Please Note: November is American Indian Heritage Month!!
So pleas contact your newspaper, TV stations anyone who will listen and ask the question WHY??......Why haven't we been on TV like Black America i during February... &
this year marks the 32nd National Day of Mourning in Plymouth, Mass. It will be held, as it has been for three decades, at the top of Coles Hill overlooking Plymouth Rock and at the foot of the Massasiot statue. It commences at 12:00 noon on November 22. If you are interested in attending, you can call UAINE at (781) 331-3690 or email uainendom@earthlink.net Their website is http://home.earthlink.net/~uainendom
Below is a reprint of the original "Mourning" column that ran last year. Many of you wrote in and requested my republishing it. This issue has a slight revision - I elaborated on the National Day of
Mourning demonstration history.
My best,
Terri Jean
The National Day of Mourning A different `Thanksgiving' Perspective
by: Terri Jean
"Brothers, we must be one as the English are, or we shall soon all be
destroyed!" -- Miantinomo (Narraganset) 1642. He was executed by
the colonists and their Indian government allies in 1643.
It's that time of year. The holiday originated by poor Pilgrims and their neighborly Indian friends is
about to be set again on Americas' kitchen table. With televised parades and football games, families
gather together to give thanks for the previous year, and to inject heartfelt hope into the year to follow.
All the while a growing number of protesters gather yearly in Plymouth, Massachusetts to mourn the traditional feast. Well, not the feast itself or even the thankfulness it is meant to instill; they grieve the fictional foundation the national holiday sits upon, and with each passing year those protesters continue
to feel the incessant societal slap dispensed to this continents first people.
Myth verses Fact
Like most American schoolchildren, my curriculum included learning the traditional Pilgrim/Indian tale.
You know the story: Chastised Pilgrims seeking religious freedom settle Plymouth, Massachusetts in
1620 and after a harsh, starving winter the neighboring Indians rally to their side and demonstrate how to cultivate food and live off the land. In celebration of harvest, the two groups rejoice in feast and fun in 1621. Since then, and officially in 1898, this country has reenacted that moment by sharing food and drink with neighbors and loved ones.
So how much of the Pilgrim/Indian tale is true? Most of what is known of this time is based on first-hand accounts of Governor William Bradford and another colony leader, Edward Winslow. Some information
from the New England first people has been orally passed down from generation to generation, and the rest is a blend of English record-keeping and European patriotic fiction.
Who were the Pilgrims and the Indians?
The Pilgrims were not simple refugees from England fighting against oppression and religious discrimination. They were political revolutionaries and part of the Puritan movement considered
objectionable and unorthodox by the King of the Church of England. Outcasts and fugitives in their own homeland, they plotted to take over the government. When unsuccessful, they had to relocate or face
prosecution. After several attempts at finding a suitable new home, they elected to try their luck in the New World. Here they thought they could build their own promised land. The Pilgrims also thought themselves as `chosen' Biblical people and saw America's first inhabitants as heathens; products of the devil. In a written text from a sermon in 1623, Mather the Elder praised God for the plagues racing through Native villages. He cheered the death of "chiefly young men and children, the very seeds of increase, thus clearing the forests to make way for a better growth." The "better growth" was, of course, the Pilgrims themselves. It should also be noted that these same Pilgrims who today are admired for their religious convictions and devotion to religious freedom - would not allow the Native Americans to have that same privilage.They looked at the Natives as savages without a religion. The Reverend John Elliot said his intent was to "wynn [win] the
natives of the country to the knowledge and obedience of the onlie [only] true God and Savior and mankinde." Just as the Pilgrims were not the wholesome people portrayed today, the hospitable, helpful Indian characterization is also incorrect. In actuality, the New England Natives were untrusting of Europeans due to their hostile contact with outsiders since 1497. Still remembering the expedition of Captain Thomas Hunt in 1614, who captured 27 people (including Squanto) to sell into slavery, the aboriginal people had good reason to suspect the Pilgrims of ominous deceit.
