Les 4eLCE vous racontent l’histoire du premier THANKSGIVING !

In today’s social context we felt it is crucial to trace back the story of Thanksgiving and how the original indigenous people of America helped the Pilgrims, so called Americans.

To understand the present, we need to know what happenned in the past. Let’s go back in time a bit !

Thus, today we wanted to educate you about the famous History of Thanksgiving that dates back to 1621.
Before going any further, in 2025, Thanksgiving is a celebration which takes place every four Thursday of November, Americans gather around tables covered with food. Over the feast, they share what they’re most thankful for from the previous year.

But actually the truth is, 404 years ago, was the first Thanksgiving with a big lunch between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag tribe. Thanksgiving is the consequence of the alliance between the King Massasoit and the Pilgrims. This alliance started in 1620, the Pilgrims were not ready when they landed in Cape Cod and had no food, so hey robbed corn from Native graves and storehouses. Half of them still died within their first year. King Massasoit understood an alliance with the Pilgrims could make them stronger, they wear very weak and hated their rival tribe who is the Narragansett.

Let’s go back to 2025, the Americans and Donald Trump love to celebrate Thanksgiving as if it didn’t mean an actual genocide of the indigenous people who actually helped persecuted Europeans to thrive. Besides, Donald Trump would like to take away the birthright of the Natives on their own stolen land, enven though it’s theirs. Here lies the paradox of the birth of the US.

Now, let us talk about the document. Actually, it is an oil on canvas who has been painted by Jean Lean Gerome Ferris in 1915. Now it is keep in private collection in the USA. We called this pice : « The first Thanksgiving ».

After, moving on to what we can gather from on this oil on canvas. First, in the foreground, on the right, we can see people who look important given that they are well dressed and they are standing around a huge table on which there is a lot of food. They stand out : actually, the Pilgrims considered the Wampanoag were inferior human beings, it was the start of racism to Native Americans.
About the food, peoples who seem be Pilgrims are giving food to the other peoples who are sitting on the ground and waitting for eat. We not certain but we suppose it is the Wampanoag Tribe beacause they are wearing both with Indian clothes and feathers. We can also deduce the Wampanoag Tribe has a lower social rank given that they are sitting in the floor and fed by the Pilgrims.

Last, the scene depicted here is a romanticized version and not historically accurate. The clothing worn by the Pilgrims is incorrect, the Wampanoag did not wear feathered war bonnets, nor would they have been sitting on the ground.

Today, we are going to present this new document. The title of the document is « the first Thanksgiving » The nature is oil in canva. He was painted by Jean Léon Jérôme ferry in 1915. It is in private collection in USA.

Before going any further, let us describe Thanksgiving today : every fourth thursday of November, American gather around tables with food. Over the feast they share what they’re most thankful for from the previous year.

To understand the present we need to know what happened in the past. Let’s go back in time a bit.
In 1620, protestant people quit England because King James was note pure enough for this protestantism. Their name was puritains. They left England to go to the Netherlands but they didn’t like this country because their children’s spoke Dutch. Puritains left the Netherlands to go to the New World. They spent 66 days onboard Mayflower in terrible conditions. The Mayflower eventually arrived in America. They were supposed to arrive in Jamestown but because of teacherous storm, they stopped in Massachusetts, in a colony they named  Plymouth because they started from Plymouth in England. Once there, it was harch winter and they didn’t have any food and it was very cold. Half the settlers died. The pilgrims met a tribe whose name was the Wampanoag. They stole offerings from the Wampanoag tribe. The tribe forgave the Pilgrims. Chief Massasoit even signed a pact with them : the Wampanoag tribe would help the Pilgrims to grow crops and get food and the Pilgrims would help the Wampanoag tribe to fight their rival tribe, the Narragansett.

Now, second, let’s present the oil on canvas who names « the first Thanksgiving ».
The scene depicted here is romantized version and not historically accurate. The clothing worn by the Pilgrims is incorrect, the Wampanoag didn’t wear feathered war bonnets, nor would they have been sitting on the ground. Maybe, the author wanted to show the Pilgrims were superior to the Natives because they were not sitting together on the ground.
So, in the middle, we can see a women Settlers who give food to the Wampanoag tribe. The natives are wearing white feathers on their heads and they are also wearing pants made of animals leather. On the right, there are settlers around a table. On this table, we can see food (corn, turkey, venison, seafood, beens … ). On the left, we find a group of Pilgrims and Natives. We can’t be sure, but we guess, they chose venisons or seafood. But the Settlers are wearing the wrong type of clothes because they are wearing clothes of 1800. The same could be said of the Wampanoag who never wore feathers. This goes to show how little accurate this paintying is and how unimportant details actually were for the author. It was just propaganda.

At the top, we can see, behind the village, the sea and the rest of the continent. In the bottom, there is a campfire with oysters shells on the ground. On the right, I can see a chair but this chair is too much beautiful to be in the Mayflower. We can see Massassoit behind the women who offer cakes to, maybe, Squanto. Natives are sitting on the ground whereas the Settlers sit on chairs or around the table. This representation show how settlers feel superior to the Natives. Behind the table, we can see a house. The food that Settlers are serving to Wampanoag tribe is the food Natives gave them before they signed the compact. So the food they are eating is composed from pancakes, beers, rice, and semolina.

