"The first Thanksgiving Day feast is generally believed to have taken place in 1621 at Plymouth Colony in an area that eventually would become the state of Massachusetts. It was their second winter away from England, and the Pilgrims were not in good shape.

Accounts vary: Some historical sources say they were barely subsisting on fish, mainly cod, that they got out of the bay. Others say they were starving to death. It’s agreed, though, that these White folk were having a miserable time trying to make it through the winter and might well have perished without help from Natives to the land, some 90 members of the Wampanoag nation.

The newly-discovered potato was considered by many Europeans to be poisonous. But the feast did include fish, berries, watercress, lobster, dried fruit, clams, venison and plums. No turkey, no cranberry sauce, no pumpkin pies — the Pilgrims had gone through all the flour.

These British refugees went on, of course, to not only survive that year, but over time to flourish. And we acknowledge that feast as an occasion of appreciation for what the Indians did, although the aftermath of that interaction has not exactly worked out well for Native descendants, even if you count the advent of casinos.

Idle as the question may be in raising what now is a moot point, this time of year it surely occurs to some minds to wonder, if today’s Native Americans had it to do all over again, should they have rescued the Pilgrims or should they have left well enough alone. The question is posed here to a handful of interviewees, some Native, some White."

Get the Story:
Dwight Hobbes: For Native Americans, there’s less to be thankful for (The Minnesota Spokesman Recorder 11/24)