Many of us celebrate Thanksgiving as a time to gather with family and friends, have a feast, and practice gratitude or a little football. For some, though, Thanksgiving is a painful reminder of how Native Americans’ land and their very lives have been under assault for hundreds of years. The indigenous history of “the first Thanksgiving” might surprise you. To help bring Native voices to your Thanksgiving celebrations, here are some films produced by Native people from Vision Maker Media, viewable free via the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.*
We in San Francisco are on the traditional territory of the Ramaytush Ohlone. (If you want to know who the people are who lived in your area before you, so you can thank them, naturally there’s an app for that.)
*Find links to lots more free, open access films and media on the library’s website.