The Hidden History of Thanksgiving: Confronting America’s Colonial Past

For generations, American schoolchildren have learned that Thanksgiving commemorates a harmonious feast between Pilgrims and Native Americans. However, this sanitized version masks a complex and often painful history that continues to affect Indigenous communities today.

Thanksgiving did not become an official federal holiday until 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln established it during the Civil War. The timing is significant—just one year prior, Lincoln had ordered the execution of 38 Dakota men in what remains the largest mass execution in U.S. history. The Dakota War of 1862 erupted after the U.S. government’s failure to honor treaties led to near starvation among the Dakota people, who fought back against these conditions.

“Thanksgiving was created as an official holiday to foster ‘reconciliation’ between the American government and Indigenous communities,” explains historians who study the period. Yet for many Native Americans, the holiday serves as a day of mourning rather than celebration.

The origins of the first “Thanksgiving” in 1621 also differ markedly from popular narratives. Tisquantum, known in American folklore as Squanto, returned from enslavement in Europe in 1619 to find his entire Patuxet village decimated by European diseases. As the sole survivor of his community, he was then held by the Wampanoag leader Massasoit as a translator.

The event that would later be mythologized as the “first Thanksgiving” actually began when Pilgrim settlers fired guns in celebration of their successful harvest. Hearing gunfire, Wampanoag warriors arrived prepared for conflict, which eventually transformed into diplomatic negotiations and a shared meal.

Many traditional Native American foods—corn, beans, and squash, known as the “three sisters”—remain staples of modern Thanksgiving meals. These crops survived largely because Cherokee women sewed seeds into their clothing hems during the forced relocation known as the Trail of Tears, preserving their agricultural heritage despite government attempts to eradicate Native foodways.

“The notion that Thanksgiving was simply a friendly feast between Indigenous people and settlers is far from the truth,” states Dr. Megan Red Shirt-Shaw, an Indigenous studies scholar. “We must confront the realities of Thanksgiving and the modern standard of living for Indigenous people.”

The romanticized Thanksgiving narrative obscures ongoing crises facing Native communities. Today, approximately 26 Indigenous women and girls go missing daily, part of what advocates call a “silent crisis” of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Federal data consistently shows Native Americans face disproportionate levels of poverty, inadequate healthcare access, and environmental injustice.

Lincoln’s official declaration of Thanksgiving represents what many Indigenous scholars consider one of the most significant revisions of American history. By emphasizing a peaceful shared meal rather than centuries of displacement and violence, the holiday’s modern incarnation contributes to historical amnesia about colonization’s impacts.

For mixed-heritage and inter-tribal Native people, this erasure compounds generational trauma. Many spend Thanksgiving reconnecting with their heritage through family documents, birth certificates, and letters from relatives who survived residential schools—government-backed institutions designed to “kill the Indian, save the man” through forced assimilation.

“I cannot find myself to hold gratitude for a country that continues to rewrite history,” notes one Native writer. “Colonialism is often silent, but costly.”

As Americans gather around tables this November, Indigenous advocates encourage a more honest reckoning with the holiday’s complex legacy. They suggest that true reconciliation requires acknowledging historical truths rather than perpetuating comfortable myths—a process that may feel uncomfortable but offers a path toward healing deep historical wounds.