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The Pilgrims are often portrayed as fleeing persecution only to become persecutors themselves. That’s false on both counts.

MYTH: The Pilgrims invaded Indian villages. Actually, the native population where they settled had died off before they arrived.

The modern Pilgrim narrative is wrong on all counts: they were not fleeing persecution and they did not persecute Native Americans. 

The Pilgrims did not displace Native Americans to settle. The former inhabitants had died off from a plague before the Pilgrims arrived. 

The First Thanksgiving was a communal celebration shared between the Pilgrims and Native Americans.

The Pilgrims understood that people of every culture can gain much from the virtue of gratitude—which is the real meaning of Thanksgiving.

The Pilgrims came to America because they wanted to establish a moral, religiously committed and economically thriving society. 