Mitchell Museum of the American Indian

Special Collections

Ah, Thanksgiving. A time for us to remember what we are grateful for, to feast on turkey and pie, and re-tell that story of pilgrims and Native Americans feasting together. But what do we really know about the supposed ‘First Thanksgiving’? The original 1621 Thanksgiving celebration in Plymouth was only sparsely recorded, which left American educators, politicians, and historians to fill in a lot of holes. The result has led generations of Americans to believe that the first Thanksgiving celebration was only a happy dinner between early Pilgrim settlers and the Wampanoag tribe, but it’s only one event of a destructive history. ­­Our guest today is Kathleen McDonald, the Executive Director of the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian in Evanston, Illinois. Tune in to learn about the history and traditions of Native American tribes, the first Thanksgiving, and respectful ways we can celebrate these next few weeks. The Mitchell Museum of the American Indian is “one of only a few museums in the nation that focuses exclusively on the history, culture, and arts of the American Indian and First Nation peoples of the United States and Canada”, as listed on their website. Also in today’s episode, get an inside look on how Thanksgiving has affected Native American tribes as we visit with members of the Tribe of Many Feathers, the Brigham Young University student club for Native Americans. See how a burnt turkey can be a work of art through a story pulled from our episode with the Burnt Food Museum, learn the truth behind Benjamin Franklin’s supposed adoration of the turkey, and walk away with some new trivia about Thanksgiving-themed world records. Check out the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian at their website: https://www.mitchellmuseum.org/