The `first' Thanksgiving wasn't a Thanksgiving at all
In December of 1620 a splinter group of England's Puritan movement set anchor on American soil, a land already inhabited by the Wampanoag Indians. Having been unprepared for the bitter cold weather,and
arriving too late to grow an adequate food supply, nearly half of the 100 settlers did not survive the winter.
On March 16th, 1621, a Native Indian named Samoset met the Englishmen for the first time. Samoset spoke English, as did Squanto, another bilingual Patuxet who would later serve as interpreter between the
colonist and the Wampanoag Indians, lead by Chief Massasoit. A peace treaty was agreed upon between Governor John Carver and Chief Massasoit, and 12,000 acres of land was granted to the colonists. As for the infamous 1621 feast we Americans refer to as `The First Thanksgiving' - the reasons and events are speculative. Some say, as we've been taught, that the meal was a feast of appreciation between two different groups of people celebrating a successful harvest and friendship. Others say it was a meeting over land title and treaty matters - an `official conference' between two nations ... and nothing more. And yet there are authors who claim the dinner was a sympathetic gesture from the Natives who took pity on the Pilgrims. When examining the reality of that time, the probable explanation was the land and peace treaty meeting. Personally, I doubt if there were actual profound kinships between the two. History had already set in place feelings of distrust. The English probably knew of the French who were killed on the eastern shore before them, and the Indians knew of English, Spanish and French who had come to their lands to
kidnap their people. With that history it is doubtful that either community opened their arms to their neighbor, especially the Native people who originally held the land and may of looked to the Pilgrims
as invadors. It is probable, though, that the two nations were hospitable and eagerly agreed upon peace between them. Neither, I would assume, would invite conflict into their communities; an amicable relationship would of been desired by all parties involved. In 1622 propaganda started to circulate about what would LATER be referred to as the `First Thanksgiving'."Mourts Relation", a book written to publicize the so-called wonderfulness of Plymouth, told of the meeting as a friendly feast with the Natives. The Pilgrims glamorized the situation, possibly in an effort to encourage more Puritans to settle in their area. By stating that the Native community was warm and open-armed, the newcomers would be more likely
to feel secure in their journey to New England. An End to Peace
Though Massasoit agreed to peace with the English, other Native Indian's did not. As their land was seized and occupied from Maine to Connecticut, various tribal communities fought back. When one group would raid a village, the other would retaliate. Often times the English, who eventually greatly outnumbered the aboriginal people, would massacre entire villages. In 1637 700-800 Pequot Indian women, men and children gathered in their village for an annual celebration. Unbeknownst to them, they were surrounded by English who burned them alive while in their homes and buildings. Those who tried to escape were killed. When Massasoit died in 1656 it would be the end to peace established between the colony and the Wampanoag. Massasoit's son, known as Alexander, inherited his father's duty but when Alexander died under mysterious circumstances following a meeting with the Pilgrims, conflicts would erupt. Massasoit's youngest son, Metacoment (called King Philip by the English) became chief at the young age of 24. Always leery of the settlers, and with the death of his brother, which he blamed on poison from the Pilgrims, his father's dedication to peace dissipated. As the colonies grew in size, so did the need for more land. The Pilgrims, once few in number, swelled to well over 40,000. The Wampanoag strength weaken to a few thousand - mostly due to disease and warfare. The atmosphere between the two cultures was aggressive and in 1675 King Philip called for reinforcements from neighboring tribes. When word reached the English that King Philip was gathering forces, they took militant action and soon a war broke out between the two. What would later be known as King Philips War began in 1675. That same year the Plymouth Pilgrims captured 112 Indians and sold them into slavery. King Philip fought with joining tribes but to no avail. They were outnumbered and in 1676 the war was over. On July 22, 1676 the English rounded up what was left of Philips people and sold every male over the age of 14 into slavery. All others would be servants to
the Pilgrims. Philips wife and 9 year old son were also sold, and Philip - who was then thought to be a demon - was killed, quartered and his head would be displayed in Plymouth for nearly 30 years.
"The English disarmed my people. They tried them by their own laws, and assessed damages my people could not pay." King Philip, 1676
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