Product Description

In 1620, English settlers later known as Pilgrims landed in a world that was new to them and settled in a place they called Plimoth, in what is now Massachussetts. Native Americans from a group called the Wampanoag, meaning "People of the Dawn Land," had fished and hunted this land for thousands of years. Without help from their native neighbours, the English settlers would not have survived their first winter in their new home. As it was, nearly half the colony died. In the at Autumn of 1621 these two groups met for a period of three days as part of a very complicated political situation. Over this period, there was feasting to celebrate the harvest, and the English and natives may have sat down together to share food. This was not a religious occasion; nor was it entirely harmonious, but it grew to be so perceived in later American consciousness. After the Civil War, English descendants looking back on this event romanticised it and created from it the modern holiday we know today as Thanksgiving. In October 2000, Plimoth Plantation with the cooperation of the Wampanoag community reenacted the 1621 harvest festival with careful attention to historical accuracy and with deliberate intent to strip away the myths grown up over the centuries. National Geographic photographer Sisse Brimberg captured the event for 1621 in a series of elegant and artistic photographs that give as close a glimpse of 17-century life as we are likely to have in modern times. Ninety Wampanog Indian men plus additional women and children and Plimoth reenactors representing the 52 English colonists participated in this event, making it an unprecedented cooperative effort on the part of Plimoth and the native community to tell the true story of the first year the colonists lived at Plimoth. Readers will learn about 17 century clothing, food, and shelter, plus get a detailed account of the event connected with the 1621 harvest festival. This book makes us look at this historical with a fresh eye and can help readers to hear the many voices that still speak to us from the past.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1896288 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-01
• Released on: 2004-10-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 10.86" h x .14" w x 8.46" l, .39 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 48 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Grace (the I Want to Be... series) and Bruchac (an adviser for the Wampanoag Indian Program at Plimoth Plantation) provide a well-researched, smooth account of the Wampanoag side of the Thanksgiving story. Arguing that "a number of today's assumptions about that event are based more on fiction than on fact," the authors explain a map that shows Wampanoag territory and the ways in which they acted as "caretakers" never owners of the land, and fascinating facts (e.g., the first Bible printed in the New World was in the W“panƒak language). Though some readers may object to the strong tone (e.g., "The history of the English colonies in America is a history of European people imposing their culture, politics, and religion onto Native people"), the authors posit a provocative and convincing view of what actually happened that first Thanksgiving and note that many modern descendants of Native peoples observe the holiday as a national day of mourning. Crisp, clear photographs taken at Plimoth Plantation showing actors in period dress with 17th-century artifacts, coupled with a perspective that children may never have heard, make this the most memorable Thanksgiving volume of the season. Ages 8-12.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Gr 3-5-A considerable amount of information is packed into this pictorial presentation of the reenactment of the first Thanksgiving, held at Plimoth Plantation museum in October, 2000. Countering the prevailing, traditional story of the first Thanksgiving, with its black-hatted, silver-buckled Pilgrims; blanket-clad, be-feathered Indians; cranberry sauce; pumpkin pie; and turkey, this lushly illustrated photo-essay presents a more measured, balanced, and historically accurate version of the three-day harvest celebration in 1621. Five chapters give background on the Wampanoag people, colonization, Indian diplomacy, the harvest of 1621, and the evolution of the Thanksgiving story. A brief introduction and an afterword serve to set the stage and bring to a conclusion the story of incipient race relations in 17th-century Massachusetts, the impact of which is felt to the present. While debunking the Thanksgiving story as it is most frequently told, this recounting in no way detracts from the historical importance of the holiday. Pair it with Kate Waters's Tapenum's Day (Scholastic, 1996) for a penetrating alternative look at a uniquely American celebration.

Ann Welton, Grant Elementary School, Tacoma, WA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 5-9. The popular myth of the first Thanksgiving--that brave peaceful settlers in 1621 invited a few wild Indians over for dinner--gets overthrown in this handsome, large-size photo-essay that combines bright, colorful pageantry with hard historical fact. Last year the living history museum of Plimoth Plantation reenacted the 1621 harvest gathering, and this book is based on that event; in fact, much of it reads like a museum visit. The very order of the text--beginning with the Wampanoag Indian people who had lived on the land for thousands of years before the English "discovered" it--sets the stage for the full account of our shared history. It's interesting to see the errors that have become tradition (for example, there were no cranberries or potatoes in America at that time) and connect them with lies about "discovery" that have come down through history. There's no heavy lecturing, and in the pictures everyone is having a good time. It's the evolution of the holiday, the story of the broken peace, that reveals why Native Americans do not celebrate the holiday. This is a fine book for the classroom; use it to talk about how history is written, who tells it, and what happened. Hazel Rochman
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