The real Thanksgiving story

[TexasTowelie]

By Caro Gonzales (Chemehuevi) and Brian Ward

EVERY YEAR, Americans sit down at the dinner table to celebrate feasts of friendship and cooperation. We make crafts in school, we eat pumpkin pie, we watch football, and we feel incredible love for our country. However, there's a side of Thanksgiving that we aren't taught.

Thanksgiving is a U.S. holiday that continues to perpetuate the myth of the discovery of America. Usually, folks think of the Pilgrims, also known as Puritans, and Indians sitting together at a table, peacefully sharing a meal, but this pleasant story is a half-truth at best.

Thanksgiving became a federal holiday in 1863, but it really began to be a firm, albeit not national, holiday during the presidency of George Washington--a president elected for his leadership as a general during the American Revolution. During the revolution, many Natives sided with the British out of fear of that a new central government on the continent would seek to expand.

Washington, like many early American military leaders, gained experience fighting Native Nations. Washington was also a land speculator and, upon independence, immediately started planning Westward expansion and land theft.

Read more: http://socialistworker.org/2014/11/26/the-real-thanksgiving-story

[NYC_SKP]

1. I feel neither love of country nor honor of our faux history at this time of year.

.

I do count my blessings and share the spirit of giving and of family and friendships.

There is a lot for which to be thankful, every year, every day, and I just go with that.

This Washington version of the roots of Thanksgiving is but one of many, some going back to the 17th century and others much further, to a celebration of the harvests.

This is a good book on the history of the day:

In this, the first in-depth study of the most American of holidays, James Baker sweeps away lingering myths and misconceptions to show how this celebration day was born and grew to be an essential part of our national spirit. Thanksgiving: The Biography of an American Holiday opens with an overview of the popular mythos of the holiday before discussing its possible religious and cultural precedents. This classic Yankee holiday is examined in historical and contemporary detail that embraces everything from proclamations, sermons, and local and regional traditions to family reunions, turkey dinners, and recipes. Thanksgiving’s evolving face is illustrated with charming and often revealing period prints that chart our changing attitudes: the influence of Victorian sentiment in Thanksgiving’s development, Progressive utilitarianism, intellectual “debunking,” patriotic wartime reclamation, and 1960s-era protest. Thanksgiving remains controversial up to the present day, as Mayflower descendants, Native Americans, and commercial exploiters compete for the American public’s opinion of the holiday’s contemporary significance and its future status. This is an intelligent and illuminating introduction to a beloved holiday and a fascinating cultural history of America and Americana.


http://www.amazon.com/Thanksgiving-Biography-American-Holiday-Revisiting/dp/1584658010/ref=sr_1_17?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417061800&sr=1-17&keywords=real+thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!