Thanksgiving: Warm Welcome K12

If you had been alive in 1620 and you asked about the Pilgrims, there's a good chance no one would have understood who you were talking about. What were the passengers from the first ships that sailed to New England called?

• The Originals

• Planters

• First Comers

• New Kids on the Block

Answer explanation

Primary sources from the time refer to all passengers from the first ships that sailed to New England as "First Comers." That includes people who came on the Mayflower.

The word "Pilgrims" wasn't used to describe the earliest Plymouth settlers during their lifetimes.

What year do we see Plymouth Rock mentioned in primary sources?

• 1741

• 1600

• 1620

• 1774

Answer explanation

There is absolutely no mention of the rock in any of the primary sources from the seventeenth century. Nobody even talked about the rock until 1741.

Plymouth Rock became a lot more famous in 1774, on the eve of the Revolutionary War, when a group of Plymouth citizens chose the rock as a symbol for the Patriot cause.

What was the land that became Plymouth like when the English arrived?

• A wild, unsettled place.

• Containing nothing of great value or interest.

• Having a great many cabins and gardens.

• A hideous and desolate wildnerness.

Answer explanation

The English often wrote about their new home as a wild, unsettled place. William Bradford called it "a hideous and desolate wilderness."

However, when Champlain explored the area in 1605, he described it as having "a great many cabins and gardens," and he wrote of meeting Native people out fishing in canoes.

The truth is, the Wampanoag people had lived there for more than 12,000 years. They'd built homes there, raised their families, and farmed the land long before the English ever showed up.

When the English landed, they didn't see any people. Where were all the Native people whose homes Champlain had drawn on his map?

• Hiding because they feared the Pilgrims.

• Dead due to an epidemic brought by Europeans.

• Relocated to another village.

• Visiting other tribal communities.

Answer explanation

The English we have historically called "Pilgrims" weren't the first Europeans to visit the area we now call New England. French, Dutch, and English fishermen had been visiting for a hundred years. When they came, they brought diseases that the Native people hadn't been exposed to.

One of those diseases sparked an epidemic that spread through the region from 1616 to 1619.

Before 1616, the Wampanoag nation was made up of as many as 100,000 people in 69 different communities. The epidemic killed up to 90% of the Native people of the region.

It wiped out the entire community of Patuxet - where Plymouth is now.

Image: Wampanoag mishoons

When did the English and the Wampanoag people begin to develop a relationship?

• About six months before the first Thanksgiving

• About a year and a half before the first Thanksgiving

• When the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth

• At the first Thanksgiving

Answer explanation

The English and Native people began building a relationship about half a year before the first Thanksgiving.

On March 16, 1621 Samoset, and Abenaki man walked into Plymouth. He began to develop a relationship with the Pilgrims and shared information with them. He also told them why other Native people do not trust the English.

Eventually, he brought additional men back with him - one being Tisquantum who became known as Squanto (perhaps because the English messed up his name).

The English and the Wampanoag people began to work out some ground rules to work together. This was a shaky relationship due to many factors: language barriers, distrust, history, etc.

Was the 1621 autumn feast we identify as the "first Thanksgiving" a day of thanksgiving for the English?

• Yes

• No

Answer explanation

The English did have days of thanksgiving that were largely days spent in prayer giving thanks for something important.

The day we refer to as Thanksgiving was not one of those days based on documents from the time.

Does the only real historical reference to the famous fall feast use the words "harvest festival" or "thanksgiving" to describe the event? ​

• Yes

• No

Answer explanation

The two primary sources we have for this event do not refer to a festival, only the harvest.

The only historical mention of this "event" in any document is:

"Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a more special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their great king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others." - Mourt's Relation

What year did Thanksgiving become an official national holiday?

• 1800

• 1620

• 1942

• 1746

Answer explanation

Sarah Josepha Hale, an editor of a popular magazine for ladies, began a campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1837.

Franklin Roosevelt signed legislation to make Thanksgiving an official national holiday to be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November starting in 1942.

This was when America was at war (World War II), and many believe this was seen as a way to bring the country together.

The fourth Thursday in November is observed as the National Day of ______by many. ​

• Celebration

• Reflection

• Mourning

Answer explanation

Since 1970, Indigenous people & their allies have gathered at noon on Cole's Hill in Plymouth to commemorate a National Day of Mourning on the US Thanksgiving holiday. Many Native people do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims & other European settlers. Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands, and the erasure of Native cultures. Participants in National Day of Mourning honor Indigenous ancestors and Native resilience. It is a day of remembrance and spiritual connection, as well as a protest against the racism and oppression that Indigenous people continue to experience worldwide.