The myth of Thanksgiving
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 24 November 2021
⏱️ ? minutes
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Summary
This year marks the 400th anniversary of the “first Thanksgiving” between English pilgrims and Wampanoags in Massachusetts. But historians say the true story of what happened bears little resemblance to the myth that many Americans learn in grade school.
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In 1621, some pilgrims and some Wampanoags shared a feast. It wasn't the first meeting between the two groups and it wouldn't be the last, but for many reasons — including the American Civil War — the anniversary of that meal took on both an outsized importance and a whitewashed simplicity.
This year, in honor of the 400th anniversary of that meal, Post reporter Dana Hedgpeth wanted to hear the Wampanoags’ side of the story.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Tell us where we are, Darius. |
| 0:03.5 | We are at the old Indian Meet & House here in Mashpee. |
| 0:08.0 | For the Mashpee Wampanoag. |
| 0:09.0 | That was built back in 1684. |
| 0:11.7 | This is Darius Cooms. |
| 0:13.2 | Use the cultural outreach coordinator for the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe. |
| 0:16.6 | It's the oldest Meet & House in the United States today. |
| 0:19.9 | When you come into this building, it holds a lot of power. |
| 0:23.9 | I can feel the power right now. |
| 0:26.1 | My ancestors right here because our graves are right outside where we bury our ancestors. |
| 0:29.9 | For hundreds, 10,000 years. |
| 0:33.4 | Post reporter Dana Hedgepath met Darius in Mashpee, a small town on Cape Cod. |
| 0:38.8 | And she asked him to take her to some sites that are important to the Wampanoag. |
| 0:43.4 | It is the most powerful building that I've ever been in in my life. |
| 0:49.5 | I mean, he unlocked that building and the smell of this deep, seater wood and pine just |
| 0:55.4 | open up. |
| 0:57.0 | There's something special. |
| 1:05.6 | For more than 10,000 years, the Wampanoag lived in what is now Massachusetts, fishing off |
| 1:10.6 | the Cape and maintaining the land around them. |
| 1:13.6 | They built dozens of villages and developed an elaborate system of messengers to communicate |
| 1:18.4 | between them. |
| 1:19.8 | Then the first Europeans arrived. |
... |
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