Creating a Multicultural Nation Without Racism
Americans consider Thanksgiving Day a national holiday based on a harvest feast shared by English colonists (Pilgrims) of Plymouth and the Wampanoag Native American people in 1621 in New England. However, Many Native Americans view Thanksgiving as a day of mourning because it is a reminder that in return for their help, the Europeans stole their land and killed their people.
During Thanksgiving, promote conversations about the history of Native Americans and racial justice, or donate to organizations that work on Native American issues.
Visit Native Land Digital, find your community on the map, and learn the history of the land you live on.
No President before 1961 mentioned the Pilgrims in their Thanksgiving proclamation. Then President Kennedy from Massachusetts asked "the head of each family to recount to his children the story of the first New England thanksgiving." He made no mention of Native Americans.