While many of us traditionally celebrate Thanksgiving with friends and family, we need to be aware of the true meaning of the first Thanksgiving. Our current understanding of the holiday changes history, which celebrated attempts to eliminate the people that inhabited the land white Europeans invaded and stole.

HISTORY

What Does Thanksgiving Mean to Native Americans?

There are always two sides of a story. Unfortunately, when it comes to the history of Thanksgiving, generations of Americans have been taught a one-sided history in homes and schools. The dominant cultural and historical story has been told from the perspective of the white colonialists who landed near Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts in 1620.

Did you know that November is Native American Heritage Month? Thanksgiving Day is a day of mourning for many Native Americans. Did you know that November 27th, known to most as Black Friday, is Native American Heritage Day?

VIDEOS

Native American Girls Describe the REAL History Behind Thanksgiving (Teen Vogue)

Why These Native Americans Observe A National Day Of Mourning Each Thanksgiving

NATIVE LAND MAP

If you don't know which Native American people lived on the land that you now inhabit, check out this map and Territory Acknowledgement Guide. Native Land Digital creates spaces where non-Indigenous people can be invited and challenged to learn more about the lands they inhabit, the history of those lands, and how to actively be part of a better future going forward together.

HONOR NATIVE LAND: A GUIDE AND CALL TO ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We’re all on stolen land, whether we care to admit it or not. Land acknowledgments are a way for companies and individuals to identify wrongdoing, build new relationships with Native communities, and push for change in how we interact with the land going forward. 

WHERE YOU CAN GO TO SUPPORT INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Crushing Colonialism

Indigenous Rising: An Indigenous Environmental Network Project

Nalgona Positivity Pride

NDN Collective

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