Thanksgiving, a popular American holiday, has a rich history that transcends its origins as a colonial harvest festival. For the Black community, the holiday represents far more than turkey and cranberry sauce; it is a time to reflect on resilience, unity, and cultural identity. But most people just don’t know the true history behind why we have this holiday and what it means to Black communities.
The year 2020 is a time in our country where many people are questioning what they thought they knew about America’s history, values, and traditions. Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that many in the Black community have mixed feelings about. For those who celebrate Thanksgiving, it’s a time for family reunion, gratitude and signature dishes. Americans were generally taught that the first Thanksgiving holiday was about a peaceful breaking of bread between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans in 1621.
In reality, it was more like an unexpected meeting between New England colonists who were out hunting, and members of the Wampanoag tribe who showed up to investigate the ruckus. A shared feast followed over the next few days, and a treaty was sealed between the two groups. What’s often left out of the story, however, is that for the next fifty years, the alliance was tested by colonial land expansion, the spread of disease, and the exploitation of the Wampanoag tribe’s resources. When the treaty ended with King Phillips’ war in 1675, hundreds of colonists and thousands of Native Americans were killed.
A depiction of the "First Thanksgiving."
The Early Days of Thanksgiving and Exclusion of Black Communities
In the early days of Thanksgiving, the holiday was not directly celebrated by enslaved Africans. For the first 100 years, Thanksgiving was an event that was reserved for white people only. In fact, there were laws that prohibited Native Americans from even owning land (much less harvesting crops). Black people were also prohibited from owning land during this time period.
At about the same time, the Native Americans were being massacred by the colonists, Africans were being captured and brought to America. Thanksgiving used to be a time when enslaved individuals would frequently attempt to escape because it was the end of the crop season. It also offered slaves respite from their grueling work.
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However, food and gathering-central elements of the holiday-played a vital role in enslaved communities. Despite harsh conditions, our ancestors used communal meals as an opportunity to celebrate survival, preserve their heritage, and find moments of joy. Though they were excluded from formal holiday observances, they found ways to honor the spirit of Thanksgiving through prayer, storytelling, and sharing food.
During slavery, Thanksgiving was one of the holidays that offered enslaved Black community respite from their days of forced labor and violent subjugation. Even during slavery, they took time to be thankful for the little they had.
Thanksgiving as a Church-Based Celebration
A forgotten fact, Thanksgiving started off as a church oriented celebration for the Black community. According to the African American Registry, “Thanksgiving expression for the American Black community began as a church-based celebration. Black pastors often gave sermons that could be heard loud and clear through the many small Black churches. The sermons would be about struggles, hopes, fears, and triumphs.
As enslaved Africans adopted Christianity, they connected Thanksgiving to biblical themes of deliverance and gratitude, incorporating these values into their own celebrations. In October 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation to officially celebrate the holiday, months after signing the Emancipation Proclamation earlier that same year. According to the African American Registry, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation establishing the Thanksgiving holiday in 1863. This was just months after he approved the Emancipation Proclamation.
After the Civil War and emancipation, Thanksgiving became a symbol of freedom for many newly freed African Americans. In the post-Reconstruction South, Black churches began to incorporate Thanksgiving into their worship services, emphasizing gratitude for freedom, family, and faith. Black pastors preached about struggles, hopes, and fears.
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Black Church congregation.
Thanksgiving Traditions in Black Communities
During this period, Thanksgiving also became a time for African Americans to assert their cultural identity. Food, a powerful symbol of heritage, played a critical role. The Great Migration (1916-1970) brought millions of African Americans from the rural South to urban centers in the North and West. As they settled into new communities, Thanksgiving became a way to maintain ties to Southern roots while adapting to new environments.
It was during this time that Thanksgiving evolved into a communal celebration. 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.
Black people have long celebrated Thanksgiving as an opportunity to share their culture with their friends and family. 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.
Soul Food and Thanksgiving
Dating back to the days of slavery, soul food has a special connection to Black history and our struggles, and it has been an integral part of Black culture from our earliest days in the Americas. We know that scraps became soul food; spirituals born of out of pain and struggle became jazz, gospel, and blues.
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Martha Stewart Cooks Her Favorite Thanksgiving Dishes | Martha Stewart
Born in 1765 in Virginia, James Hemings became a slave to Thomas Jefferson at the tender age of 8 at the Monticello plantation. When he was 19, Jefferson took “Hemings with him to France to train in the art of French cooking.” Hemings is credited with bringing the dish to America, initially called macaroni pie, when he used a milk and boiling water mixture, placing “sharp American cheese in between layers of butter and milk-coated macaroni.
This dish is actually connected to the carrot pie desert from Great Britain. Sweet potato pie likely came into existence because of its longtime connection to African Americans. Dr. Frederick Douglass Opie of Massachusetts’ Babson College is a professor of history and foodways, and posits, that “A lot of those things that were a part of our cuisine come out of survival techniques…During the week, enslaved people ate things like hoecakes, cornbread or ashcakes-when you take the cornmeal and combine it with water and you cook that actual cake over ashes,” and thus corn became a fundamental supplement to the diet of the enslaved.
Sweet Potato Pie.
Thanksgiving Today
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. For many years, Black people have had to celebrate their harvest and traditions in secret. They have had to keep their celebrations hidden from the eyes of white people who have historically oppressed and abused Black people.
In modern times, Thanksgiving can still provide relief from day to day oppression to Black and marginalized people. It’s often the one time a year that family can reunite with those who are far away. It can be a place of safety from the often hostile interactions with the white world, and a break from cultural acceptability performance. Thanksgiving celebrations fortify the bonds of communion sorely needed among humans, especially marginalized communities.
Thanksgiving’s popularity in the Black community is a testament to our ability to redefine and reclaim traditions. From its painful roots in enslavement to its current role as a day of family, faith, and cultural pride, Thanksgiving reflects the resilience and adaptability of African Americans.
