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YOU ARE THERE: THE FIRST THANKSGIVING

[Music Under]

WOMAN: Thanksgiving gives us pause, a time to be thankful for what we have.

CHILD: Thanksgiving is a day off from school, and everybody eats a lot.

MAN: Thanksgiving is a day to rest up for the shopping season that starts the very next day for me. I’m very thankful for the holidays and all those shoppers!

ANOTHER MAN: When you are carving the turkey, you look around the table and all you really have to do is enjoy.

ANOTHER WOMAN: There’s something more going on at Thanksgiving than just stuffing ourselves.

NATIVE AMERICAN: Thanksgiving to my people, the Wampanoag people, is the beginning and ending of our culture.

{Renaissance music under]

ANNOUNCER: Texas, 1541. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado holds a thanksgiving service when food and water are discovered for his exhausted men.

CORONADO: Damos gracias a nuestro señor en el cielo

SOLDIERS: Amén. Comamos!

ANNOUNCER: Virginia, 1619. Settlers from Gloucester, England fall to their knees in thanks when they put ashore at Berkeley Plantation.

SETTLERS: God save the King!

ANNOUNCER: Either of these celebrations could have been called the first Thanksgiving, but as any school child can tell you, Texas does not get that honor, nor does Virginia. Join us as we travel back in time to that First Thanksgiving in Plimoth Plantation, Massachusetts late in the month of October. But we celebrate Thanskgiving in November, you might say. True, because Abraham Lincoln chose the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving when he declared it a national holiday in 1863. This, you will soon discover, is just one of many confusing facts and downright fictions that surround Thanksgiving. But first, a word from our sponsors.

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INSERT COMMERCIALS [A]

ANNOUNCER: Enduring hardships, sickness, and death, the Pilgrims—these refugees for religious and civil rights, outlaws from the Church of England, ragtag sailors, fledgling farmers—driven back from their destination in Northern Virginia by icy cold winds and rough wintry seas to the shores of Massachusetts are marking the first anniversary of their survival, yes survival, for they are half their number now after one year ashore in the New World.

ECHO VOICE: Plimoth Plantation, Massachusetts, October 1621. You are there!

ANNOUNCER: Three days of celebrating and giving thanks as the Pilgrims reap the benefits of their first harvest of corn, squash, and beans. They have ventured into the woods to shoot turkey and wild fowl that they will prepare to grace their wooden trestle tables. We take you back to the first Thanksgiving. All things are as they were then, except for one thing:

ECHO VOICE: You are there!

ANNOUNCER: “You Are There” is based on authentic historical fact and quotations.

ECHO VOICE: And now Plimoth Plantation, October 1621. The Pilgrim’s tiny village and our reporters wandering through the makeshift town square.

[Village sounds, voices, things being set up]

RADIO MAN #1: The smiles on adult faces and the playfulness of their children here in Plimoth are in stark contrast to just over one year ago.

RADIO WOMAN #1: In August 1620, a group of 120 men, women, and children—their pejorative name was “Brownist” in England—

OLD MAN: We left that name back with all the idolaters and popish Anglicans.

RADIO WOMAN #1: Do you want to tell our listeners about the voyage?

OLD MAN: We embarked from Southampton in two ships—

RADIO WOMEN #1: Not just The Mayflower?

OLD MAN: The Mayflower and The Speedwell. Both ships seemed to be held together with spit and prayers. The Speedwell was so old that it had fought against the Spanish Armada—

RADIO WOMAN #1: --in 1588.

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OLD MAN: Now, if your plan before God and man is to continue interrupting me, I shall hold my tongue.

RADIO WOMAN #1: So sorry. Please go on.

OLD MAN: Go on? I built this bench where I now sitteth, and I shall not be going on anywhere a-tall.

RADIO WOMAN #1: Continue, please, Sir.

OLD MAN: Well, now, right away The Speedwell started taking on water, so we headed back to port, fixed that and headed out again, but the ship’s mast had been botched in repair, and we headed back to Cornwall this time. We moved everything we could from The Speedwell to The Mayflower—except for a score of our fellow believers who agreed to stay behind and join us within the year. So, 102 of us sailed on The Mayflower in September, about a fortnight before Michaelmas.

RADIO WOMAN #1: [whispering] For our listeners, a score equals twenty, a fortnight means two weeks, and Michaelmas is September 29.

OLD MAN: Our leaders did not put much faith in our claim to land on this side of the world, so we drew up an agreement and signed it.

RADIO WOMAN #1: This is known as The Mayflower Compact.

OLD MAN: What is not known is that many of us who signed it very soon began to die of scurvy and other strange new diseases sent by the devil to weaken our resolve.

OLD WOMAN: Few of us were spared. The Saints--those are the members of our congregation; The Strangers—those who came with us looking for a better life; and the Crew—the officers and working men on the ship. All three groups suffered terribly. God’s wrath knows no bounds. May he have mercy on all of us.

