by
Kathryn Page Camp
I wanted to add a
picture of the first Thanksgiving to this post. Unfortunately, the only ones I
found that were clearly in the public domain were also historically inaccurate.
The photo at the head of this post is a good example.* The clothing and
feathers are all wrong, and the position of the two groups, with members of the Wampanoag
nation sitting on the ground and the Pilgrims standing, imply that the Pilgrims were
the dominant race. Since a white woman is handing out the food, the picture could also imply that the Pilgrims provided the feast
and the Native Americans were simply recipients.
As writers, we should be
careful not to make the same mistakes.
When I think of the first
Thanksgiving, I think of friendly Native Americans bringing their knowledge and
skills and provisions to feed the starving Pilgrims. Without that help, the
Pilgrims would have perished.
That’s one of the reasons
I like Thanksgiving. It’s the one time of year when we remember the Native
American participants as the generous people they were.** That’s a lot better
than the frequent stereotype of half-dressed warriors burning homes and
scalping “innocent” white settlers.
But the first Thanksgiving
is only part of the story. The Pilgrims’ thankfulness to the Wampanoag tribe
was an isolated instance. The European immigrants looted Native American
graves, raided their villages, and sold the captives as slaves. White explorers
and settlers passed along diseases that were new in this country. Since the
natives had not built up an immunity, entire communities were wiped out. Then
we destroyed their way of life by seizing the land that supported them and forcing
them to move into the barren areas we didn’t want for ourselves.
Our white ancestors even
sent soldiers to “escort” the Native Americans from the lands we craved to the
ones we scorned. These long, forced marches were filled with hardship, and many
people died along the way. Some Native Americans, such as the Navajos herded
out of Arizona in 1864, were later allowed to return to their homes. But those
were the exceptions. The more common experience was that of the Cherokees in 1838. Driven to Oklahoma over the Trail of Tears, they never did get back home.
Those of us with European
ancestry have many reasons to be grateful to the Native Americans. But it
doesn’t work the other way around.
So when you read or write
about the first Thanksgiving, don’t forget the rest of the story.
__________
* The picture at the head
of this post is by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris and was painted sometime around
1912-1915. It is in the public domain in the United States because of its age.
__________
** I’ve read comments on the Internet complaining that people today think the Pilgrims and the Native Americans merely
shared a meal together, or even that the Pilgrims were the
benefactors rather than the beneficiaries. I can’t say whether those complaints
are valid, but it hasn't been my experience. I learned at school and at home that Squanto and his tribe taught the Pilgrims how to survive, and my children learned the same lesson.
__________
Kathryn Page Camp is a
licensed attorney and full-time writer. Her most recent book, Writers in Wonderland: Keeping Your Words
Legal (KP/PK Publishing 2013), is a Kirkus’
Indie Books of the Month Selection. Kathryn is also the author of In God We Trust: How the Supreme Court’s
First Amendment Decisions Affect Organized Religion (FaithWalk Publishing
2006) and numerous articles. You can learn more about Kathryn at www.kathrynpagecamp.com.
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