This episode digs into the real history behind Thanksgiving—far beyond the feel-good myth. We look at Indigenous civilizations before Columbus, what actually happened with the Pilgrims, how the holiday was invented, and how land theft became policy. It’s direct, factual, and mixed with humor to make the truth easier to take in. If you want a clearer, more honest understanding of the holiday, this is the episode to hear.

1. intro
2. Indigenous Life Before Columbus
3. The Pilgrims and the First Thanksgiving
4. How Thanksgiving Became a National Holiday
5. Land, Laws and the Illusion of Generosity

Music by Loghan Longoria
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Sources & References
• Cahokia: A Pre-Columbian American City – Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
Overview of the largest urban center in North America before European arrival, showing the complexity and scale of Native civilizations.
• Beginner’s Guide to Pre-Columbian Civilizations – Native Americans Today.
Covers widespread agriculture, trade networks, mound-building societies, and political structures that existed long before 1492.

Pilgrims, Wampanoag & the Thanksgiving Myth
• This Land Is Their Land by David J. Silverman (2019).
Definitive modern history of the Wampanoag and the creation of the Thanksgiving myth, including alliances, conflicts, and how the holiday was reshaped over time.
• Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick.
Detailed account of the Pilgrims’ arrival, early relations with Native nations, and the decades of tension and war that followed.
• The Rediscovery of America by Ned Blackhawk (2023).
Reframes U.S. history through Indigenous experiences and explains how Native peoples shaped the nation’s political and cultural development.

Land Theft, Forced Removal & U.S. Policy
• Indian Removal Act (1830) – Encyclopedia Britannica.
Explains the federal policy that authorized the forced relocation of Indigenous nations, leading to mass death and the Trail of Tears.
• Dawes Act (1887) – U.S. Library of Congress & National Archives summaries.
Shows how communal tribal lands were broken into individual plots, resulting in the loss of millions of acres to settlers and the federal government.
• General Allotment Policies – National Archives.
Additional documentation on how land “exchange” policies functioned as large-scale dispossession.

Historical Context for Disease, Population Loss & Colonization
• American Indian Demographic History – Journal of Interdisciplinary History.
Research on population decline due to epidemics introduced by Europeans.
• 1491 by Charles C. Mann.
Not a primary source but a widely referenced synthesis of archaeological and historical work on pre-Columbian societies and post-contact disease impact.

Wider Context: Slavery, Inequality & Structural Power
• Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi.
Helps understand how racial hierarchies and myths were built into American law, culture, and historical narratives.
• The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.
Connects historical systems of racial control to modern structures, supporting the episode’s theme of how myths mask deeper inequalities.