In schools all across the country, children are being taught some version of the first "thanks-giving." The recent PBS American Experience documentary series "We Shall Remain" sheds some light on the origins of the holiday we have come to call "Thanksgiving Day." An episode entitled, "After the Mayflower," reveals what is most likely the most accurate version of not only the origins of the holiday, but also the full context of first contact between the Wampanoag people and the Pilgrims within which it occurred.“We were the first in doing good to the English and the English the first in doing wrong.”— Metacom/King Phillip (Wampanoag)
This "thanks-giving" contact, which was marked by war, blood, broken treaties, and betrayal, would become a portent of relations between the U.S. and all the nations of North America's first people. You can watch the entire episode of "After the Mayflower" and the rest of the series here.
