Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 18:34:37 -1000 From: Stephen E Philion <philion at hawaii.edu>
Hi Folks, Does anyone know if this is a true story or another one of those myths being sent around the internet these days?
It smells awfully like similar myths about Thanksgiving that have been sent around arond this time of the year and later revealed to be false.
I think its veracity is worth inquiring into for the simple reason that when false stories about the origins of the Thanksgiving holiday are sent around, those who love to deny genocides of Native Americans have one more bit of 'proof' that in fact the genocide stories are exxagarated, made up....
Steve Stephen Philion Lecturer/PhD Candidate Department of Sociology 2424 Maile Way Social Sciences Bldg. # 247 Honolulu, HI 96822
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Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 15:59:06 -1000 From: "C. Mamo Kim" <kimclaud at hawaii.edu>
The year was 1637.....700 men, women and children of the Pequot Tribe, gathered for their "Annual Green Corn Dance" in the area that is now known as Groton, Conn. While they were gathered in this place of meeting, they were surrounded and attacked by mercernaries of the English and Dutch. The Indians were ordered from the building and as they came forth, they were shot down. The rest were burned alive in the building.
The next day, the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony declared : "A day of Thanksgiving," thanking God that they had eliminited over 700 Indian men, women and children. For the next 100 years, every "Thanksgiving Day" ordained by a Governor or President was to honor that victory, thanking God that the battle had been won.
Source: Holland documents and the 13 Volume Colonial Documentary History, both thick sets of letters and reports from colonial officials to their superiors and to the King of England; the private papers of Sir William Johnson, Britsh Indian agent for the New York colony for 30 years in the mid 1600s.
Researched by William B. Newell (Penobscot Tribe) Former Chairman of the University of Connecticut Anthropology Department, with degrees from Syracruse and the University of Pennsylvania.
Based on this information, a nationwide call for a "National Day of Mourning" is being called to those individuals who support this effort in truth. We hope that many of you who read this join us in a day of prayer and fast for healing.
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