The First Thanksgiving - Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1912 to 1915)

Extract

[...] All these details on the painting emphasize this impression, omitting the crucial help of my ancestors. It gives the impression that their arrival was beneficial to us, the Native American populations, while they spread smallpox, killing many tribes, up to several million people. In short, we must not forget the important help of my ancestors to the Pilgrims. We must also stop rewriting history, which makes the Americans the liberating heroes. And finally, we must be grateful for that help, and today we must show more respect for Amerindian culture. [...]

[...] However, let me tell you the whole story. What actually happened differs from what is painted. First, when the Pilgrims arrived in the land of my ancestors, the Wampanoags welcomed them. The first year was very hard on the Pilgrims, with the winter resulting in the loss of half the settlers. The Pilgrims and the Wampanoags established a treaty of mutual aid, with my ancestors teaching them how to fish or plant corn to survive, and the Pilgrims protecting them from the rival Narragansetts. [...]

[...] The First Thanksgiving - Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1912 to 1915) Today, Thanksgiving is one of the most popular national holiday for Americans. It is so followed that they went so far as to advance the date in the year to boost Christmas shopping. Yet most Americans tend to forget the origin of this feast : an act of gratitude to the Wampanoags, natives of this land. As a descendant of the Wampanoags, I can't stand it. And the problem of the origins of Thanksgiving actually raises a bigger problem. [...]