,
6 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
America’s first #Thanksgiving celebrated the massacre of 700 Pequot Indians (incl. women & children) who were peacefully gathered in celebration. English & Dutch settlers set fire to their village, burning hundreds alive, then shot anyone who attempted to escape. 
The massacre, known as the Mystic Massacre, nearly broke the Pequots. Their numbers were so diminished that the survivors were forced to join other tribes. The Pequots who were captured were sold into slavery.
In 1637, Massachusetts Gov. John Winthrop declared a "thanksgiving" for this successful massacre. For the next 100 years, every Thanksgiving Day ordained by a Governor was in honor of the bloody victory, thanking God for the massacre.
Since 1970, Native Americans have gathered in Plymouth, Massachusetts to commemorate a National Day of Mourning on the US Thanksgiving holiday. Many Native Americans do not celebrate the arrival of the European settlers.
To them, Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of their people, the theft of their lands, and the relentless assault on their culture. Participants in a National Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples to survive today.
