VivirLatino

Before you take a bite of the turkey or bow down your head to give thanks, have you ever thought back on the story of Thanksgiving as many of us were taught it in school? You know the one where the pilgrims and Native Americans sit down together to celebrate their mutual helping of each other? Yeah well that’s not quite how it went down.

The story began in 1614 when a band of English explorers sailed home to England with a ship full of Patuxet Indians bound for slavery. They left behind smallpox which virtually wiped out those who had escaped. By the time the Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts Bay they found only one living Patuxet Indian, a man named Squanto who had survived slavery in England and knew their language. He taught them to grow corn and to fish, and negotiated a peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Nation. At the end of their first year, the Pilgrims held a great feast honoring Squanto and the Wampanoags.

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