We should remember Thanksgiving’s beginnings
Thanksgiving is coming closer by the day, and many are preparing to head home for the weekend and celebrate with their family with a big holiday feast. For many, Thanksgiving represents a time of celebrating family, togetherness and the past year’s blessings.
On Thursday, Nov. 24, 1621, the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag shared an autumnal harvest meal, acknowledged as one of the very first Thanksgiving celebrations.
For nearly two centuries after this, Thanksgiving continued to be celebrated in individual colonies across the land, but the day wasn’t officiated until 1863, when President Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving as a national holiday.
Despite Thanksgiving’s friendly beginnings, the honeymoon phase eventually faded, and gave way to a plethora of hatred and macroaggressions. Future Thanksgiving celebrations also were also in bad taste, figuratively and literally. For example, in 1637, Massachusetts Colony Governor John Winthrop declared a day of Thanksgiving after volunteers murdered 700 Pequot people.
For many Native Americans, Thanksgiving day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of innocent people, the theft of their Native land and the relentless attack on Native American culture.
Many history books have failed to document the colonialism and racism that went on during these times, with the reasoning behind this usually being a result of wanting to save face on a nationwide scale. US history books are written in a way that makes our nation look like the hero, or the knight riding in on a horse to save the day.
The average American is a white man, and the history books as a result are written to make that group feel good. In reality, that very same group statistically were the same people behind almost every instance of racism in our country’s history. But due to the power structure ingrained into our society through generations and generations of learned bias, the fact of the matter is that opinions are less likely to be taken into account if the speaker doesn’t represent the majority, or “the face” of America.
On a more local scale, Mankato made history in 1862 for the largest mass execution in history, with the lynching of 38 Dakota people. Mankato as a town is one founded on Native American traditions, and we as students, and especially as locals, should remember this and honor it.
One way we can do this is through the celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, every year on October 9. Originally named Columbus Day, the national day was taken back by Native American peoples and rebranded to call attention to the losses they suffered at the hands of white colonizers.
One way we as students can celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day is by simply educating ourselves on the history of Native American people, as well as educating others. As philosopher George Santayana said, “those who cannot condemn the past are doomed to repeat it.”