Katey Ann Klingel
History Open-Note Timed Research Article Writing
As a kid, my mom used to make me stand at the top of the stairs and wait until Thanksgiving dinner was ready. The smell of buttery turkeys, fresh apple pie, and gravy trickled its way up into the second level of my house making me nearly drool for the hidden foods downstairs. As I started doing research on the topic of Thanksgiving’s true origin, I realized that I had it all wrong. I believed it was made because the Indians and the American’s were in harmony and ate turkey and pie together. However, I was very mistaken, and the real stories had never been told to me. Thanksgiving has been recreated over the years into a holiday that appeals to the likes of modern individuals as the times have changed. Through untold history and false publicity, Thanksgiving’s true past has been hidden. It all started with the stories that were hidden from the present day people.
The origin of Thanksgiving is known to be one of peace and prosperity, yet is actually completely unknown. Throughout my research, I realized that origin of the dinner between the Pilgrims and Indians was unknown, and there were two times more Indians there than Pilgrims. There also are disagreements on who or what started Thanksgiving, whether it was the dinner, or the Squanto’s being sold as slaves, or the massacre of the Pequot people. The history of these Indians and Pilgrims was much more gruesome and unknown to the modern generation as to hide the horrible acts the U.S. did during this time. A man named Squanto helped the Pilgrims figure out the grounds of the land they were on, only to be later captured and sold in England. After he was released, he came back to find his whole population died from illness. Go forward a few hundred years to Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale, a writer and editor, who fought for years to claim a national holiday of Thanksgiving. When I read the History.com article (Abraham Lincoln and the “Mother of Thanksgiving”) on this lady I found a new appreciation for the work that was put into Thanksgiving. She wrote the President and argued that the uniting of the country could happen through a national holiday, and the south and north can agree under a specific day. Lincoln and Jefferson both signed off on it, but most Americans have never heard about the lady who fought for this large day. There are many blurred beliefs from the real occurrence of the origin of Thanksgiving the history books fail to show or write. They want to make it seem peaceful so that the modern people can see a positive country that started it, not one of betrayal or massacre. As I researched this my views on the subject changed drastically, and I now see a new side of Thanksgiving. The next reason for a modern misinterpretation is false publicity.
The first thing I would think of when I hear someone say “Thanksgiving” is turkey. It is a well known dish to the famous holiday, yet nobody knows if turkey was actually even served to the Indians and Pilgrims at their feast. As the years went on groups of food places began to sell the turkey and claimed it was a food everyone had to get because “Natives ate it” (Smithsonian.com, “The Invisible Way That Marketers Set the Menu for Your Thanksgiving Feast”). The modern people wanted this relation to the first Thanksgiving, and believed the cans regardless of what they knew. Eventually, this belief and modern ad makers had achieved their goal, make their product a best seller. Pies is another example of this. According to the Smithsonian article listed above, the Pilgrims and Indians did not even have the proper ingredients to create the pies at the time, and it was very impossible. Yet overtime, pie has been adopted as a Thanksgiving delicacy due to the ads people seem to believe. Movies even create the Indians as evil people, and the Pilgrims as the heros and brave men who fought for the new world. After reading all of the articles I began to realize that my belief on Thanksgiving was completely revolved around false information brought to me by old cartoons and food that was supposed to be “solely for Thanksgiving”.
My research helped me determine that people, including myself, can easily be duped into believing false information. Thanksgiving has adopted and changed itself around modern producers and what they want to sell, show, or tell. Based on the way that the modern world flows, there is no need to mention the truth behind the Thanksgiving meal, so it remains hidden and quiet. This is because the comfort for people that it started in a healthy and loving way makes people feel relaxed and not uncomfortable. This experience has changed my view on the true meaning behind Thanksgiving, and appreciating the little things that went into it.
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