Nov. 27, 2025 If Thanksgiving were a movie, the version most people know is the G-rated trailer: Pilgrims in shiny buckles, “helpful Indians” holding decorative corn, everyone gathering for a peaceful potluck that ends with turkey, pie, and a group hug. The actual story is closer to a gritty, award-winning historical drama where everyone does their best to stay alive, politics are messy, motives are complicated, and nobody’s hair looks that perfect. Let’s begin. 🌾 BEFORE THE PILGRIMS: THE LAND OF PLENTY (WITH A LOT FEWER PEOPLE) Before the Mayflower showed up, New England was home to thriving Native nations — the Wampanoag, Nipmuc, Pequot, Massachusett, and others — who had their own harvest festivals, rituals, and complex diplomacy. Think of them as the original “farm-to-table” experts. ​ Then came European diseases in 1616–1619, wiping out up to 90% of the coastal population. Imagine hosting a beautiful neighborhood — then suddenly your entire community disappears in a tragedy you don’t understand. ​ By the time the Pilgrims arrived, the land wasn’t “empty.” It had been devastated. ​ ⚓ ENTER THE PILGRIMS: STRUGGLING, STARVING, AND NOT EXACTLY HEROIC ​ The Pilgrims didn’t arrive ready to build a shining beacon of democracy. They arrived freezing, hungry, and very willing to steal from Indigenous storage pits and graves because… well, winter was winning. William Bradford literally wrote about this grave-robbing himself. Bold choice. They survived because the Wampanoag shared knowledge of farming, fishing, and the geography. Without this help, Plymouth might’ve been a short-lived footnote. ​ 🥧 THE 1621 FEAST: NOT WHAT YOU THINK The famous “first Thanksgiving”? Not a Thanksgiving. Not religious. Not invited. Not peaceful cooperation so much as a diplomatic emergency meeting. Edward Winslow wrote the only detailed account — and here’s the short version: The Pilgrims were doing a harvest celebration. They fired guns as part of the festivities (as one does, apparently). A group of 90 armed Wampanoag men rushed in, thinking maybe the newcomers were under attack. They stayed for three days. They brought deer. There was no pumpkin pie, no cranberry sauce, and probably no turkey. (Sorry, Hallmark.) This was less Friendsgiving and more “corporate merger negotiation with venison.” ​ 🔥 PEACE… AND THEN A WHOLE LOT OF NOPE Whatever good feelings existed did not last long. As more Europeans arrived, land got taken, livestock destroyed Indigenous fields, treaties got twisted, and tension turned into all-out war. King Philip’s War (1675–1676) was so deadly that, per capita, it makes modern wars look tame. Entire villages burned. Families enslaved. Wampanoag society nearly destroyed. This is the part your school textbook skipped to “protect the children,” which is ironic, because children reenact the feast every year with construction paper hats. ​ 🤝 HOW THANKSGIVING BECAME A HOLIDAY (HINT: POLITICS) The Pilgrims didn’t start the national holiday. The idea didn’t catch on for more than a century. Nobody said, “See you next year for another feast!” Instead: Puritans held occasional “Thanksgiving Days” that were about fasting, praying, and feeling guilty — the least festive holiday imaginable. In the 1800s, magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale (the Mary Poppins of moral persuasion) lobbied nonstop for a unified national Thanksgiving. Abraham Lincoln made it official in 1863 — during the Civil War — because nothing says “unity” like roasted turkey while the country is literally fighting itself. In 1939, FDR even moved the date to boost Christmas shopping. Yup — we literally have “Franksgiving.” The holiday is more political invention than Pilgrim tradition. ​ 🧝‍♂️ TEXTBOOK MYTHOLOGY: AMERICA’S FAVORITE FAIRY TALE Over time, textbooks airbrushed away: epidemics grave-robbing the Pequot massacre (celebrated with a colonial “Thanksgiving”) King Philip’s War Indigenous enslavement land theft the fact that the Wampanoag had strategic reasons for not kicking out the Pilgrims immediately Instead, the story became: “Once upon a time, the Pilgrims and Indians shared a meal and America lived happily ever after.” It’s basically historical fanfiction. ​ 🪶 INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVES: THE PART WE SHOULD’VE HEARD FIRST Today, Wampanoag descendants and many Native nations describe Thanksgiving as: A reminder of genocide, A symbol of broken treaties, A myth used to justify colonial expansion, A story that portrays them as side characters in their own land. Since 1970, Indigenous activists have held a National Day of Mourning at Plymouth Rock, pointing out that the feel-good version of Thanksgiving erases centuries of suffering. As Wampanoag educators like Linda Coombs put it: “We helped them survive, but they did not help us survive in return.” Mic drop. 🦅 SO WHAT IS THANKSGIVING TODAY? Thanksgiving now is a patchwork quilt: 🟡 Traditional family dinners 🟡 Immigrant reinterpretations (tamales, curry, pancit, jollof rice at the table) 🟡 Indigenous mourning ceremonies 🟡 Volunteerism and charity 🟡 Travel chaos 🟡 Football 🟡 Black Friday (aka The Hunger Games for discounted appliances) It’s a holiday that America continuously rewrites — sometimes beautifully, sometimes problematically, always revealing something about our collective identity. ​ 🎯 THE TAKEAWAY: A HOLIDAY WITH TWO STORIES Story 1: The Myth Pilgrims + Native Americans = happy feast = America born in friendship. Story 2: The Reality Epidemic, desperation, diplomacy Cultural misunderstanding Violence, war, and colonization Myth-making to soothe national tensions A holiday reinvented for politics, unity, and sales Both stories coexist today — one comforting, one challenging. ​ The important thing isn’t to choose between them. It’s to recognize the whole picture and decide what meaning we want this holiday to carry moving forward. ​ If we can hold gratitude and honesty in the same hand… maybe we’ll finally have something worth celebrating.