Thanksgiving is more than just a holiday for the average African-American family. In the Black community, the holiday is marked by expressions of gratitude, but it also serves as a celebration of Black excellence, history, and survival. In addition, Thanksgiving has become a time for storytelling, where elders pass down family histories, and traditions are reaffirmed.
For many years, Black people have had to celebrate their harvest and traditions in secret. This year, we encourage you to celebrate with your friends and family. Let this be an opportunity to come together and celebrate who you are as a person and as a community.
The Spiritual Roots of Thanksgiving
One of the main traditions of the African-American Thanksgiving holiday is to pray. The families give thanks and pray to the Creator for the multiple blessings that they have received physically and spiritually, such as seeing another day and being able to gather once more. Thanksgiving in the ordinary African-American home is a spiritual day where every little detail of life, love, and lecture is deeply appreciated.
The Significance of Food
Another important aspect of the traditional Thanksgiving in an African-American household is the food, of course. Food has always played important roles in the black family. Food has been a time of bonding and special nourishment before it became a tradition. Not only is the food delicious, but it often has a story behind it, love into it, and it brings the family closer.
“Soul food” is such a specialty of African-American Thanksgiving scene. For example, families of direct African descent engage in meals of okra soup and jollof. Those new Louisiana enjoy delicious meals such as gumbo. African-American families here in the Deep South devour dishes of sweet potato and cornbread hash.
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With a diaspora that touches every corner of the globe, there is both overlap and incredible diversity among pan-African cuisines. Some culinary traditions have been painstakingly passed down from generation to generation, while others have been absorbed through migration, marriage and countless other means and life circumstances. Yet no matter where you are or what you’re eating, a sense of apricity - the warmth of the sun in the winter - is present.
It settles over the table as Rashida Holmes, the founder of Caribbean restaurant Bridgetown Roti, and her family pass plates of dirty rice, macaroni pie and callaloo back and forth. It reverberates in the laughter of John and Roni Cleveland, owners of Post & Beam, as they watch their son eagerly pull from a tower of cookies. It beams from culinary artist Nia Lee’s face as they drop a fistful of flower petals onto a frosted cake.
Southern Candied Yams - The Perfect Thanksgiving Side Dish
Historical Context
Most people just don’t know the true history behind why we have this holiday and what it means to Black communities. Experts say that the first documented celebration of a harvest festival dates back to the early 1500s, when European explorers and settlers first arrived on American soil. The first Thanksgiving took place in 1789 as a result of this new dynamic between Europeans and Native Americans.
Many historians believe that this was an attempt by President George Washington to mend relationships with Native Americans after their violent clashes in the past few years. Thanksgiving is a celebration of harvest, gratitude, and the bonds of friendship. This is something that Black Americans can definitely connect with since most African cultures have harvest festivals similar to Thanksgiving.
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The real reason why Black people don’t celebrate Thanksgiving is because they were never invited to the party. For the first 100 years, Thanksgiving was an event that was reserved for white people only. Black people were also prohibited from owning land during this time period.
This wouldn’t change until the 1920’s when a Black woman named Sarah Maud Young created the National Negro Thanksgiving Festival. Her purpose for this festival was to create a celebration for Black communities to come together and have a positive event to celebrate.
How Black Communities Have Celebrated Over the Years
Black people have always been an integral part of American culture. From the very beginning, Black people have found a way to incorporate their culture into mainstream society. Black people have long celebrated Thanksgiving as an opportunity to share their culture with their friends and family. This can mean a few different things.
First, you’ll see a lot of Black families and friends gather around a big Thanksgiving-style meal. This is usually a mix of traditional Thanksgiving food and Black culture. You’ll see the classic Thanksgiving dishes like turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing paired with collard greens, yams, mac and cheese, and other traditional Black dishes.
Another way Black people incorporate their culture into the Thanksgiving holiday is by using Thanksgiving as an opportunity to gather and educate the people in your life about the Black experience. This could be as simple as telling your white friends and family a little bit about the history of Black people in America and why we have a separate Thanksgiving holiday.
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Celebrating Black and Proud
The main reason why Black people have not traditionally celebrated Thanksgiving is because they have been excluded from the event since its inception. That is why Sarah Maud Young created the National Negro Thanksgiving Festival in the 1920s. It was a way to celebrate heritage and community while also standing up to the oppressive ideologies of the time.
