanto threw in his lot with the pilgrims!”
• Like the “traditional” history, it
seems that Squanto helped the
colonist learn to survive in the
New World.
In the fall of 1621 the
colonists and several
natives sat down to
several days of feasting
and thanksgiving to God.
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13. Many sources note that the “pilgrims had
never seen such a feast”
• Of course, the Pilgrims had never seen such a
feast – literally – nearly all the foods were
indigenous to the Americans and had been
provided by help with the local natives
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14. Jim Lowen has described the idea of the “First Thanksgiving”
as our “national origin myth”
Another interesting historical fact:
Thanksgiving did not exist as a
national holiday until the Civil War.
In 1863 Abraham Lincoln felt that
such an observance would boost
patriotism
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15. Remember the quote from the beginning of
this presentation- Why is this idea of
thanksgiving so ingrained?
“Is it necessary to the American psyche to
perpetually exploit and debase its victims in
order to justify its history?” - Michael Dorris
Talk Amongst Yourselves:
What does it say about us
as a nation that we persist
on this imagery of the first
thanksgiving even though
historians have discovered
an alternative account?
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Quotes and history cited from James
Lowen, Lies My Teacher Told Me
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