A time to remember: Native Americans stand strong during Thanksgiving

Growing up, my Thanksgivings were very stereotypical American. I had mashed potatoes, green beans, turkey, cranberry sauce and pie like everyone else. I loved watching Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the National Dog Show in the morning. 

On the East Coast, most of my family lives in Pennsylvania. My holidays were often spent outside of Philly with family. When I was younger, one of my best friends was my grandfather. He had the biggest hugs and would always play with five-year old me. Unlike me, my grandfather was Native American, a member of the Sac and Fox Nation (known for the great athlete Jim Thorpe). A hologram of my grandfather was even featured in Washington, DC’s National Museum of the American Indian, where he also produced a series of films on American Indian heritage. 

Native American culture was never a large part of my father’s life, but he did travel to Pow Wows in Oklahoma every few years. My father also told me about a Sac and Fox cookbook that used milkweed in recipes, my great-grandmother (named “First Ray of Dawn”), and conversations about the Carlisle Indian School.

Although I never participated in any special traditions, I try to remember my ancestors and listen to the voices of modern Native Americans. We all learned in school that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 between Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Native Americans. But as the American holiday has evolved over the centuries, Native Americans are often left out of the conversation. 

According to the Administration for Children and Families, only around 2% of Americans are Native, and DPS’ 2023 enrollment data shows, 41 of 31,901 students are Native American (0.1%). There are five Native students currently enrolled in Riverside.

This fall, I decided to find local Native voices beyond my own family. Throughout this process, I could not find anyone to talk to within Durham Public Schools. 

After I widened my search to the Triangle area, it was almost as difficult contacting local Natives. To me, this spoke volumes about how lost Indigenous voices are, especially around Thanksgiving. 

According to the Triangle Native American Society, there are over 130,000 citizens in North Carolina who identify as Native American Indigenous, represented by eight state-recognized tribes. After searching for interviews, I found Wanda Burns-Ramsey, the president of the Triangle Native American Society (TNAS). She is a member of the Lumbee Tribe, from the Robeson, Scotland and Hoke counties of North Carolina.

“TNAS represents all Native Americans of all tribes living in a five-county area that makes up the triangle of North Carolina,” said Burns-Ramsey.

Burns-Ramsey celebrates Thanksgiving like any other family would – filled with people and food. 

“[Indians] have food and family and friends during Thanksgiving,” she said. “That is still the way that it is spent. For Native Americans, and other people as well, it is a big celebration. It is extended family, cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and moms and dads.” 

Burns-Ramsey’s favorite thing to eat at Thanksgiving is turkey. 

“Most of my family wants turkey only once a year,” said Burns-Ramsey. “First [we] put butter on the top of the turkey, add salt and pepper, fill the cave with onions and an apple, cover with a bacon bag and bake per pound.”

Although Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate, she said, it is also a time to remember.

“I am happy that we are still celebrating Thanksgiving; we cannot erase our past. We have to embrace our past and move forward,” she said.

I also found Native voices at Duke University through both the Native American Studies Initiative and the Native American Indigenous Student Alliance. 

Nikki Locklear is the graduate student representative on Duke’s Native American Studies Initiative (NASI) committee. Like Burns-Ramsey, she is a member of the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina as well as the co-founder of Duke’s Native American Graduate and Professional Students Alliance. 

“Native Americans are like other Americans in that we all celebrate or don’t celebrate differently,” said Locklear. “For us, the story of Thanksgiving isn’t a heartwarming tale, and it doesn’t represent the truth of our histories either.” 

Many Natives treat Thanksgiving as a day of mourning, and gather to protest each year. The Lumbee nation faces difficulty being federally recognized. Although they are the largest tribe east of the Mississippi river, the Lumbee people cannot receive federal services or benefits that other tribes have. This has been an ongoing battle for many decades. Nationally, Natives are working for the enforcement of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and reclaiming land.

“My family has always used the day as an opportunity to cook and feast with loved ones, and I think the best way to make use of the holiday is to take its emphasis on gratitude,” said Locklear. “Others celebrate the holiday as a day of gratitude for the strength of Native nations and our cultures.” 

“Thanksgiving is a complicated holiday,” said Locklear. “It’s fair to say everyone acknowledges it’s a day to commemorate the tragedies in our history, but also our resilience. We’re still here.”

Ultimately, the local Natives I found do not celebrate Thanksgiving any differently than I do. They emphasize family and thankfulness, but also stories of remembrance. Although the Lumbee Nation has over 55,000 members (according to the Lumbee Tribe), I had never heard of their presence in North Carolina until I started working on this story. 

Thanksgiving is a time for both gratitude and remembering the past. Natives today are still here and are moving forward, and neither I nor anyone else should forget it.