The Pilgrims: Thanksgiving Myth and Reality

Our Thanksgiving celebration is grounded in the story of the Pilgrims celebrating and giving thanks to the Native Americans who helped them get through a scarce Winter. But much of this story is folklore and myth.

The Mayflower did not actually come ashore at Plymouth Rock. And the settlers did not call themselves Pilgrims. Our image of a Thanksgiving feast— white table cloths over long tables—has its origin in the romantic paintings of Victorians.

So what is the real story? Join Bill Kenety, a Plymouth Colony descendent, as he debunks the Thanksgiving myths in a family-friendly illustrated presentation. Learn about the precarious Atlantic crossing and the difficult early years of the Plymouth Colony, the colorful leaders of the settlement, and the relationships between the colonists and Native Americans.

Bill Kenety, a NCCC Board Member, is a retired Justice Department human rights prosecutor and law professor. Longfellow’s classic poem “The Courtship…