The Real Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving as a national holiday, originally, had absolutely nothing to do with the Pilgrims and the so-called Indians; and it had nothing to do with colonialism or the Europeans who settled amongst the indigenous inhabitants on America’s east coast in the 17th Century. It was established during the Civil War in 1863, several months after African Americans joined the war effort and changed the trajectory of this nation’s future and restored the faith that slavery would not divide and destroy this country (Loewen, 2007, Lincoln, 1863) .

President Lincoln expressed gratitude that the union would not be broken and gave thanks that no foreign nation had chosen a side and joined the fray. He said, “In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity . . . peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union” (Lincoln, pg. 1). In an effort to build patriotism and foster unity in a war torn country, Lincoln said that all Godly blessings bestowed upon the people living in America and upon America itself should be graciously and reverently acknowledged in solemnity and unity; so he proclaimed the third Thursday of November a national holiday, Thanksgiving (Lincoln, 1863).

Many disgruntled Confederates refused to recognize Thanksgiving, for obvious reasons, and then approximately thirty years later the entire narrative was changed and the fairytale about the Pilgrims and the Indians was concocted (Jarvie, 2017). We should all be grateful that no lie can stand forever; and when we sit down to break bread with our family and give thanks to God, who has brought us from a mighty long way, we should also give thanks for the ancestors who fought for freedom and saved this nation.

WORKS CITED
Jarvie, J. (2017). In America, there was a time when even ‘Thanksgiving’ was a fightin’ word: The L.A. Times. Retrieved From the World Wide Web 22 November 2023: https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-thanksgiving-south-history-20171223-story.html


Lincoln, A. (1863). Thanksgiving Proclamation: Retrieved from the Worldwide Web: 22 November 2023
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/docs/transcript_for_abraham_lincoln_thanksgiving_proclamation_1863.pdf
Loewen, J.W. (2007). Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. The New Press: New York