“In New England no William Penn emerged to suggest that the English immigrants might live peaceably with the natives, on the divine theory that they, too, were children of the universal spirit…..There was simply not the confidence and wisdom and political skill to make one culture of two that were not that different.” – RK

 “There was no wipe-out plan on either side – though of course there were fears and suspicions.” – RK

The Pilgrims weren’t monsters.  And if we can’t recognize their humanity, we won’t see ourselves in them.  We won’t see ourselves honestly and see how we may be acting in the same way, even under the guise of religion. We need see the political and religious forces at play, so that we might recognize the same forces still at work today.

This story is important because it reveals the tension of 2 different cultures living in the same space.  It destroys the myth of peaceful, victimized Pilgrims.  Even more importantly, it reveals their humanity.  It shows their fears, their confusion, desire for control and for winning.  It also shows their power.

The myth of the First Thanksgiving puts Pilgrims and Indians on level footing.  But only the ones in power can enslave others.  Only the powerful can ban a word and expect that to be carried out.  The near total destruction of the Pequot tribe reveals much more accurately the structural dynamics at work in the establishment of America.

The genocidal tendencies, the desire for separation, purity and conformity are not unique to the Pilgrims, not limited to white-Native American interactions.  Seeing white, European culture as normal and everything else as wrong and needing to be fixed or separated is still the dominant pattern in today’s society.

America was not founded on the reality that all men are created equal.  It was not founded on the enactment of freedom of religion.  America was founded on fear, power, and privilege, and covering it up with a faux-friendly story only serves to reinforce the power dynamics at work.  Fears, power, and privilege still rule the dominant society in America today.

 “When the tide of war went against them, they sought within themselves the ‘provoking evils’ that had angered their God.  The colonial scholar Edmund Morgan sounds moderately amused when he reports that the Bay’s General Court, in repentance, passed a series of laws against the following errors: long hair, excess in apparel, disorderly children, idleness, oppression, tippling, and the Quakers.” – RK

“What makes that extensive apologia so fascinating is that there is in all that pietistic prose not one word about how the Puritans might possibly have done something ugly to the natives and might now revise that attitude.  The near loss of the war drove them not toward greater acceptance and tolerance, but in the direction of harsher religious and civil strictness.  Could they not see that their disinclination to include the Algonquians in any meaningful political structure was at the heart of this God-inflicted war?” – RK

Yes, there is a story about a joint meal together, that may have been centered around treaty negotiations.  But the fact also remains that days of thanksgivings were held to celebrate the deaths of people who were different.

It’s a more shameful story – one that doesn’t make for good greeting cards.  But it’s one that that needs to be told.

Lesson for Kids

Understanding the concept of reservations.

Give them a coloring page.  Explain that they will not be keeping them, so that they don’t put their heart and soul into the page.  But have them color the page, doing a good job, not just scribbling.

Then take the page, and tear it up into small pieces.  Give them back only a couple of the pieces.  Act as if you have given them back the whole picture.  Encourage them to frame it, hang it on the fridge, etc.  If you have more than one kid doing this, you could have them combine their pieces to make one picture, to represent different tribes being put together on the same reservations.

Books/Resources

The Red King’s Rebellion: Racial Politics in New England 1675-1678 (RK)
Nickommoh! A Thanksgiving Celebration – Koller
The Pequot Tribe – Lassieur
The Pequots – Newman
Where the Great Hawk Flies – Ketchum

Part 1 – The First Thanksgiving and the Myth of America
Part 2 – The Myth of America – Columbus, Christ-Bearer
Part 3 – The Myth of America – Jamestown – The Wrong Story To Tell
Part 4 – Pilgrims – God’s Provision at the Expense of Other People
Part 5 – Myth of America – Biased History Lesson
Part 6 – The Mayflower Compact – for God and King and White America
Part 7 – The First Thanksgiving – for a Massacre

This series is available as a 40 page pdf, giving an introductory look at settler colonialism as it relates to the founding of America.  Discusses Columbus, Jamestown, Pilgrims and Native Americans and includes 4 lessons to teach the topics to kids.
Buy now