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Indigenous people speak out against Thanksgiving ‘myth’ at Day of Mourning in Plymouth

Hundreds of people marched in the rain on Thursday to "tear down settler mythologies."

People march during the National Day of Morning protest on Thanksgiving Day, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on November 28, 2024. An annual tradition since 1970, the National Day of Mourning aims at creating awareness of, and solidarity with, Native peoples and history around the world. Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP

By Lindsay Shachnow

November 29, 2024

2 minutes to read

Hundreds of people descended onto Cole’s Hill in Plymouth on Thursday to “honor Indigenous ancestors and Native resilience” during a National Day of Mourning.

“Many Native people do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims and other European settlers,” United American Indians of New England (UAINE) wrote on its website. “Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands and the erasure of Native cultures.”

A person blows on a conch shell during the National Day of Morning protest on Thanksgiving Day. *(Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP)*

For 55 years, Indigenous people and their allies have gathered at noon above Plymouth Rock to “tear down settler mythologies and speak truth to power,” Kisha James of the UAINE said at the march. Some also fast from sundown the day before through the afternoon of the following day.

In 1970, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts invited James’ grandfather to speak at a banquet celebrating the anniversary of the pilgrims’ arrival. But when state officials saw an advanced copy of the speech — which included details about the atrocities committed against Indigenous people — they prevented him from reading it.

“They told him he could speak only if he were willing to offer false praise of the pilgrims,” James said.

A woman chants with demonstrators. *(Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)*

Instead, Wamsutta Frank James, a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head, decided to organize a group of local Native activists to observe the first National Day of Mourning on Thanksgiving Day. Protesters boarded the Mayflower II, a replica of the 17th-century Mayflower ship docked in the city’s harbor, and buried Plymouth Rock in the sand, James said.

James said the National Day of Mourning is also meant to dispel commonly held beliefs about the “Thanksgiving myth.”

“By sanitizing the English invasion of Wampanoag homelands, the Thanksgiving myth blatantly disregards the true history of the Pilgrims’ arrival in America and the centuries of violence and oppression that Indigenous peoples have endured as a result of the colonization of the Americas,” James wrote in the Washington Post.

A demonstrator raises a flag as marchers gather at Plymouth Rock during the 55th National Day of Mourning on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth, MA. *(Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)*

People gather to listen to speakers during the National Day of Morning protest. *(Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP)*

For those unable to attend Thursday’s event, the UAINE said people can show their support by donating and spreading the word about National Day of Mourning on social media. People can also use Thanksgiving Day as a “teachable moment,” UAINE said, by reading the group’s recommended texts.

Speakers also drew parallels between the treatment of Native Americans and Palestinian suffering amid the ongoing war in Gaza. Lea Kayali, an organizer for the Palestinian Youth Movement, led a chant of “free, free, Palestine.”

“We are mourning with you today,” Kayali said. “This is the bloodied history that colonizers try to cover up with stories like Thanksgiving and Israeli independence, and today we reject those lies.”

Following the speeches, rallygoers withstood the rain as they marched through Plymouth’s historic district.