The first thanksgiving was a particularly interesting story to me, namely because my family has a particular tradition of reading a script between all of the people at the gathering. This script includes both reverence of ancestors and the elderly, as well as corn as a symbol of growth and new beginnings. It also includes much more, but one thing that we have added in recent years is a land acknowledgement, including recognition of those who called this land home long before we do. For a long time my family participated in this myth of first thanksgiving, as most families and systems do, though we are trying to understand the real complexities more now. The first thanksgiving story was taught to me as it is for most people, as a story of generosity by the native people and gratefulness of the first settlers. For a long time though, as I have grown older and came to understand the real history of constant settler violence on native people, I have understood the story of thanksgiving to be one of conquest. Through this class I have learned that the most true history lies somewhere between these two, the food eaten at the first thanksgiving was not gained through conquest. It was gifted, but it was also not thanked for. The generosity of the native people was also not so simplistic as a gift given, no strings attached. I learned here in this class there were far more complex politics going on between these two peoples that I had never considered. The Wamponoag people having already been through hard times of disease and famine, led by their increasingly less popular Massasoit complicates this story. The Massasoit utilizing an allyship with these European settlers as a way to gain resources and in turn good favor with his people is something I had never heard of. I had also neve heard of the gifts given from the Wampanoag people being expected to be returned back at a later time when the settlers were more prosperous. Another compelling aspect to me of this thanksgiving story is that no gratitude was truly given to the native people. The native people came to defend the European settlers after hearing gunshots and then brought gifts when they learned it was celebratory. These gifts were not appreciated, which I learned namely from the letter by Edward Winslow and thanksgiving proclamation by Abraham Lincoln. Both of these texts show how truly ungrateful the settlers were to the native people who did actually save their ass. These texts both omit gratitude for native people in lieu of thanking their Christian god, for his benevolence and gift of good fortune.