Introduction
 Thanksgiving Painting
 Traditional Story
 Wamsutta's Speech
 Review Questions


THANKSGIVING:                
                    HISTORY AND MYTH



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Primary Sources from the Mayflower

The quotations below are from the actual journals written by colonists from the Mayflower ship. Some of the colonists were the Pilgrims.  Read these primary source quotations and answer the questions below them.


"In this bay wherein we live, in former time hath lived about two thousand Indians."



"Having their guns and hearing nobody, they entered the [Indians'] houses and found the people were gone.  The sailors took some things and didn't dare to stay..."



"We marched to the place we called Cornhill, where we had found the corn before. At another place we had seen before, we dug and found some corn, two or three baskets full, and a bag of beans.... It was with God's help that we found this corn..."



"The next morning, we found a place like a grave. We decided to dig it up. We found first a mat, and under that a fine bow.  We also found bowls, trays, dishes, and things like that. We took several of the prettiest things to carry away with us, and covered the body up again."



Journals quoted in the book:
Loewen, James. Lies My Teacher Told Me. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007.








1. "In this bay wherein we live, in former time hath lived about two thousand Indians."


  • 1. How many people already lived in Plymouth when the colonists arrived?
         




2. "Having their guns and hearing nobody, they entered the [Indians'] houses and found the people were gone.  The sailors took some things and didn't dare to stay..."


  • 2. What did the colonists do in the Indians' houses?
         





3. "We marched to the place we called Cornhill, where we had found the corn before. At another place we had seen before, we dug and found some corn, two or three baskets full, and a bag of beans.... It was with God's help that we found this corn..."


  • 3. The colonists found corn and a bag of beans in a hill.  Who do you think put the corn and bag of beans in the hill?
         




4. "The next morning, we found a place like a grave . We decided to dig it up. We found first a mat, and under that a fine bow.  We also found bowls, trays, dishes, and things like that. We took several of the prettiest things to carry away with us, and covered the body up again."


  • 4. The colonists took other things, like pretty bowls and dishes.  Where did they get these things?
         









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