Native American Heritage Month is celebrated every year on November 1, to honor the remarkable Native Americans who have made the key contribution to improve the character of the nation. This month is also referred to as the American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month. November is the time to rejoice in diverse and rich cultures, histories, and traditions and to appreciate the great contributions of the Native Americans.

America’s Thanksgiving holiday, born in the 1500s, re-established in 1621, and observed even during the bleakest hours of the Civil War, now stands as one of the nation’s most anticipated and beloved days — celebrated each year on the fourth Thursday in November (November 25, 2021).

Numerous evidences suggest that Spanish explorers and settlers held thanksgiving services during the late 1500s in what is now Florida and New Mexico. It was not until much later that the Plymouth settlers, known as Pilgrims, arrived in the New World. The Wampanoags were the tribe the Pilgrims met first when they arrived near Plymouth Colony as a particularly rough, unforgiving fall and winter set in. Grateful Pilgrims, breaking bread with Indigenous people, celebrated at Plymouth for three days after their first harvest in 1621. The gathering included 50 people who were on the Mayflower (all who remained of the 100 who had landed) and 90 Native Americans.

President Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day in 1863, to be celebrated on November 26 — the final Thursday of the month. The U.S. has observed Thanksgiving ever since. in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared November’s fourth Thursday as Thanksgiving rather than the fifth one. A 1942 law — making the fourth Thursday a federal holiday — has stood ever since.

The complete truth is much more complicated than just the historical dates. We are learning now about the forced relocation to reservations, the territorial acquisition by European settlers, the nationwide oppression of Native people to name a few. Thanksgiving will be a little different this year. Americans will travel less and spend less time with family, making it more important than ever that they find some new and creative ways to express what they are thankful for. This is time to begin being an ally to Native Americans, learn more about the historical truth, reflecting on the fact that the Pilgrims could only settle at Plymouth because of Native Americans, talking about all of this at the dinner table with your family.  

Read

Learn about Native American tribes and their real relationships with Pilgrims
Holocaust Museum Houston

For Many Native Americans, Thanksgiving is a day of Mourning
CNN

The effects of climate change on indigenous peoples
United Nations

Donate

The Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness

North American Indian Center of Boston

American Indian Science and Engineering Society

Attend

52nd Annual National Day of Mourning
November 25, 2021at 12:00PM in
Cole's Hill, Plymouth, MA