On the day before Thanksgiving, Axios published an article titled “Thanksgiving’s Troubled History” by Russell Contreras, the “Justice and Race reporter at Axios.”
Citing “a new generation of historians,” Contreras declares that “Thanksgiving in the United States is based on a mythical feast between the Wampanoag people and Mayflower Pilgrims” and that “the holiday’s real story is mixed with national unity and racial exclusion.”
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Although the Pilgrims came in 1620 and held the First Thanksgiving shortly thereafter, the national holiday which we celebrate didn’t come into existence until 1863. But America was not without Thanksgiving celebrations in the intervening years. As the quotes below demonstrate, days of prayer, fasting, and thanksgiving became a frequent part of American life, particularly during the Revolutionary War.
This Thanksgiving, perhaps we would do well to go beyond our surface gratitude for things like “turkey,” “pie,” and “not having to wash the dishes,” and instead consider many of the benefits they included in their Thanksgiving lists.
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Thanksgiving means a lot more than turkey, cranberries, and pumpkin pie.
More than 401 years ago, courageous pilgrims set sail across the Atlantic Ocean on the Mayflower to start a new life in North America. They arrived at Plymouth on November 11, 1620, after a dangerous crossing and founded a new settlement where they could practice their faith freely.
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November of 1621 marked one-year in the New World for a band of what began as 35 English religious separatists and 67 entrepreneurs who had landed on the shores of New England. In their first winter, harsh conditions and diseases like pneumonia and scurvy led to the death of forty-five of the original 102.
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Turkey and stuffing. Detroit Lions Football. Turkey Trots. Parades and the arrival of Santa. Followed by frenzied shopping on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Maybe a bit of charity on Giving Tuesday. The ultimate American holiday. What more could you need?
Gratitude. Blessings. Humility. Although historical debate surrounds the origins of Thanksgiving in colonial America, it has a deeply rooted core that today is overshadowed by consumerism and entertainment culture.
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Next year at this time, Americans will mark the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower in 1620 and the subsequent founding of the Plymouth colony by English Separatists we know as the Pilgrims. They, of course, became the mothers and fathers of the first Thanksgiving.
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