Ian Iracheta

Facultad de Filosofa y Letras

Letras Inglesas, Colegio de Letras Modernas
Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico



The Myth of Thanksgiving: Justification for Historical Omissions

In the third chapter of his book Lies My Teacher Told Me, James Loewen debunks the
alleged history of the events that would beget the holiday of Thanksgiving. In it, he paints a
picture that stands antipodally opposed to the elementary-school-advocated account of the events
normally described. Furthermore, he demonstrates that most of the knowledge now held by the
average American about Plymouth and the events thereto pertaining is the product of centuries of
careful filing and outright censorship. It is exactly the reason behind this attrition which will be
the subject of this reaction paper.
The Colony of Virginia was able to bestow upon itself an identity creation myth by virtue
of the character of Pocahontas; this story, because of the extreme one-sidedness of the extant
accounts which helped to forge it, was eagerly believed. The New England Colonies, however,
are a peculiar case. The one-sidedness of the accounts, which, in the case of Virginia works
wonders to sugar-coat the abuse and contumely the natives suffered, is simply not enough to
render whomever hears the story complacent. The reason behind this revolves around the fact that
we, as a culture, have placed them on a pedestal. The result of this is that anything even slightly
morally questionable that they might have done creates immediate strife, as it is the honour of
Americas founding Fathers that is being called into question. The pilgrims have been extolled
so profusely that they have been elevated to the position of a paragon of pious virtue. It is, then,
even more inconceivable to learn that they engaged in questionable behaviour and outright illegal
actions such as hijacking the Mayflower or grave robbing for bowls, trays and dishes, and things
like that. (Loewen W, James. Lies My Teacher Told Me, 86)
Ian Iracheta
Facultad de Filosofa y Letras
Letras Inglesas, Colegio de Letras Modernas
Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico



The social imaginary has a very specific image of the pilgrims. These were people, who,
in their quest
1
for religious freedom, left the safety of Britain and disembarked into the perilous
wilderness wherein they vanquished adversity by means of hard work, sacrifice, and Christian
virtue. Not once is it considered that, for example, Squanto tried, without success, to teach them
to bathe. (Loewen W, James. Lies My Teacher Told Me, 70) Even more importantly, seldom
is the idea of the pilgrims arriving in a virgin continent to ward off primitive tribes (as Henry
Dobyns and Francis Jennings put it) challenged. These notions are so firmly rooted into our
collective imagery that they have influenced historians estimates of pre-colony population
numbers for decades. Now accepted numbers, such as William McNeills estimate of one
hundred million people living in the Americas in 1492, would seem implausible if the continent
had been, in fact, exclusively populated by primitive tribes. The image of the settlers carving out
the colonies with their bare hands out of the untamed wilderness is also a national favourite;
however, the reason for which the pilgrims chose Plymouth in the first place is that it just so
happened to be already designed for human habitation; that is before European diseases wiped
out its indigenous people. A similar case, although not occurring in Plymouth, can illustrate this
point even more clearly: the first Europeans in Ohio found woodlands that resembled English
parks you could drive carriages through the trees. (Mann, Charles. 1491: New Revelations,
286).
Loewen remarks that seldom does he encounter a student that knows about the plagues
that aided the colonization effort. This is simply because pestilence fighting on the side of the

1
The use of the word quest is intentional as it confers a certain epic dimension to the
colonization endeavour. This aspect is also supported by the commonly-held over-romanticised
view of the pilgrims, who, through endless herculean toil, and travail, beat all odds and survived
in the wilderness of New England.
Ian Iracheta
Facultad de Filosofa y Letras
Letras Inglesas, Colegio de Letras Modernas
Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico



pious colonists just does not make for a heart-warming story. Neither does English settlers in in
Jamestown colony selling themselves as slaves to the Indians to avoid starvation. In conclusion,
the New England Colonies provided the perfect creation myth because, with just a little
censorship and selective amnesia, the settlers could be seen as a paragon of Christian virtue.


Bibliography:


Loewen W, James. Lies my Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got
Wrong. New York: New Press, 2007. Print.

Mann, Charles C. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. New York: Vintage
Books, 2006. Print.