VOA News | Thursday, November 23, 2023 
Native Americans Regard Thanksgiving With Mixed Emotions

Each year on the last Thursday of November, families in the United States gather to celebrate Thanksgiving. It was originally intended as a day of prayer and gratitude — not just for good harvests but for a leader’s good health or success in battle. Today, the holiday revolves around a sentimentalized retelling of the 1620 landing of Puritan refugees at Plymouth, Massachusetts, and the harvest feast they shared with local Wampanoags. That version omits the fact that 17 years later, Puritans would set fire to a fortified Pequot village, burning men, women and children alive. Today, Native Americans regard Thanksgiving with mixed emotions. “Native Americans eat and watch football just like other Americans,” said Shawna Shale, a Quinault woman living in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. “But for some, it is a reminder of a dark past that is hard to celebrate.” She admits that she often wonders how differently life would have turned out if the Wampanoag tribe decided not to ally itself with the Plymouth pilgrims…Read more