Thanksgiving land acknowledgement

By: Ela Mody

The nationally celebrated holiday “Thanksgiving” happens on the 4th Thursday of November every year. The concept of “Thanksgiving” stems from the story of the Pilgrims and Native Americans sharing a meal and being friends after the Mayflower landed. This story is taught in schools starting as early as pre-school where students even dress up in costumes to tell the story. The problem is, that this story isn’t true. The true story is different then what we have been intentionally told. The Wampanoag peoples first encountered the Pilgrims at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. Contemporary celebrations of the Thanksgiving holiday focus on the idea that the “first Thanksgiving” was a friendly gathering of 2 disparate groups who shared a meal in harmony. The assembly of these people had much more to do with political alliances, diplomacy, and an effort at rarely achieved, temporary peaceful coexistence. Although Native American people have always given thanks for the world around them, the Thanksgiving celebrated today is more of a combination of Puritan religious practices and the European festival called Harvest Home. The “Thanksgiving feast” with the pilgrims and Wampanoag people was actually a pretty insignificant gathering. It was just a gathering and didn’t signify a unification. The Native Americans then later experienced massacre, tragedy, disease, erasure and forced removal off their original lands at the hands of these Pilgrims. It has since been romanticized but it was really colonial violence against Indigenous people. It wasn’t even created as a holiday until 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. Today, many Indigenous people observe a “Day of Mourning” instead of celebrating Thanksgiving. 

We must acknowledge the true history and give back to Indigenous peoples in ways that we can. One way we can do that is by land acknowledgement. You can find out whose land you are on at www.native-land.ca

Here is my land acknowledgement:

“My name is Ela Mody. I was born in Akron, Ohio and have lived in this area ever since. I live on the lands of the Erie peoples and Mississauga peoples. The land was taken from these peoples after the Treaty of Greenville, where the “United States” gained control of most of current day Ohio, some of current day Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. They wanted to take hold of the region and have a claim to the area. My family immigrated to the United States in the late 1900’s. Though my family has not been in the United States a long time, we still live on land that was stolen from its original inhabitants. I am able to live on this land but the original inhabitants were exploited and removed.” 

Other ways non-Native people can give back is through donations and financial support. It could be donating to an Indigenous-led organization or it could be to small mutual aids. 

Here are some Indigenous run organizations you can donate to:

Some on Instagram

@iiycfamily

@wetsuweten_checkpoint

@frontlinemedics

@protectmaunakea
@ancestorsfuture
@seedingsovereignty
@lilnativeboy
@indigenouswomenhike
@therednationmovement
@indigenouskinshipcollective

Some others

Navajo Water Project

Native American Rights Fund

Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance

Sovereign Bodies Institute

You can also read books by Native authors about their cultures and histories or support Indigenous businesses and creatives. 

As a non-Indigenous person, I am working on being an ally to Indigenous peoples, not just a few days of the year but every day. These are just some of the ways we can recognize and support Indigenous peoples.