No, this is not meant to spoil your thanksgiving meal. But it's always good to know the story beyond what popular culture tells you. So I'd like to point to last year's post which illustrates that thanksgiving was good for the Pilgrims, one of the early groups that settled in Massachusetts in the early 17th century, but behind it lies a larger, unspoken tragedy that befell the diverse -- and at that time thriving -- set of east coast Native American communities. In fact, the odd sounding names Massachusetts and Connecticut are names in their languages. So, here's a reprise of one of my favorite posts from last year. A short excerpt:
[The Thanksgiving story] is a very important story: all nations attach special relevance to their beginnings, and the Pilgrims are a vital part of America’s national narrative. But the story, while true, is told in isolation, without a proper context; there is a sense of idyll about it. And the way it is told propagates a broader myth: that European settlers settled a largely empty expanse of North America, a vast natural wilderness. Sure, there were a few tribes here and there, some friendly, some hostile, but what could they do? They were destined to lose.Read the full essay here.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The textbook version of Thanksgiving not only obscures the broader socio-political context of the time; it also hides an immense tragedy.
To be sure, history, however multi dimensional and complex, shouldn't change our wish to give thanks; or, more importantly, shouldn't diminish our appetites. So let's all eat heartily -- happy thanksgiving!
3 comments:
Wow... I read the original post and it amazes me that I lived so long in Boston without investigating this fascinating story.
I have 2 questions, though. You say that Native Americans didn't domesticate animals and you include horses in the list of those animals (in your 2008 original post). Where did I get the idea that there were wild horses roaming around in North America way before the Europeans arrived and that Indian warriors were great horsemen who tamed them?
Another question: On Thanksgiving in Massachusetts, there used to be mass protests by Native-Americans around Plymouth. Does the tradition continue?
Alex -- Indian warriors of the Great Plains were indeed good with horses, but the fact is that the Spaniards first introduced them to the Americas (they apparently existed on this continent many millennia before but they died out the same time the woolly mammoth became extinct -- but that's a different question). From Mexico in the early 16th century, horses then traveled northward, via people (and sometimes on their own, for some had turned wild) before reaching the Great Plains of North America, where they were used by the Native Americans. So horses were already well established by the time the America launched its conquest from the east in the 17th and 18th centuries. It just goes on to show how well and quickly groups can adapt anything that is "new" -- to an extent that it begins to seem inseparable from a culture.
As to your second question: it's news to me. I am not aware of these protests. Perhaps I should drive there today (Thanksgiving day) to find out, though it's too late now.
Alex -- Indian warriors of the Great Plains were indeed good with horses, but the fact is that the Spaniards first introduced them to the Americas (they apparently existed on this continent many millennia before but they died out the same time the woolly mammoth became extinct -- but that's a different question). From Mexico in the early 16th century, horses then traveled northward, via people (and sometimes on their own, for some had turned wild) before reaching the Great Plains of North America, where they were used by the Native Americans. So horses were already well established by the time the America launched its conquest from the east in the 17th and 18th centuries. It just goes on to show how well and quickly groups can adapt anything that is "new" -- to an extent that it begins to seem inseparable from a culture.
As to your second question: it's news to me. I am not aware of these protests. Perhaps I should drive there today (Thanksgiving day) to find out, though it's too late now.
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