The narrative of the Mayflower Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving has been told to us
all throughout year of elementary school. The thought that the passengers aboard the Mayflower
were not the traditional folks who would inhabit a colony fascinated me the most about this
documentary. For the most part, there were older males, children, and women. The concept of
establishing a society in a new, unfamiliar area without the requisite individuals almost didomed
the group to extinction. According to one of the historians featured in the program, this were a
select minority of "religious nutters," and nobody would have been astonished if they would
have just withered away. It's a good way of saying it that they built the world's greatest
democracy casts retroactive luster. The religious extremists would start a democratic endeavor
that is still going strong today. It was was a small amount that thought that they would actually
be successful. They would go on to take their small groups history and turn it onto what we all
now know. Of Plymout Plantation written by William Bradford can be linked to why this way of
life is more known than other early settlers.1 A city was built on a hill and its residents fled from
England for religious freedom in the book.
I honestly do not think that the title of the documentary lives up to itself. When watching
the documentary, its hard to debunk or give new facts to this part of history that has been in my
option played out. It mentions a myth but doesn't go into detail on what that tale may be. The
essential facts of the Mayflower and the Plymouth Plantation are undeniable and unquestionably
true. In fact, the first Thanksgiving was observed in 1621.2 The Pilgrims' crops produced a large
harvest under Tisquantum's guidance.3 Bradford makes little to no mention of the feast in his
books. There was certainly no talk of gratitude or generosity. William Bradford indeed organize
a Thanksgiving-style party in the colony to commemorate his wedding to a widower. A vast
number of indigenous people brought in food to share.4 It is always interesting to watch a
documentary for small facts that you may not know, for the most part it was small details I was
not aware of and everything else seemed common knowledge.
1 Bradford, William and Harold Paget. Of Plymouth Plantation. Newburyport: Dover Publications, 2012.
2 Kirkpatrick, Melanie. Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience. First American ed.
New York: Encounter Books, 2016.
3 Grandjean, Katherine and Sarah Schuetze. "Beyond 1620: A Forum on History and Memory in Early
American Studies." Early American Literature 56, no. 1 (2021): 157-157.
4 Lewis, J. Patrick. "The Menu at the First Thanksgiving, 1621." Cricket (La Salle, Ill.) 36, no. 3 (2008): 40.
