Native American Views

Roles, Celebrations and Critiques

What was the role of Native Americans in Thanksgiving, historically speaking? What do Native Americans think of the holiday today? Many non-Indians believe that the 'first Americans' reject Thanksgiving and do not celebrate it. The truth is more complex, and interesting. A great many Native Americans do celebrate Thanksgiving, in various ways; at the same time, from some Native Americans also come a variety of thought-provoking and important critiques of the holiday and its historical meaning. This section of the site will provide a variety of materials for the exploration and understanding of these issues. It includes both the ways Native Americans have viewed the holiday and how they have been portrayed in its celebrations.

This Web site is a work in progress. Please revisit often as we continue to build it with new materials. We also welcome your suggestions or contributions of material; to send us an email, click here; or phone 434 924-3296.

Fear of the "wild and savage red man"
The following excerpt is from a poem on "The First Thanksgiving," originally published in The Youth's Companion (most likely in the late 19th century) and reprinted in the State Historical Society of Iowa's journal, The Palimpsest, as an example of the Thanksgiving-related "curriculum" long provided to schoolchildren in the United States. Please click here to see the full poem.

Children do you know the story
Of the first Thanksgiving Day,
Founded by our Pilgrim fathers
In that time so far away?

They had given for religion
Wealth and comfort--yes, and more--
Left their homes and friends and
For a bleak and barren shore. [kindred

On New England's rugged headlands,
Now where peaceful Plymouth lies;
There they built their rough log cabins,
'Neath the cold forbidding skies.

And too often e'en the bravest
Felt his blood run cold with dread,
Lest the wild and savage red man
Burn the roof over his head.
. . .
And the patient Pilgrim mothers,
As the harvest time drew near,
Looked with happy thankful faces,
At the full corn in the ear.

So the governor, William Bradford,
In the gladness of his heart,
To praise God for all his mercies,
Set a special day apart.

"Thanksgiving: A Celebration of Gratitude"
A very different strand in Thanksgiving celebrations recognizes Native American (particularly Wampanoag) aid as crucial to the Pilgrim community's survival. In this kind of Thanksgiving narrative, the holiday is seen, in part, as an expression of gratitude for Native American friendship. The following is excerpted from 1st and 2nd grade lesson plans from Utah State University. Please click here for the full lesson plans from USU's TeacherLink Web site.

. . . The Pilgrims were forced to stay on the cramped Mayflower for their first winter in the new world. After this winter was over, over half of them had died.

The Pilgrims eventually made a good friend who helped them. His name was Squanto. He showed them where fish swam, how to hunt deer, and showed them how to plant corn. Squanto lived with the Pilgrims for the rest of his life.

Squanto was a Native American from the Wampanoag tribe. He was kidnaped earlier in his life and taken to England. This is why he was able to communicate with the Pilgrims. His friend Samoset also spoke English. Translating for Massasoit, the Wampanoag chief, and other tribe members, a peace treaty was made between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans that lasted for fifty years.

With the help of the Native Americans, there was plenty for everyone to eat that first summer, and there was also plenty to last for the next winter. The Pilgrims had so much to be thankful for. They gave thanks for good friends, new homes, freedom of religion, and plenty of food in a three day celebration with their Native American friends.

Today we continue the celebration of the Pilgrims and the Native Americans, and call it Thanksgiving.

Russell M. Peters, "Comments on the Day of Mourning"
The following text by Peters, a Wampanoag from Mashpee, Mass., near Plymouth, recalls the beginnings, development, and controversies surrounding the "Day of Mourning" first declared almost 40 years ago. It is included in the Web site of Plymouth Hall, "America's Museum of Pilgrim Possessions." Please click here for Plymouth Hall's material on the Day of Mourning.

When Frank James, known to the Wampanoag people as Wampsutta, was invited to speak at the 1970 annual Thanksgiving feast at Plymouth, he was not prepared to have his speech revised by the Pilgrims. He left the dinner and the ceremonies and went to the hill near the statue of the Massasoit, who as the leader of the Wampanoags when the Pilgrims landed in their territory. There overlooking Plymouth Harbor, he looked at the replica of the Mayflower . It was there that he gave his speech that was to be given to the Pilgrims and their guests. There eight or ten Indians and their supporters listened in indignation as Frank talked of the takeover of the Wampanoag tradition, culture, religion, and land.

This was a missed opportunity to begin a dialogue between the Wampanoags and the Pilgrims. Instead the "Day of Mourning" began, and continues to this day. I commend Frank for taking the stand that he took, and we and our supporters recognize the token role the Wampanoags had played in this pageantry. It was not appropriate for the native people to feast in thanksgiving; instead we decided to fast and show by contrast our way of remembering our history.

