Jessica Crabtree

#7: The Real Story

Modern archaeology and historical research have been able to unearth a wealth of detailed information that gives us a more realistic (and less biased) picture of “first Thanksgiving.” The findings of today’s historians are strongly supported by the accounts of Wampanoag traditional sources.

Interestingly, the Native American oral traditions contain more detailed information about the events surrounding the first Thanksgiving – and the Plymouth colony in general – than the Pilgrims’ own written account, and all the annotated embellishments it has accumulated through America’s brief history.

Below: A scene from the reconstructed historical site of Plimoth Plantation. Courtesy of National Geographic.

Catch a National Geographic premiere about the natural world of the Americas before European arrival. “America Before Columbus” airs Sunday, November 22, 8pm Eastern. Visit the promotional site for trailers, photos, and interesting facts about pre-European America. For instance: America in the 1400s had a larger population than Europe!

#8: The Original Thanksgiving Menu

From the records we have of the Pilgrim’s harvest celebration, it seems the main course consisted of the staple foods that had carried them through their first year in America: mainly corn, squash, and beans (the “Three Sisters” of Native American culture) and seafood such as clams, lobster, and eels. (Sorry, no pumpkin pie or cranberry sauce.) As it turns out, the first Thanksgiving had a lot more in common with a good old-fashioned New England clam bake.

We do know that at least one item on the menu is authentic; the English accounts have the men going “fowling” or hunting for seasonal game birds such as duck and probably turkey. And the Wampanoag who joined them later provided plenty of fresh game, including venison and poultry.

Smithsonian Magazine: Turkey’s Trip to the Table

#9: Thanksgiving 1621

The “official” first Thanksgiving was a harvest celebration held by the settlers of the Plymouth colony (aka Pilgrims) in the late summer of 1621. Following a year of sickness and privation, the colonists’ alliance with Wampanoag Indians provided them the benefits of Native agricultural practices and mutual trade agreements. The settlers decided to commemorate their first successful year with a traditional harvest festival. For the record, it was not intended as a joint celebration between the English and their Indian neighbors. In fact, the local Wampanoag were not even invited, and might never have been aware of the event had they not been alarmed by the gun volleys fired by the Pilgrims during the festivities!

In the words of Edward Winslow,

“Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a more special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labours. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king, Massasoit, with some 90 men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted. And they went out and killed five deer which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our Governor and upon the Captain and others.”

#10: The “First” First Thanksgiving

The first Thanksgiving: An idyllic scene of Indians and white settlers, side by side, enjoying a feast near the coast, giving thanks for all the good things in life. The date: September 8, 1565.

What? I thought the Pilgrims didn’t land at Plymouth until 1620!

That’s right – because the first recorded “Thanksgiving” didn’t occur in Massachusetts, but in Florida, at the Spanish settlement of St. Augustine (which is, by the way, the oldest permanent European settlement in North America). The Spanish were established in the Americas long before the English; and while we tend to think of the Pilgrims as the “common ancestors” of all Americans, they were preceded in the New World not only by other Europeans but by other English as well. So in a manner of speaking, Plymouth is something of a historical moot point.

Some would argue, and rightly so, that whether the true origin of our modern Thanksgiving was in English or Spanish colonies is irrelevant. In both instances, the celebrations were held to reflect the settlers’ belief that their colonial endeavors had received divine sanction. And in both cases the so-called holiday was never intended to become an official commemoration. It is only the romanticized and idealized legend that became the inspiration for the popular version that has persisted for so long.

The fact is that Thanksgiving celebrations were practiced by Native Americans across the continent for millennia as an integral part of their culture. The idea of giving thanks as it exists in indigenous culture is actually much closer to the values we purport to celebrate each November, and it was arguably these ideals as put into practice by Native Americans that have given life and meaning to the holiday.

“Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” (Oscar Wilde)

November 16, 1907: Oklahoma, formerly Indian Territory, becomes the 46th state

Oklahoma (from the Choctaw words meaning “red earth”) was first obtained by the US in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. It became known as Indian Territory following the Indian Removal Act of the 1820′s and 30′s, which culminated in the infamous Trail of Tears. The majority of Native Americans forcibly relocated to Indian Territory belonged to the “Five Civilized Tribes” of the southeast – the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminoles – so-called because they had tried in large part to adapt to European culture and lifestyle.

Indian Territory was also the destination of many other lesser-known forced marches, like that of the Shawnee, Potawatomi, Wyandot and Seneca. Following the Plains Indian Wars of the late 1800′s, the western part of the territory became home to Cheyenne, Comanche, and Apache who were placed under military incarceration at the start of the reservation era.

In 1889 the territory that had been reserved for Indians losing their homelands to white settlers was opened to homesteaders. In the Land Run of 1889, thousands of eager settlers rushed across the border in a single day to stake their claims. Despite attempts by tribal governments to create a sovereign Indian state within the territory, their appeals were denied; Oklahoma was permanently opened to American settlement and admitted to the Union in 1907.

Read more about this event and see a gallery of historical photos on the Library of Congress website.

Courtesy of National Geographic.