Speaker 1: Okay, why would Thanksgiving be a national day of mourning
Speaker 1: but also a day of giving thanks to some folks,
Speaker 1: It's complicated. I'm Patty Steele understanding the Native American perspective.
Speaker 1: That's next on the backstory. The backstory is back. We've
Speaker 1: all just celebrated Thanksgiving, a day to celebrate gratitude. But
Speaker 1: backstory listener Mark Chambers from mid Lothian and Virginia had
Speaker 1: an idea for a follow up episode to our Thanksgiving story.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Mark. For Native Americans, Thanksgiving is a day
Speaker 1: to give thanks, but for many it's also considered a
Speaker 1: national day of mourning. They mourn what was lost when
Speaker 1: Europeans discovered I say that with air quotes their land
Speaker 1: and these completely different cultures came together. It's a story
Speaker 1: that's been romanticized over these four hundred years, and the
Speaker 1: beginnings aren't really as romantic as we think. The Friday
Speaker 1: following things, Thankiving, is Native American Heritage Day. So it's
Speaker 1: really important to remember that North America and for that matter,
Speaker 1: South America, weren't just vast empty land masses when Europeans arrived.
Speaker 1: North America alone was home to somewhere between five and
Speaker 1: ten million Native Americans hard to tell with so many
Speaker 1: different tribes. By the way, the English settlers who arrived
Speaker 1: in sixteen twenty weren't actually called pilgrims until the mid
Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds, over two hundred years after their arrival here.
Speaker 1: But by the time they did arrive, the presence of
Speaker 1: Europeans was already having a disastrous effect on the Native
Speaker 1: American population, introducing illnesses like smallpox to tribes they interacted with,
Speaker 1: and it was really disastrous to the Native way of life.
Speaker 1: Now here's the thing. The concept of land ownership just
Speaker 1: wasn't part of their culture, and it was totally part
Speaker 1: of European culture. So right there you kind of see
Speaker 1: room for misunderstanding on both sides. Native Americans had tribal
Speaker 1: hunting grounds, but that was not the same as land ownership.
Speaker 1: Some of them were welcoming to the newcomers, believing that
Speaker 1: they were simply allowing them to share the land, which
Speaker 1: they believed made good political sense in dealing with these
Speaker 1: new people. But the Europeans believed they were taking the
Speaker 1: land either for nothing or just a pittance when it
Speaker 1: came to the financial aspects. Can you imagine what it
Speaker 1: must feel like to have two completely different perspectives about
Speaker 1: something so important to how you and your people live
Speaker 1: your life. It continues today. A lot of Native Americans
Speaker 1: see Thanksgiving as a painful reminder of the colonization and
Speaker 1: displacement that followed the arrival of Europeans, and a lot
Speaker 1: of these tribal communities see Thanksgiving as a day to
Speaker 1: acknowledge that painful history and remember their ancestors. Some actually
Speaker 1: prefer not to even recognize the day at all, but
Speaker 1: it's really nuanced from individual to individual. Some choose to
Speaker 1: embrace the positive messages of the day while remembering its
Speaker 1: complex history. Why because the idea of giving thanks is
Speaker 1: central to Native American heritage and culture. In fact, long
Speaker 1: before settlers got here, tribes celebrated the autumn harvest and
Speaker 1: mother Earth's abundance with days of thanksgiving and gratitude. Native
Speaker 1: American spirituality celebrates gratitude for creation, protecting the environment, and
Speaker 1: also recognizing the human need to commune with nature. Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: as a holiday actually originates from the Native American belief
Speaker 1: in giving without expecting anything in return. Back in sixteen
Speaker 1: twenty one, for the first celebration, the Wampaag tribe not
Speaker 1: only brought the food, but also teachings about agriculture and hunting.
Speaker 1: In this new land. Things like corn, beans, wild rice,
Speaker 1: and turkey were all introduced to the settler's Native Americans. Sadly,
Speaker 1: just fifteen years later, as many as seven hundred Natives
Speaker 1: were massacred by Europeans and warriors from other tribes who
Speaker 1: are allied with the settlers. So how do Native Americans
Speaker 1: look at Thanksgiving? Now? They remember their ancestors, and despite
Speaker 1: the day's complex origin, a lot of Natives get together
Speaker 1: with friends and family to eat good food and to
Speaker 1: give thanks And I love this. Some go to the
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving Indigenous People's Sunrise Ceremony before daybreak on Alcatraz Island
Speaker 1: in San Francisco Bay. There they honor the strength, resilience,
Speaker 1: and cultural heritage of Indigenous peoples around the world. What
Speaker 1: an amazing way to celebrate the day. Stephen Peters, a
Speaker 1: Wampa Noag tribe spokesman, explains his views on Thanksgiving and
Speaker 1: has this to say. My ancestors had four harvest festivals
Speaker 1: throughout the year. Gathering with family, enjoying our company, sharing
Speaker 1: our blessings, and giving thanks is a good thing. I say.
Speaker 1: Have more Thanksgiving events throughout the year. But I also
Speaker 1: ask that you take a moment at this time to
Speaker 1: remember what happened to my people and the history as
Speaker 1: it was recorded, and not the narrative that we have
Speaker 1: been given in the history books. So that perspective is
Speaker 1: not about blame, but about appreciating and learning from this
Speaker 1: complicated story. It's about understanding the beauty of our differences,
Speaker 1: which will help us break down the barriers that divide us.
Speaker 1: And it's also about taking a deeper look at the
Speaker 1: many rich lessons we can all learn from the Native
Speaker 1: American ability to live with and protect the amazing land
Speaker 1: and resources that we share. Again, I want to thank
Speaker 1: listener Mark Chambers from mid Lothian, Virginia for suggesting this story.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Mark. It's a beautiful thing to appreciate our
Speaker 1: differences and our similarities. Hope you like the backstory with
Speaker 1: Patty Steele. I would love it if you would subscribe
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Speaker 1: story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty
Speaker 1: Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele.
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Speaker 1: Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
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Speaker 1: to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history
Speaker 1: you didn't know you needed to know.