National Day of Mourning

November 23, 2022 10:31 AM

"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."

Page includes:

- Overview
- Livestream info
- Orientation
- Downloads
- Other campaigns
- 2022 Indigenous Liberation Speaker Series
- 2021 National Day of Mourning Livestream link
- Message to National Day of Mourning 2021 from Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier
- "My grandfather founded the National Day of Mourning to dispel the myth of Thanksgiving. I'm carrying on his legacy."
- Boston.com 2014 Article
- Thanksgiving: A National Day of Mourning for Indians, 1998

posted by aniola (6 comments total)

Thanks for posting!

The History and Mythology of the "First Thanksgiving", a 2021 talk given by Professor David J. Silverman, the author of one of the most highly cited books on U.S. history: This Land is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving.

The mythology of the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving continues to be taught in schools and passed down from one generation to the next. But why do some Native people currently hold a Day of Mourning on Thanksgiving? How did the Pilgrims' voyage to the "New World" become a prominent American origin story? When did the United States first celebrate Thanksgiving and how? And should Americans rethink their interpretation of the holiday?

Our webinar with Prof. Silverman sheds important light on fact vs. fiction as well as the complex relationship between the Wampanoag Indians and Pilgrims, their declared friendship, and the commitment to mutual defense that became a war just one generation after the "First Thanksgiving."

posted by spamandkimchi at 10:47 AM on November 23, 2022 [5 favorites]

Alcatraz Indigenous People’s Sunrise Gathering Thanksgiving 2022

posted by blob at 10:48 AM on November 23, 2022 [1 favorite]

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posted by Splunge at 11:52 AM on November 23, 2022

Since we moved up to the area, we've gone to this a couple times and for the last few years watched online. Depending on both how my flu shot hits me and our kiddo's health, we are hoping to go in-person again tomorrow; it will be our last chance as we are moving soon. I definitely recommend it to anyone who can go. It really made me reframe some things I'd internalized growing up white in America, and I'm grateful to the organizers for offering that opportunity.
posted by solotoro at 5:11 PM on November 23, 2022 [2 favorites]

A Thanksgiving Prayer by William S. Burroughs
posted by jeffburdges at 10:28 AM on November 24, 2022

Soundtrack for National Day of Mourning courtesy of WMBR: Tonto's Fury
posted by condesita at 5:51 PM on November 24, 2022