[Bustling sounds, perhaps sound of ocean waves.]

RADIO MAN #1: The survivors settled in this area where I am standing now. Plimouth already had been named by previous explorers, and it offered the Pilgrims land for planting crops, a harbor for ships, and a river for fresh water. Native Americans already had been living in North America for thousands of years before these settlers from England arrived. The Native Americans were not surprised to see these new visitors since European explorers, hunters, and fishermen had been here before.

TRANSLATOR VOICE: [with indistinct Native American speech under] We saw families with women and children come off their ship. We hoped they had come 4

in peace. We did not mingle with them for they seemed to keep distant from our tribe. The white man made a treaty with my people, the Wampanoag people. We would trade for furs, food, and tools.

NARRATOR ECHO VOICE: You Are There will return after these messages from our sponsors.

INSERT COMMERCIALS [B]

NARRATOR’S ECHO VOICE: And now, we return to You Are There!

RADIO WOMAN #1: I’m standing here with the very impressive and colorfully painted Samoset, the first Native American to actually speak to the Pilgrims. I am so pleased to meet you.

SAMOSET: [deep voice, perfect English] The pleasure is mine, gentle lady.

RADIO WOMAN #1: Ouuu [sighs]. He just kissed my hand.

SAMOSET: I know of the white man’s customs.

RADIO WOMAN #1: I can see that. Please tell our listeners at home what it was like that March 16th in 1621when you walked into the village, passing by the fortifications the Pilgrims had built and apparently unafraid of the cannons they had placed for protection just behind the fortifications.

SAMOSET: Fortifications? Walls might be a truer description. I strode into their settlement. Some of the white men grabbed their rifles and pointed them at me. I carried a bow and two arrows. I opened my mouth to speak to them and waited a moment. Then I said to them in English, “Welcome to this land. Have you any beer to share with me?”

RADIO WOMAN #1: Are you of the Wampanoag people? The local natives?

SAMOSET: I am of the Wampanoag people, but I live with my people north of here in Morattiggon or in the land the white man calls Maine. I told the settlers that where they live is known by my people as Patuxet and four years before all those who lived here perished from the same unknown sickness. I warned them that my people would not again be tricked by the cruelest of the white men who took twenty of another tribe and sold them for slaves.

RADIO WOMAN #1: Did they give you some beer?

SAMOSET: Alas, no. But they shared food and water with me. I stayed with them over one night, and on the morning of my departure from them, they gave to me a 5

knife, a bracelet, and a ring. I told them I would send another with speed. He had lived in European lands and spoke English more than I can.

RADIO WOMAN #1: [Still gushing] Your English is better than the English of many of my countrymen.

[Noise like a swoooosh!]

RADIO MAN #1: I’m standing here with Squanto—

SQUANTO: [Perfect English with a light British accent] Tisquantum, actually.

RADIO MAN #1: You say potato and I say potahto. By any name, he’s the famous emissary between the Pilgrims and Native Americans and the last survivor of the Patuxet tribe, whose plague-ravaged land the Pilgrims raided for food during their first winter in the new world. That same land the Pilgrims now call Plimouth. Can you tell our listeners at home about your first meeting with the Pilgrims?

SQUANTO: I arrived with sixty armed Wampanoag and their chief. The white men grabbed their muskets and ran behind walls they had built--built badly, actually— and waited for us to attack. No one dared make the first move. Finally, I stepped in and arranged for Massasoit, the Wampanoag chief to meet with the leader of the white men. With generous amounts of liquor, the two sides set about the business of peace. The Wampanoag were surrounded by enemies, and Massasoit saw in these new white men an opportunity.

RADIO MAN #1: Can we get Massasoit over here to say a few words?

SQUANTO: He speaks no English.

RADIO MAN #1: Not one word? Hey. Chief Massasoit, speak into the microphone.

MASSASOIT: Hmm, umm.

RADIO MAN #1: Thank you, Chief.

MASSASOIT: Hmm, umm.

RADIO MAN #1: Squanto, can you tell us about the agreement between the chief and the Pilgrims?

SQUANTO: The white man agreed to help the chief by using their muskets and canons in return for mutual protection and help with planting our native foods that were unknown to the white man.

RADIO MAN #1: And what were those native foods? 6

SQUANTO: I taught them to plant beans, squash, and maize in a way that would make them grow.

RADIO MAN #1: I’m sorry, Squanto, but: maize?

SQUANTO: Corn is what you call it now. Just as you call Tisquantum by the name of Squanto.

NARRATOR ECHO VOICE: You Are There will return after these messages from our sponsors.

INSERT COMMERCIALS [C]

NARRATOR’S ECHO VOICE: And now, we return to You Are There!