As the years went by, the numbers at the Massasoit statue increased and the presentations, skits and demonstrations did indeed show a contrast between feasting and fasting. Reporters arrived from local news media as well as the New York papers, the Atlanta Constitution , the Chicago Tribune , and the Los Angeles Times , and told the stories of the Wampanoag to the American people.

Some of the Wampanoag people who live in the vicinity of Plymouth began to look at positive ways in which we could impact our lives, both past and present. It occurred to us that the Europeans had a history of the colonists, well documented, albeit quite Eurocentric. The history of the Wampanoag people in southeastern Massachusetts and Martha's Vineyard was barely mentioned. Ironically, the Indian communities of Mashpee, Aquinnah (Gay Head) and Herring Pond still exist just a short distance away from the Plymouth Rock.

The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head is a Federally Recognized Indian Tribe. Their Tribal roll lists 1000 Wampanoags. Under the leadership of their chief, the tribe conducts daily business, economic development, as well as community and social activities for its tribal members. The Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council, of which I am President, has a tribal roll of 1200 Wampanoags. It conducts business and other related activities on a daily basis. Our annual Pow Wow took place in Mashpee on July 3, 4 and 5, 1998. We own and maintain the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Museum with plans to expand the facilities. We are very active in revitalization of our language which was taken from us by the colonists. And we are doing research and writing of the Wampanoag history, particularly concerning the relationship with the English and other European colonists during the early seventeenth century up to the present.

These are some of the positive ways in which we can balance the scale of history and establish pride in the Wampanoag identity and heritage. Ours is as much a part of the American story as that of the Pilgrim, in fact more so since it was our land.

While the "Day of Mourning" has served to focus attention on past injustice to the Native American cause, it has, in recent years, been orchestrated by a group calling themselves the United American Indians of New England. This group has tenuous ties to any of the local tribes, and is composed primarily of non-Indians. To date, they have refused several invitations to meet with the Wampanoag Indian tribal councils in Mashpee or in Gay Head. Once again, we, as Wampanoags, find our voices and concerns cast aside in the activities surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday in Plymouth, this time, ironically, by a group purporting to represent our interests.

The time is long overdue for the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags to renew a meaningful dialogue about our past and look towards a more honest future. Our history is a vital and dynamic part of pre-American and American history. We must be the ones who research, write, and interpret that history."

The Pamunkey, Mattaponi, and Virginia's "Tax Tribute"
Every Thanksgiving season, representatives of two Virginia Indian tribes deliver game, hides, or a combination to the Governor of Virginia. They render this "tax tribute" in fulfillment of a 1646 treaty--a staggering historic continuity not always reflected in the press, which most years gives the event a short paragraph. Not so in the 350th anniversary year, 1996. Kathryn Orth's Richmond Times Dispatch story of Dec. 1, 1996, excerpted below, was headlined "1646: One Thanksgiving Date, Event That We Can Count On" and carried the dateline of Mattaponi Indian Reservation.

I learned something this year that puts the holiday in a new light for me.

I knew that, at Thanksgiving time every year, the Virginia Indians who have reservations pay a tribute to the governor.

I learned yesterday from Mattaponi Chief Webster ''Little Eagle'' Custalow that this ceremony has continued without a break since 1646. In that year, a ''Grand Assembly meeting at James Cittie enacted articles of peace between the English inhabitants of the Virginia colony and Necotowance, King of the Indians, and his people.''
. . .
The treaty set general boundaries where the Indians and settlers could live, and rules for carrying messages and conducting business. It also provided that the colony would protect Necotowance and his people ''against any rebells or other enemies whatsoever.''

In exchange, the Indians were to pay 20 beaver skins ''att the goeing away of Geese yearly.'' In modern times, that has come to mean during Thanksgiving week.

As beaver were heavily trapped and became scarce, the treaty was reworked to allow other tributes in place of the skins. For the last hundred years or so, the traditional tribute has been deer and turkeys.

''When I was young and my father was chief, there were years when deer and turkey were also scarce, and we had to make the tribute with fish,'' said Chief Little Eagle.

''Once when I was a young boy and the tribute was due the next day, I saw a covey of quail. I shot 11 quail with one shot, and the next morning shot one more. That made a dozen quail. I strung them on a stick. They looked beautiful and the governor was tickled to death.''

This year, in honor of the 350th anniversary of the treaty, the Mattaponi tribe wanted to present the original tribute, the 20 beaver pelts, as well as a six-point buck, to Gov. George Allen.

''We worked up until the 27th,'' the day of the presentation, said Chief Little Eagle. ''The skins had to be fixed, put on a ring.''

Preparations for the presentation took two months. Sixty-eight members of the Mattaponi tribe went to the presentation.
. . .
Chief Little Eagle's daughter, Shirley ''Little Dove'' Custalow McGowan, made it clear that the 350th ceremony was a more than just a show.

''Each year you know what anniversary it is,'' she said. ''The important thing is the respect and honor.''