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Origins
of Thanksgiving not at Plymouth Plantation (Letters To Editor)
By
Dr. Gene Norman
Publication: The Green Bay Press-Gazette
Date: November 22, 2000
http://www.hvk.org/
Allouez - On
Nov. 13 in the Lifestyle section of your newspaper, you published a brief
story, "Thanksgiving a myth?" You are correct that Thanksgiving was
NOT from the generosity of the native people at Plymouth Plantation. So
where did it originate?
That answer is
found in documents still in existence in the United Kingdom of the Massachusetts
Bay Colony (MBC). The crown Colony of Connecticut was separated from the
MBC and was given its own governor general who was appointed by the Crown.
In accordance with the documents of the time,
this new governor wanted to eradicate the aboriginal people of his colony (the
Pequot Indians).
So, at their
annual Green Corn Gathering, his troops forced 900 of them into a barn and set
fire to the barn. Anyone trying to escape was shot. Based on that
event, the governor general of Connecticut Colony pronounced a Day of
Thanksgiving.
As the Civil
War was winding down, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the Connecticut
celebration of Thanksgiving as a national holiday in recognition of Gen.
Sherman's solution of the "Indian Question!" In particular, the
Cheyenne, Arapahoe and Sioux people were holding up construction of the
railroads and were resisting the invasion of the lands awarded them by the
Treaty of Fort Laramie because someone found gold there.
So, Gen.
Sherman, also incited by Aberdeen, S.D., Editor L. Frank Baum (author of
the "Wizard of Oz") who advocated the eradication of these people as
the "ultimate solution" (sound familiar?), directed George Armstrong
Custer to seek and destroy all aboriginals in his territory. This resulted
in the massacre of the Washita and the massacre at Wounded Knee.
This
Thanksgiving Day is a national day of mourning of my people. It would be
like Germany feasting and celebrating the Holocaust!
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