not trying to spoil the holiday
Nov. 25th, 2011 12:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pastwatcherFor me Thanksgiving is necessarily divorced from the pilgrim stories: it is a day to be with my family, possibly to give thanks. But not so for everyone.
"Myth #11: Thanksgiving is a happy time.
Fact: For many Indian people, "Thanksgiving" is a time of mourning, of remembering how a gift of generosity was rewarded by theft of land and seed corn, extermination of many from disease and gun, and near total destruction of many more from forced assimilation. As currently celebrated in this country, "Thanksgiving" is a bitter reminder of 500 years of betrayal returned for friendship."
I imagine every American reading this post knows much about how the pilgrim story is a problematic myth. But this is a well-written short article with a good amount of research behind it, so I (as someone usually bad at history) find its accounts easy to remember. Also, I love sources that give us access to knowledge from oral traditions that I likely could not look up.
"Myth #11: Thanksgiving is a happy time.
Fact: For many Indian people, "Thanksgiving" is a time of mourning, of remembering how a gift of generosity was rewarded by theft of land and seed corn, extermination of many from disease and gun, and near total destruction of many more from forced assimilation. As currently celebrated in this country, "Thanksgiving" is a bitter reminder of 500 years of betrayal returned for friendship."
I imagine every American reading this post knows much about how the pilgrim story is a problematic myth. But this is a well-written short article with a good amount of research behind it, so I (as someone usually bad at history) find its accounts easy to remember. Also, I love sources that give us access to knowledge from oral traditions that I likely could not look up.
