The First Thanksgiving: What Really Happened — Transcript

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1. 0:00The first Thanksgiving. American schools generally teach a conventional story
2. 0:04about the meeting of Pilgrims and Indians that finished with an amazing
3. 0:07dinner. The end. But there's more to the tale. This video will explain the events
4. 0:12around the first Thanksgiving and how it's not the image ingrained in
5. 0:15tradition. At the start of the 17th century, southern New England was home to
6. 0:19a variety of busy communities within several confederations. These were the
7. 0:23People of the First Light and they called their home the Dawn Land.
8. 0:26Political leaders were known as sachems and had been trading with Europeans for
9. 0:30over 100 years before the pilgrims. Relations soured only after deceitful
10. 0:35Europeans kidnapped locals to sell as slaves. Permanent European settlement was
11. 0:40impossible due to the already high population of native occupants. But in
12. 0:451616 tradesmen introduced a disease to the Dawn Land, whose inhabitants died in
13. 0:49droves from a lack of immunity. In three years up to 90% were wiped out in
14. 0:53several Confederations, including the Wampanoag. Their head sachem, Massasoit,
15. 0:58was aware of how close they were to being subjugated by their untouched
16. 1:02enemy, the Narraganset. He was determined to save his people from such
17. 1:06a fate. This was the political world the pilgrims were about to enter.
18. 1:10The pilgrims were not called pilgrims by their contemporaries. They were known as
19. 1:14Separatists, a branch of the English Puritans. King James hated Puritans and
20. 1:19began persecuting them in 1604, so the Separatists fled to Holland where they
21. 1:23were free to worship. But because they feared losing their national and
22. 1:26communal identity, the congregation wanted a new place to plant their church.
23. 1:30They decided on America and asked King James for a patent that would grant them
24. 1:34rights to build a colony. They planned to make a profit catching fish to pay off
25. 1:38the debts to their investors. The Mayflower set sail on September 6. Two
26. 1:43months later, Cape Cod was spotted and sixteen men were sent ashore to
27. 1:46inspect the area. Unfortunately the settlers didn't know how to fish, and
28. 1:50food was running out. They resorted to stealing from graves, homes and storage
29. 1:55pits to keep everyone alive. Then came their first hostile encounter with natives,
30. 1:59but no one was killed. on December 12th they reach New Plymouth. They did not
31. 2:04land on any specific rock, but folklore insists they did. Construction began in
32. 2:08January. By winter's end, 44 settlers would be dead from bad conditions.
33. 2:15In March they were surprised when a man named Samoset walked into New Plymouth, greeting them
34. 2:18in English. He told them they were building on top of village called
35. 2:22Patuxet, whose residents had all died from the recent epidemic. It belonged to
36. 2:26the Wampanoag, and their chief, Massasoit, was watching them. The settlers were
37. 2:30eager to trade, so five days later Samoset returned with furs and
38. 2:34companions including Tisquantum. Known famously as Squanto, he had come to tell
39. 2:39them in perfect English that Massasoit had arrived. After years of dealing
40. 2:43with Englishmen, the sachem did not trust the newcomers. Edward Winslow was sent to
41. 2:48be a hostage and declared the settlers' peaceful intentions. Satisfied, Massasoit
42. 2:53walked into New Plymouth and was regally greeted by the governor. A peace treaty was
43. 2:57created, ensuring mutual protection if attacked by enemies.
44. 3:01With the help of Squanto, New Plymouth's settlers began to fare better. He taught them how to grow crops and was
45. 3:05absolutely vital as an interpreter. To the Separatists, he was a gift from God.
46. 3:09But in fact, Squanto had been kidnapped from Patuxet in 1614 and
47. 3:14shipped to Spain to be sold into slavery. he ended up in London at the home of a
48. 3:19merchant who taught him English and arranged for Squanto's returne to the
49. 3:22Dawn Land in 1619. But Patuxet was now gone; wiped away by the epidemic.
50. 3:27Massasoit took him in with suspicion because of his years abroad, but needed a
51. 3:31translator to parley with the newcomers. He eventually sent his warrior Hobamok
52. 3:36to live among the settlers and keep an eye on Squanto. By fall the settlers had a
53. 3:40bountiful harvest and a feast was held to celebrate. Massasoit showed up with 90
54. 3:45warriors and five deer for the meal. For three days the English and Wampanoag ate
55. 3:49and entertained one another. This was the famous first Thanksgiving children learn
56. 3:54about in school. However, the word "thanksgiving" would not have been used by
57. 3:58these settlers to denote a harvest feast. For Puritans, a day of thanksgiving was a
58. 4:03day of fasting while giving thanks to God in prayer. But the story of Pilgrims
59. 4:07and Indians does not end here. During New Plymouth's first year, Squanto had been
60. 4:12up to something. Realizing his substantial power as the
61. 4:15only English speaker of his people, he conceived a plan to overthrow Massasoit.
62. 4:19He persuaded locals he could command the English to make war or peace at his will.
63. 4:23Hobamok was suspicious of Squanto and warned governor Bradford. Soon enough
64. 4:28they discovered Squanto's plot and informed Massasoit, who was furious.
65. 4:32He demanded Squanto be handed over for a swift execution. Bradford refused;
66. 4:37the interpreter was too valuable to give up. But according to the treaty, Squanto's
67. 4:41life belonged in the hands of his sachem. Bradford finally conceded. He was about
68. 4:46to hand over Squanto when an unidentified ship appeared. The alarm it
69. 4:50caused delayed Bradford and worried Massasoit's envoys. Angered and
70. 4:54impatient, they left. The ship carried 60 Englishmen planning to build a colony
71. 4:58near Boston. They abused the Massachusett locals, initiating a
72. 5:02conspiracy to kill the colonists. Warned about the plot, New Plymouth's leaders
73. 5:06launched a preemptive strike to save their impudent countrymen. It bought
74. 5:10peace, for a time. In that time more Puritan settlers arrived, soon
75. 5:14outnumbering the natives. And while the pilgrims' treaty with Massasoit lasted
76. 5:18until the sachem's death, other Puritans were not concerned with such alliances.
77. 5:22Their fanatic religious principles ensured no peace between the two
78. 5:26cultures could last. To Puritans, Native Americans were the "other": wild, savage,
79. 5:31godless. With such an ideology, the outcome was inevitable. If they did not
80. 5:36convert to Christianity and surrender their cultural identity, they had to be
81. 5:40eliminated. The first Thanksgiving was a brief
82. 5:43moment of harmony between two worlds, but sadly it was short-lived. The capitalist
83. 5:47opportunities the Dawn Land presented, combined with zealous puritanical
84. 5:51beliefs, were incentive enough to wipe away the native inhabitants. There is
85. 5:56nothing wrong with sharing a feast of thanks with loved ones, but remember the
86. 5:59true events that started the holiday, and not the fairy tale.