The Story We Tell Ourselves | Pilgrims and Thanksgiving

America was founded when a group of Protestant Christians, fleeing religious persecution in Europe, made the harrowing journey across the Atlantic. Except, no it wasn't and no they weren't. This story is a lie.

Use the promo code "knowingbetter" for a 26% discount on an annual subscription!

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Thanks to Atun-Shei Films

King Philip's War Playlist

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Sources

This Land is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving (2019)

The Wordy Shipmates (2008)

We Shall Remain (2009)

American Experience: The Pilgrims (2015)

Children's Books

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Video Credits -
Family Guy S7 E16 “Peter’s Progress”
The Simpsons S17 E18 “The Wettest Stories Ever Told”
South Park S4 E13 “Helen Keller! The Musical”
South Park S15 E13 “A History Channel Thanksgiving”
The Brady Bunch S2 E4 “The Un-underground Movie”
Happy Days S6 E12 “The First Thanksgiving”
This is America, Charlie Brown Ep 1 “The Mayflower Voyagers”
Thanks! S1-S6
America: The Story of Us Ep 1 “Rebels”
Flintstones 1960-1966 Intro Theme

Photo Credits -

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Production Assistant - Rozarah

Research Assistant - Jesspsettle

Music - Michael Cotten

Channel Art - PoetheWonderCat

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Hashtags: #history #pilgrims #thanksgiving #puritans #plymouth #wampanoag #jamestown #america

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This video was sponsored by CuriosityStream and Nebula.

[KnowingBetter]

Corrections: Nobody was burned at the Salem Witch Trials, but medieval execution methods were still used. Likewise, Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the church is disputed. But he definitely published and distributed it.

[AlexWaardenburg]

How much time it must spend to scour every media interpretation of those events just to discover the Simpson's portrayal is the most accurate. This guy's dedicated!

[Pokemaster-wggx]

I fucking love how this guy really released a Thanksgiving video in January

[fritzophrenia]

I like that he makes pains to point out that the Native Americans were just... people. They were independent moral agents, capable of just as much duplicity, backstabbing and cruelty as any European. They had goals and schemes and personal ambitions just like any other human. I mean hell, Tisquantum's plan wouldn't be out of place in Game of Thrones or something

They're not savages that have no concept of morals or gods, but nor are they perfect "state of nature" type humans that were living in perfect harmony with themselves and nature. I do find that even though the intention is good, white people talking about Indian history tend to infantilize them a little bit, taking away a lot of their agency, which KB does not do

[MARNM]

It's wild that my mother taught me all of this growing up. It used to get me into arguments with my teachers. I literally was the Waterboy with the whole "well, my momma said..." in school. 🤣

[Flumpadorus]

As a social studies teacher, I thank you for these videos. They are a treasure trove of material that allows me to better educate my students, while at the same time, raising the bar of how history is taught to young people.

[bryanvasquez]

Every time Knowing Better makes a new video I have to drop everything I’m doing and watch it

[BlastedRodent]

As a European, it’s fascinating on multiple levels to learn not just what American history education omits, but what it teaches in the first place. Definitely makes me question the narrative I was taught in school, which, while different, was certainly just as faulty.

(For the record, I was taught a history of Denmark as a small and innocent country that kept to itself since the viking age, not the regional great power and colonial oppressor it actually was for much of its history.)

[PGGraham]

I just saw the part about the errors and omissions in history education, and I just had to comment.
I only had one teacher teach me, and he was constantly in trouble with the school system. He didn't care, he just wanted to teach us the truth.

Every other history teacher just taught us the sanitized lie. Thank you for teaching the truth.

[GaryRPeters]

This is such a great presentation! As a Massachusetts native, as well as member of the Wampanoag tribe, this lines up with much of what my grandfather and uncles always taught me, in addition to the more-in-depth reading I've done on my own. Had I not grown up in the family I did, I certainly wouldn't have stumbled upon King Philip's War until well into adulthood, as no history teacher of mine ever mentioned it. This is great info, and I will definitely share it with people.

...one side note, and I reluctantly mention it only in the spirit of "knowing better, " but you brought up the Salem Witch Trials as a cause for the fall of the Puritan movement in New England. In that brief reference, you mentioned that innocent women were burned at the stake. However, nobody in Salem, or any anywhere in North America, was ever burned at the stake for being found guilty of witchcraft, though it had been common practice in Europe. Here, the standard execution was hanging, with the exception of one Giles Corey, who was pressed to death in an attempt to force him to enter a plea. So still barbaric, but no burnings.

[dannydumlet]

You know even as a kid I was confused by the pilgrims thanksgiving myth back as a kid cause I wondered "when did we start fighting them." Even then it felt like there was a lot of pieces missing.

[wanderinghistorian]

Shout out to the Witchfinder General for being so gracious as to voice the Pilgrims for us!

[AncientAmericas]

"World History vs. Prehistory." Nailed it.

[literalantifaterrorist]

been watching you since middle school and now i’m about to graduate, thanks for teaching me real history my teachers didn’t.

[allieren]

I am a Mayflower descendant (John and Priscilla Alden), and it was only in recent years where I became interested in family history that I began to learn the real history of the colonists. I didn’t realize that the majority of Mayflower passengers weren’t Pilgrims until I learned that John Alden was part of the crew as a cooper, and had originally intended on sailing back to England with the Mayflower, and did further reading from there. The real story is so much more interesting than what I learned in school. Thanks for another great video!

Incidentally, I am currently on a work assignment in Salem, MA for several months and hope to take this opportunity to see significant locations and learn more.

[johnathonmerrow]

KB, I know you've stated you used to be a teacher... but to be honest, you still are. Keep your passion alive friend. Great work.

[log]

I cannot believe there's another KB video within two months of the last one. AND it's over an hour long. Amazing

[angrybirdsandwich]

KB is definitely one of the best social studies and political teacher on YouTube

[TheBrickMasterB]

Seeing KB have an existential crisis because The Simpsons and PragerU were more accurate than official curriculums is just.... perfection.

[Yesnomu]

All these videos are so brutal at deconstructing the myths I was taught in school, and I really appreciate it. Thanks for being one of the most educational channels on youtube!