The true history of Thanksgiving is complex and largely missing from the stories told to children. For many Native Americans, it is a day of both mourning and a reminder of resilience.
is a Native American storyteller and member of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation in northwestern Connecticut. She is also the education director at the Institute for American Indian Studies where she teaches children about Indigenous ways through storytelling. She said the Thanksgiving story told growing up in the U.S. is no more than a fairytale.
“It's not really what happened at that time. And I think it does a lot of damage by not telling the truth,” she said.
Although the three-day feast between the Wampanoag and English settlers did occur, Kascack said the Native people weren’t originally invited and peace did not last for long.
“And then suddenly, this switch gets hit,” she said. “All those warm, fuzzy feelings of gratitude for helping them to survive their first year here suddenly goes away and conflicts start.”
Villages were raided and Native people were captured and sold into slavery. Kascack said the first mention of a Thanksgiving celebration occurred in 1637 after the colonists massacred an entire Pequot village. Thanksgiving celebrations subsequently took place after every major Indigenous massacre.
The official holiday didn’t form until years later when Sarah Josepha Hale persuaded President Lincoln that a day of Thanksgiving was needed to unite the nation during the Civil War. But there was no mention of Natives or settlers.
“So, as you could see the holiday didn't really start with that first meal, but was put into place to heal the country,” Kascak said.
She explained that this complex history has resulted in many Native Americans today feeling torn about the holiday. Giving thanks is a practice central to Native culture. But for many, it is a time to mourn the loss of their people and land. For Darlene Kascak, it's a combination of both recognizing the past and being grateful for her present.
“It's a day of mourning. It's a day that I think about this ugly history that's happened here,” Kascack said, “But it's also a day of gratitude, deep gratitude, for everything that I've been given, everything that I've been blessed with, and it's not material things.”
Kascak gives thanks for all the natural beauty and living creatures that surround her. She worries that Thanksgiving and the following Black Friday has strayed away from what it truly means to give thanks.
“It's TV and social media that tells you, you don't have enough stuff, when in fact, you probably have all that you really need. And we need to be thankful for that,” she said.
Not all Native Americans feel the same about the holiday, but instead have different ways to deal with the past. For some it is recognizing the National Day of Mourning, for others it remains a holiday to celebrate family and honor their ancestors.
“I feel the sorrow and the pain of what my ancestors went through. But, I also see the strength and resilience of how we adapted and survived under all of these different situations,“ she said.
Kascak said she still cooks a Thanksgiving meal, but incorporates Indigenous foods. She also mourns the Native lives lost while giving thanks for the family she has.
“You know, if I didn't have a turkey on Thanksgiving Day, there wouldn't be a riot in my house,” she said. “So we've all adapted to this new lifestyle in our own ways.”
Kascak said a way to help heal the sorrow Native people feel on the holiday is to acknowledge the Indigenous perspective. She said we can start by teaching children about the holiday differently.
“Get rid of that fantasy fairy tale. Stop making pilgrim hats and feathered headdresses and talk about the people that were here and that first encounter,” she said.
Kascak educates people about this story and other Indigenous traditions at the museum along with schools, libraries and virtually around the world.
She said communities can all do their part to learn more about the holiday and help pass on the true story to the next generation. Learning the true story behind Thanksgiving may reveal a more beautiful ending of resilience.