In 1620, Thankgiving was 3 day harvest festival with the Native tribe in Plymouth. It was actually just a routine English harvest celebration to mark the end of winter.

Today, a part of American people don’t celebrate Thanksgiving anymore but they celebrate Unthanksgiving. They celebrate Unthanksgiving because ultimately, the colonists massacred the local tribes, including The wanpanoag. So for native americans, the holidays invokes legacy of racism, violence genocide and mistreatment.

Everyone knows about Thanksgiving, but… do you know the real story ?

First, it started in 1620 when Pilgrims arrived in the New World : what would be called America. They were supposed to arrive in Jamestown. But they failed because of trecherous storms so they settled in Massachusetts, Cape Cod, in a colony they called Plymouth. They were very hungry because they didn’t know how to hunt. This caused fifty deaths among the pilgrims.

Fortunately enough, they happily find help from the tribe of the Wampanoag. Massassoit, the king of the tribe understood an alliance with the Pilgrims could make them stronger and the Pilgrims would help them to fight against their rival tribe the Narragansett. So to celebrate the help of the Massassoit’s tribe they invited them to a 3-day harvest festival, later called « Thanksgiving.» It’s the day where the Pilgrims celebrated the Wampanoag with a big meal  of turkey, corn, seafood nuts and fruits roat and herbs, venison.

But today it’s just a national holiday where people eat turkey with their family. It’s literaly hypocritical because, first of all, it was just a tradition to celebrate the end of winter called a « harvest festival ». Back in 1637 the settlers began a genocide, they killed all the Narragansett tribe but also the Wampanoag tribe. So today the Natives are calling for a new holiday called “Unthanksgiving day” to commemorate all the unjust Native deaths.

Now let’s talk about how the painting is totally a fantasy. This document is an oil on canvas made by Jean Leon Gerome Feris in the USA in 1915. This oil an canvas is kept on a private collection. The title is « First Thanksgiving »
Well the scene decipted here is a romancitized (idealized) version and not historically accurate. The clothing worn by the Pilgrims is incorrects, the Wampanoag did not wear feathered war bonnets, nor would they have been sitting on the ground.

Next, let’s describe what we can see on this oil on canvas. First in the foreground, at the bottom, on the ground we can see a cauldron with lots of oyster shells around it. In the middle we can see many people, it’s the Pilgrims and the Natives Americans who eat their “First Thanksgiving”. There are grown-ups, children and a dog too. We may be me wrong but we think the dog is the Pilgrims’ because it’s a English-Setter and the colonist are English. On the right there is a big meal on a table with one chair. In the middle there is a women who gives some food to a Native. After, in the background in the top right hand corner there is a little house, maybe it is usedas a reserve for food. Behind all the bush there is the sea in the far distance, we may be wrong but we think it’s the Atlantic Ocean. At last on the left there is a crowd where many people are chatting. Notice how the Natives are eating on the ground…

Now you know the real story of thanksgiving !

Do you know the real story of Thanksgiving ? Besides what America sells us, I don’t think so… we are going to tell you the real story !

Well, first, let us present the document. This document is an oil on canvas by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris. It was painted in 1915. It is preserved in a private collection. The title of this painting is “The first Thanksgiving.”

The story began in England. Some people were not very happy. King James I wasn’t puritan enough, because he was Anglican. They wanted to be separated from the Anglican church so they called themselves separatists. The separatists were persecuted so they decided to leave the country in 1620. The Pilgrims traveled for two months onboard a ship called the Mayflower. They arrived at Cape Cod. Sixteen men went to discover the land, find food and fresh water but they didn’t know how to hunt. They stole some corn from the natives tombs because they were starving. Indeed, the natives would leave food on the graves of their dead such as corn. Then the natives attacked the Pilgrims because of this. No one was killed.

In December the Pilgrims built New Plymouth. Fifty two passengers were killed by diseases. In the spring, a native, who was called Samoset, came to do an alliance with the Pilgrims. They agreed to the alliance which was that the Pilgrims would have to help the Wampanoag fight against the Narragansett and in return the natives would teach the Pilgrims how to hunt and cultivate the land. Squanto was a native English speaker and he taught the Pilgrims how to hunt and cultivate the land. The Pilgrims invited the natives to eat a big meal and this is the scene which is represented in the painting.

Now let us present the painting. The painting represents the first Thanksgiving.
In the foreground, you can see the Pilgrims giving food to the natives who are sitting on the ground while they are sitting on chairs around a table. The Indians are represented half naked while the Pilgrims are well dressed. The painting does not represent reality. The Pilgrims’ outfits are wrong and the natives didn’t wear feathers in their hair. This scene is romanticized because everyone is getting along. Each party looks friendly with each other.

This festival « The First Thanksgiving », came about because the very first harvest festival was held in 1621. Thanksgiving lasted 3 days. 

One year later, the Pilgrims killed the Wampanoag tribes. This story is so unfair and unjust!! This is why Thanksgiving is more like Unthanksgiving…