Okay, why would Thanksgiving be a national day of morning, but also a day of giving thanks to some folks?

It's complicated. I'm Patty Steele, understanding the Native American perspective. That's next on the backstory.

The backstory is back. We've all just celebrated Thanksgiving a day to celebrate gratitude,

but backstory listener Mark Chambers from Midlothian, Virginia, had an idea for a follow-up

episode to our Thanksgiving story. Thank you, Mark. For Native Americans, Thanksgiving is a day to give

thanks, but for many, it's also considered a national day of mourning.

They mourn what was lost when Europeans discovered, I say that with air quotes, their land, and these completely different cultures came together.

It's a story that's been romanticized over these 400 years, and the beginnings aren't

really as romantic as we think.

The Friday following Thanksgiving is Native American Heritage Day, so it's really important

to remember that North America, and for that matter, South America weren't just vast, empty

land masses.

When Europeans arrived, North America alone

was home to somewhere between five and ten million Native Americans, hard to tell with so many

different tribes. By the way, the English settlers who arrived in 1620 weren't actually called

pilgrims until the mid-1800s, over 200 years after their arrival here.

But by the time they did arrive, the presence of Europeans was already having a disastrous effect on the Native American population,

introducing illnesses like smallpox to tribes they interacted with.

And it was really disastrous to the native way of life.

Now, here's the thing.

The concept of land ownership just wasn't part of their culture.

And it was totally part of European culture.

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