Thanksgiving 1641 started something that has stuck with us nearly 400 years, and that is the potluck or carry-in dinners most of us have enjoyed all our lives.
It might have been a church event, club meeting or family gathering, the process of sharing a part in providing food for an event has become an American tradition.
It was no easy task for the first Thanksgiving — there were just over 100 mouths to feed, 52 of them Pilgrims.
For those who survived the first winter in the new world obviously felt a need to give thanks to God for getting them through the disease filled cold weather. Even though their knowledge of living in America was pretty thin, their decision to have an event proceeded.
Neighbors
Their reason for inviting their neighbors isn’t sure, but there is a better good bet that they realized the Native Americans would have the resources to enhance their observance with more bountiful food for the table.
Unless I miss my guess, the natives probably provided the long end of what was served that day. After all, they had been here a lot longer and knew how to provide for themselves instead of going to a store as the settlers had done before they came here.
There was plenty to eat and congenial relations existed throughout the day, at least so far as we know for sure.
Response
Whether the settlers ever responded in kind for the natives providing what could well have been the long share of the food that day isn’t actually known. What is a fact is that the white eyes eventually expanded beyond their original claims into the lands of the natives and in many instances did nothing but mistreat their early benefactors.
Conditions and relations between the two got even worse as America began to be settled further to the west, always taking the lands of the Native Americans for their own use and obviously, in many instances, imposing hardships on the various tribes.
Remembering a trip through the west, which was years ago, we stopped in Wall, S.D. at the famous Wall Drug and toured the photo gallery that provided the first realization of just how mistreated our Native Americans were in the early days of settling the west.
One picture especially rides in my memory was of natives, obviously cold in the winter, standing in snow, guarded by armed soldiers, waiting their turn to receive a small ration of food.
Today
Now turn to modern times as the tribes have hit upon a white man’s weakness and are beginning to make a move toward getting even. Their gambling casinos that frequent the county, whether taking small coins in slot machines or larger dollars at table games, aren’t anything like the money being made off their former land, but it is a start.
Oil and other minerals that come from former Native American lands or reservations have made some white men billionaires over the years and certainly continue the practice today. While the casino proceeds aren’t in the magnitude of oil or other resources, they are making strides for the natives when you see some of the facilities they are building.
Next door
This area is especially venerable to the gaming house of Oklahoma, the Native American state. They are several who target the Ozarks for gaming trips.
Big ones count on facilities to attract the white eyes and others while smaller operations tout their return due to low overhead. Regardless the approach, it’s working. If in doubt, drive by one of them about any time of any day and the parking lots will be full.
History
We can go only by history to know what kind of hosts those early settlers were toward the Native Americans, but the facts seem straight that the settlers had very little to give.
What history tells us relations went bad quite quickly as those from England increased their numbers and wanted more land for their society. It was the Native Americans who suffered the most as they were pushed from areas where they had good livelihood into lands less desirable and eventually forced to move into even lesser conditions.
Best to all
On a serious note, it’s our hope each and every one of you readers have family with you this Thanksgiving. Remember there will be those who do not.
Thanking God for your blessings of life, health and safety and that bountiful table before you is the purpose of the day. Remember, there are those who won’t have this available.
And, equally important, in these modern times when we don’t seem to be able to get along with everyone in the world, remember those who are in harms’ way or simply serving in the military for their service to all of us.
Happy Thanksgiving from all the Mitchells in Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, North Carolina, Florida and California.
Bob Mitchell is the former editor and publisher of the Cassville Democrat. He is a 2017 inductee to both the Missouri Press Association Hall of Fame and Missouri Southern State University’s Regional Media Hall of Fame.