You don’t need to feel the need to cancel your Black Thanksgiving plans in order to celebrate Thanksgiving. Instead, you can use Thanksgiving as a way to celebrate your culture and history with friends and family.
A Modern Take on Tradition
These L.A.-based cooks opened their homes and one restaurant to us, introducing us to family and friends and sharing the dishes that define their Thanksgiving celebrations year after year. Some of these recipes may feel familiar, but each features its own sprawling influences.
Saucy lamb biriyani is heaped over saffron-perfumed basmati rice, telling the culinary history of Arab traders who settled in Kenya and along the Swahili coast. From the same region, sukuma wiki adds depth to simple sauteed collard greens with ginger and garlic. A curry-bright macaroni and cheese pie proudly points to Barbados as its inspiration. For dessert, a family holiday cookie gets the California treatment with farmers market produce, and a carrot cake recipe is adapted from the Godmother of Soul’s cookbook to honor a pioneering queer activist.
The Macaroni and Cheese Pie
Rashida Holmes, chef and owner of Bridgetown Roti, serves her popular macaroni and cheese pie at her parents’ home in Pasadena. Thanksgiving is the one day when chef Rashida Holmes gladly bows out from cooking. Included in the annual spread is the macaroni and cheese pie that is one of the most popular dishes at Bridgetown Roti, the colorful East Hollywood restaurant that Holmes opened alongside her mother and business partner Malique Smith in July. It stands apart from competing versions thanks to a zing of curry and a crispy baked crust. On Thanksgiving, Holmes likes to pour her father’s homemade gravy on top.
Another distinguishing factor in Holmes’ macaroni and cheese? The use of fusilli instead of macaroni noodles.
Creamy, crispy and extra cheesy, this macaroni and cheese pie, flavored with curry powder for a zing of sweet spice, is one of the best-selling items at chef Rashida Holmes’ Bridgetown Roti. Holmes’ macaroni pie contains five cheeses: the usual cheddar and Jack mix, with pepper jack cheese for heat, Gouda for creaminess and Parmesan for saltiness.
Swahili-Inspired Dishes
Cookbook author Kiano Moju (left) makes her Swahili lamb biriyani, sukuma wiki (sauteed collard greens) and samosas with her aunt Juliet Solitei. Now, there is rarely a standard menu for Thanksgiving dinner. This year Moju is making biriyani, with lamb for special-occasion flair. To pair with the saucy rice dish, Solitei made sukuma wiki, an easy dish you’ll find served as a side or main in Kenya, with tendrils of collard greens sauteed with garlic, tomato and fresh ginger.
A distinguishing factor between Indian biriyani and what Moju calls Swahili-style biriyani, common in both Kenya and Tanzania, is the layering effect. The lamb simmers in a rich tomato sauce that’s scented with garlic, ginger and coriander, while the rice cooks in saffron water in a separate pot. When the dish is ready to serve, the rice is layered at the bottom of the platter and the lamb is spooned into the center with fried shallots and sliced chiles scattered on top.
The Family Holiday Cookie
John Cleveland, chef and co-owner of Post & Beam, serves his holiday family cookie, mixed with duck fat and homemade mincemeat. The chef, who co-owns the California soul restaurant Post & Beam with his wife, Roni Cleveland, started making his own mincemeat cookies after he moved to Los Angeles from Chapel Hill, N.C., in 2012. He isn’t always able to fly home for the holidays, and some years making the cookies himself is the only way he can enjoy them.
Growing up, Cleveland’s family used jarred mincemeat in their holiday cookies, but after learning that Malinda Russell, the first known African American woman to publish a cookbook, used mincemeat in her pie recipes, he began obsessively developing his own version, tweaking the family cookie recipe along the way.
Carrot Cake
Culinary artist and Black food futurist Nia Lee takes a moment to enjoy her carrot cake at a friendsgiving dinner she hosted. Lee even uses a carrot cake recipe first introduced to them by their mother, adopted from Patti LaBelle’s cookbook “LaBelle Cuisine: Recipes to Sing About.” Over the years, Lee has molded the recipe into their own, one that specifically honors early LGBTQ+ activist Marsha P. Johnson.
A self-described food futurist, Lee uses food as a conduit for building community and creating delicious futures.
