Four hundred years ago in England, there lived a small group of people called Pilgrims. The Pilgrims were unhappy because they were not allowed to practice their religion in their own way.

King James of England said everyone who did not go to HIS church would go to jail.

Go to jail

So the Pilgrims said goodbye to their homes and friends and the world they knew. In 1620, they set sail for a new world called America. It was far away across the Atlantic Ocean. Their ship was called the Mayflower.

Other families came along. They hoped to find freedom and a better life in their new home. One hundred and two people squeezed in on the Mayflower. There were twenty-two children.

The trip to America was long and hard. One man fell into the ocean during a storm, but a rope saved him!

After two months at sea, they arrived, in a place that today is called Massachusetts.

The trip had been long and many of the Pilgrims were weak and sick.

They rowed ashore to explore.

It was now winter. Woods were all around. There were no towns, no houses, no sign of any people.

Men were armed with guns. They had heard that America was full of wild animals and fierce Indians.

The men were armed with guns. They had heard that America was full of wild animals and fierce Indians.

Spring came and there were only fifty Pilgrims alive – and many were children. What would they do if the Indians attacked?

Then one day, an Indian did come. The Pilgrims were terrified. But this Indian had come in peace. His name was Samoset and the Pilgrims were surprised that he spoke English.

A few days later, sixty Indians marched into the village. The Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians made a peace treaty, promising to help each other.

An Indian named Squanto turned outto be a special friend. Squanto had once been captured and taken to Spain as a slave. He escaped to England, and after many adventures, had come home to America. Like Samoset, Squanto spoke English and he agreed to help the Pilgrims in their new home.

Squanto showed how to hunt and fish.

He taught them how to grow corn and pumpkins.

Squanto told the Pilgrims to bury a small fish in each hill of corn.

All that first summer in the new world, the Pilgrims fished and hunted and farmed. They built more houses. Children worked and explored and played outside.

When autumn came, the Pilgrims rejoiced over their harvest – corn and fat pumpkins, peas and beans. They wanted to celebrate! They knew they could never have survived without the Indians, so they invited the Indians to a feast.

Historians believe that only Indian MEN attended the feast, so this woman was

probably not there in 1621.

The great Wampanoag sachem (Chief) Massasoit arrived with Samoset, Squanto, and other Indian men.

Pictures like this show only a few Indians at the feast. But there were really 90 Indians and only 52 Pilgrims!

This painting has the right number of people. For three days, the Pilgrims and Indians ate and drank and danced and played games.

To remember that time so long ago – a time of brave Pilgrims and lifesaving Indians – we continue to celebrate the feast.

And we remember the very first Thanksgiving Day.

You Are the Historian: Investigating the First Thanksgiving

http://www.plimoth.org/education/olc/intro.html

http://www.plimoth.org/

http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/