From the start of the Thanksgiving holiday in 1863, Euro-Americans have romanticized the observance of this historic interracial event of 1621 New England. For all their noble intentions, however, this holiday suffered censoring and stereotyping as Euro-American Victorians, then the Edwardians, attempted to mold history to the demands of their genteel sensibilities.
Still today, for all the advances of ethnic minorities in America in recent history, the Thanksgiving holiday has continued steady in Victorian and Edwardian traditions and stereotypes that harbor historical deceit.
Indeed, scarce few American families today enjoy emotional connection with the originating history. Somehow the perceived "true story" got itself permanently relegated to the status of a fourth grade story that adults already know, and don't particularly want to hear again.
At this point in time it isn't that Americans are against the idea of being honest with our history, it's that they are on automatic pilot where holiday traditions are concerned, and they honestly don't know that they don't know the real history is missing.
As a nation that loathes our own ignorance, and that consistently demonstrates a heart for the oppressed, it's time we wake up and come full circle in our own healing process by embracing the treasures of our heritage, for better or for worse.
To this end America is being hailed to join a grassroots movement to put 1621 back into the holiday of Thanksgiving. With a little imagination it can prove a magically entertaining hobby for families, and has the added benefit of cultural enrichment.
Our family has discovered this magical alternative, and not only is it more fun than former traditions, but it has led us to cross new ethnic bridges of understandin... right at home where the heart is.
As our story goes, we were originally motivated by holiday boredom to start digging up our nation's past in hopes of using it to make our annual Thanksgiving get-togethers more enjoyable. We were actually only after historical how-to information for setting a period-authentic table, and perhaps some instructions for a few authentic games.
But what we ended up discovering was a whole different world; one that none of us had heard of before.
The first real eye-opener was our discovery of the little known true-life story of Squanto -- the Native Wampanoag man who provided survival-skills training to the Mayflower Pilgrims. Like most middle age Americans, I personally did recall being told he spoke English, but I could not for the life of me recall ever being told how he learned it.
This Native ally, Squanto, learned to speak English as a result of being taken into Europe to be sold as a slave. Although he didn't end up a slave, he was there against his will for five years.
The great irony is that his ability to speak English is what made the 1621 English thanks-giving feast possible.
In addition to Squanto's story, our family also came to hear for the first time the unfavorable Thanksgiving sentiments held by certain segments of our Native-American and African-American populations. These fellow countrymen are openly incensed by the farce that Thanksgiving continues to be so full of stereotypes and lingering sanitization, that their hearts rail against it.
It appears that nobody is listening, but perhaps it is simply that nobody knows quite how to respond.
How do we adjust the auto pilot, and reinstate the less romantic parts of the whole "all-American" story? Slavery is still a taboo topic in many circles.
For starters it would help if more Americans understood the dog-eat-dog nature of the 1621 slave trade. In those days not only were Europeans preying on Africans and Native Americans, but Africans were preying on Africans, and North Africans were preying on Europeans.
What went around, came around.
But regardless of how it all went down, it remains that we are in need of creative ways to remove our holiday blinders, and face the real history. Being slow to do so has been like telling any trauma survivor that their story isn't important.
Which only wounds the trauma survivor all over again.
Which brings us to the reasons why our family believes so strongly in the "new" old-world way to celebrate this cultural holiday. Along with the obvious charms of this alternative, there are also fresh, realistic ways to approach the difficulties of our interracial beginnings.
For example, one tradition that we are adding this year is the placement of leg irons in the center of our Thanksgiving dinner table. For us it is definitely not about shame, but about love; this is an expression of our love toward our interracial and multi-cultural American family.
We are responding to those who have asked for historical reinstatement.
May there be peace in our expression: "We hear you, we love you, and we will never forget."
And we hope that more American families will join with us and begin the Thanksgiving time travel journey in pursuit of reconnecting with our true "all-American" history. It turns out to be an amazing boon to holiday entertainment, and a powerful heritage trip very much worth taking.
The heart tells us so.
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