Black Thanksgiving: A Day to Forget White People Exist
It’s the one day to forget white people exist. We only talk about black people: the good, the bad, and the ugly. There’s nothing like it-no one is safe.
Religious figures and politicians? Not even close. Dead civil rights leaders and their family members? Not safe, random members of the King family. Living civil rights leaders turned politicians who live in Atlanta? Depends on what kind of year you had, John Lewis.
Thanksgiving Traditions
Thanksgiving is one of the biggest holidays in the United States. People across the country gather together to share a meal and reflect on all the things they’re grateful for. Good traditions are the bedrock of bonding. So we’ve put together some traditions that can make your Thanksgiving celebration memorable.
- Pull out that box of old family photos as a nostalgic touch on the table and use it to inspire “remember when” banter.
- Host a casual, tailgate-style party. Bake some treats and a big batch of warm apple cider to give guests upon their arrival.
- Thanksgiving is a perfect time to reflect on the year and your blessings alongside family and friends.
- Whether you’re watching, attending, or playing, football is a big part of many families’ Turkey Day itinerary.
- Burn off some of those Thanksgiving calories outside.
- Game night is an excellent way to keep your family together after the meal. Whether it’s cards, board games or dominoes, kids and adults can get in on the action. Keep a list of winners to revisit year after year.
- Let your kids craft personal gratitude bracelets - or have the whole family join in. They’ll love wearing their creations all year round. Or ask everyone to write what they are thankful for on a DIY butcher-paper tablecloth.
- Hold annual food drives that collect non-perishable packaged and canned foods for those in need.
Tips for Non-Black Guests at Black Thanksgiving
Here's a humorous guide for non-Black guests attending a Black Thanksgiving:
- DO NOT arrive empty-handed. Store-bought is better than nothing if you're unsure what to bring.
- The answer is ALWAYS sweet potatoes.
- Call cornbread "dressing," not "stuffing."
- Load up your plate cheerfully. Try to eat what you can and tuck in the yams and collard greens where necessary. Save room for dessert.
- DO NOT be that "other" that goes “Well it’s not just Black people that eat/do….”
- Expect the college student to have a newfound prejudice against pork, meat in general, or cooked food. The “special plate” is for them, not for you.
- At all costs, do not put your fork on anyone else’s plate or take food off a plate, especially that of a larger person.
- Avoid Uncle Pete.
- Leave all white soul food at home. We don’t like food that twerks, bubbles long after cooking, or sounds like it cannot be cis-identified.
- White Southern country food is passable but put some paprika in it.
- Be prepared for deep breast hugs.
- Your new name is “..ummm…Baby.” Or “Michael’s white Friend.” If you’re LGBT and this is your bf/gf house, “FRIEND” means partner…and everyone will say it with a lilt…that’s as good as its gonna get.
- There may be a scuffle between women over who fixes which man’s plate. Do not move.
- Keep the rhubarb pie at the Walton’s house with John Boy.
- Don’t play food anthropologist around Big Mama you will just annoy her taking food pics. We don’t do food pics for home-cooked food.
- Pepper your speech with religious statements.
- If you’re vegan, bring your own food and enough to share.
- Bring extra foil.
- The to-go plate is tradition. Leave room in your trunk.
- The family Pitt bull, Rottweiler, German Shepherd, boxer, or bulldog knows YOU will give them food at the table or kiss them in the mouth. Dont.
- Don’t ask questions about Shanda’s boyfriend.
- White people get to sit in the front room on the plastic-covered furniture. Take this as a badge of honor.
- Dinner will not start on time.
- Uncle John, who resembles his bulldog, will ask you about why white people, or “Spanish” or “Chinese,” people do certain things etc. But don't ask him why Black folks do stuff.
- It’s not dinner time until the speckled roasting pan and Hamilton Beach turkey cutter arrive.
- Don’t bring generic soda. Faygo, Nehi, RC, Vernors are all fine choices for soda for Black Thanksgiving. Get ready for stories about peanuts and cola.
- Have fun! We all family! When you come in the house, speak!!!!
Thanksgiving has traditionally been a time to come together and celebrate the harvest. It has also been a time to come together and celebrate with family and friends.
| Tradition | Description |
|---|---|
| Prayer | Giving thanks to the Creator for blessings. |
| Soul Food | Dishes with stories and love behind them, bringing family closer. |
| Family | Coming together to celebrate and share history. |