[Sounds of the forest, some musket shooting]

RADIO MAN #2: [whispering] I’m here in the woods just beyond the Plimouth settlement where a dozen or so Pilgrim men are hunting gamebirds.

PILGRIM MAN: There’s a turkey now. Stupid animal. [Musket fire] But makes for a good dinner.

SECOND PILGRIM MAN: Good shot. There’s another. Shhh. [Musket fire] Got him, thank the Lord.

PILGRIM MAN: Let us onto the lake nearby and shoot some waterfowl.

[Sounds of walking in forest, muskets shooting, splashing, fluttering wings flying off the lake]

SECOND PILGRIM MAN: Has the Lord endowed these waterfowl with brains? They have escaped us.

PILGRIM MAN: There! A mallard and some chicks in a line. Ready, aim, and fire!

[Muskets firing, splashing water, dying ducks]

SECOND PILGRIM MAN: Thanks be to our Lord for His bounty given unto men, His loving servants.

[Village sounds, perhaps some roasting meats on open fires, children playing]

RADIO WOMAN #1: I am here in the center of Plimouth as the Pilgrims finish their preparations for the first Thanksgiving---

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RADIO MAN #1: They don’t call it Thanksgiving. For the Pilgrims, thanksgiving is a long and serious religious service during which they offer their thanks to the Lord.

RADIO MAN #2: Our listeners might be surprised to see how these Pilgrims are dressed. No buckled shoes that we can see—

RADIO MAN #1: And none of the men is wearing a black brimmed hat with a buckle.

RADIO WOMAN #1: I’m standing here with Edward Winslow, who has agreed to postpone taking part in the celebration for a few minutes and talk to us. Happy Harvest, Mr. Winslow.

WINSLOW: Happy Harvest to you as well. Thanks be to the Lord.

RADIO WOMAN #1: Amen. When do you expect the Wampanaogs to join you?

WINSLOW: They won’t be joining us today. True, we are allies, and we have learned many things from them, and the Lord sent them to us because the seeds we brought from England failed in this new soil. We see not these savages as our equals in the eyes of God, and thus did not extend an invitation unto them.

[Gun shots and canons firing. Cheers and applause.]

RADIO MAN #2: The celebration now has officially begun.

RADIO MAN #1: Those are muskets you hear being shot upwards to the sky—

RADIO WOMAN #1: And it is a beautiful, clear blue October sky.

RADIO MAN #1: The canons are aimed out to sea where nothing but fish are in danger today.

[Sounds of Wampanaog tribesmen entering the village]

RADIO MAN #2: Here are the Wampanaogs. There are about—what?—seventy or eighty of them?

RADIO MAN #1: I’d say ninety of them.

RADIO WOMAN #1: And they all are armed.

RADIO MAN #2: Here’s our friend Squanto. Maybe I can get him to say a word.

SQUANTO: We heard muskets and canons. We are here to help defend you as Maissasoit has agreed.

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PILGRIM MAN: Cease and desist. We are celebrating.

SQUANTO: With muskets and canons? What celebration might this be?

ANOTHER PILGRIM MAN: It is our game, our fun, our festival of food and laughter.

A PILGRIM WOMAN: Stay thou a while, and thou shall note that we meanst harm to no one.

[Native Americans mumble and argue among themselves]

RADIO WOMAN #1: Tisquantum?

SQUANTO: Yes, my lady.

RADIO WOMAN #1: Tisquantum, tell us what Massasoit plans to do.

SQUANTO: He plans to stay. He wants to insure that these settlers are not planning anything violent. Let us eat.

[Sounds of Native Americans and Pilgrims mingling]

RADIO MAN #2: This has the makings of a celebration without much respect and trust but marked by distrust and aggressive action, wouldn’t you say?

RADIO WOMAN #1: It does, indeed. Very shocking and very, very sad.

RADIO MAN #1: Will you take a look at what the guests have brought with them!

RADIO WOMAN #1: I count five deer for tasty roast venison.

RADIO MAN #2: Baskets of crab, eel, and lobster.

RADIO MAN #1: I don’t see a turkey on the table.

SECOND PILGRIM WOMAN: Look thou yonder. ‘Tis a wild turkey roasting on a spit.

[Sounds of plates, talking, drumming, carving]

RADIO MAN #1: The festivities lasted three days.

RADIO WOMAN #1: There would not be another Thanksgiving until 1637, when the Puritans celebrated their massacre of the Pequot tribe near present day Mystic, Connecticut.

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RADIO MAN #2: The myth of the Native Americans and Pilgrims did not come about until 1900, but is still taught as fact in schools across America.

RADIO MAN #1: So this year, forget about the made up story about kindly Indians and grateful, friendly Pilgrims—

RADIO WOMAN #1: --and, instead, honor the natives of then and now with

ALL THREE: Native American Heritage Day

RADIO MAN #1: Because—

NARRATOR ECHO VOICE: You Are There!

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