Thanksgiving is often celebrated in the United States as a time for gratitude, family, and feasting. The narrative taught in schools and popularized in the media paints a harmonious picture of the Pilgrims and Native Americans sharing a peaceful meal in 1621.

When the first settlers arrived in Jamestown in April 1607 and raised a cross at Cape Henry, claiming the land for England, they may have had a thanksgiving predating their first known observance in 1619. In that year, Berkeley Hundred was settled, one of a number of plantations granted by the Virginia Co. of London to its stockholders.

As many prepare to gather around the table for annual Thanksgiving feasts and celebrations, some might wonder when the tradition started and when it became a national holiday.

Thanksgiving has always been a conflicting time for me as an Indigenous person. Teachers spoke of gratitude and cooperation, but no one ever asked me, the lone Native student in my class, how I felt about it.

While the 1621 feast wasn’t called “Thanksgiving” at the time, it set the stage for a holiday that would become a cornerstone of American culture. The modern version of Thanksgiving was proclaimed a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, during the Civil War, as a time to unite and reflect.

The Pilgrims and Wampanoag shared a harvest feast, but it didn't happen the way you were likely taught in school.