You’ve seen it. Even if you don't know the name, you’ve definitely seen it. It’s on every second-grade classroom wall and printed on those cheap paper napkins you buy for the kids' table in late November. There’s a long table. There are men in tall, buckled hats looking very solemn. There are Indigenous people sitting on the ground, seemingly waiting for a plate. It’s the visual shorthand for an American origin story. But honestly? The First Thanksgiving painting—specifically the one titled The First Thanksgiving 1621 by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris—is more of a Victorian fantasy than a historical record. It's basically the 1910s version of a historical "fan-fic."
Ferris painted it around 1912. Think about that for a second. That's nearly 300 years after the actual event took place. He wasn’t there with a sketchbook; he was a guy in Philadelphia with a specific vision of what "Americana" should look like. Because of him, we’ve spent a century thinking the Pilgrims dressed like extras from a low-budget witch-hunt movie.
The Wardrobe Malfunction of 1621
Let’s talk about the clothes. In the painting, the Pilgrims are decked out in black and white with those massive silver buckles on their hats and shoes. It’s iconic. It’s also completely wrong.
Historians at Plimoth Patuxet Museums (formerly Plimoth Plantation) have spent decades trying to correct this. The actual settlers—who weren’t even called "Pilgrims" yet—wore bright colors. We’re talking reds, greens, yellows, and purples. They dyed their wool with whatever they could find. Black dye was actually expensive and hard to maintain; you usually saved it for your Sunday best or your funeral. And the buckles? They didn't even come into fashion until much later in the 17th century. Ferris just thought they looked "old-timey."
Then you have the Wampanoag people in the frame. Ferris painted them wearing feathered headdresses that look more like they belong to the Plains tribes of the Midwest, not the coastal peoples of Massachusetts. It’s a bit like painting a New Yorker in 1920 wearing a cowboy hat and spurs. It's anachronistic. It’s a mashup of "Native American" stereotypes that Ferris thought his audience would recognize.
🔗 Read more: Deg f to deg c: Why We’re Still Doing Mental Math in 2026
Why Ferris Painted It This Way
To understand the painting, you have to understand the era. 1912 was a weird time in America. The country was seeing massive waves of immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe. There was a lot of anxiety among the "old guard" about what it meant to be American.
Paintings like this served a purpose. They were meant to create a unified national identity. By depicting a peaceful, structured, and somewhat holy meal, Ferris was selling a narrative of cooperation and divine providence. He wasn't trying to be a journalist. He was a myth-maker. He created a series called The Pageant of a Nation, consisting of 78 paintings. He wanted to give Americans a visual history they could be proud of, even if it meant playing fast and loose with the truth.
The painting actually stayed in the Smithsonian for decades, which gave it a massive stamp of authority. People figured if it was in a museum, it had to be real. It wasn't until the mid-20th century that historians really started pointing out that, hey, maybe we shouldn't treat a 1912 oil painting as a primary source for 1621.
What Really Happened vs. The Canvas
If we look at the primary sources—which basically consist of a single paragraph in a letter by Edward Winslow and some notes by William Bradford—the "first" Thanksgiving wasn't even a dinner. It was a three-day festival.
💡 You might also like: Defining Chic: Why It Is Not Just About the Clothes You Wear
- The Guest List: There were about 50 English settlers (the survivors of a brutal winter) and about 90 Wampanoag men, including the leader Massasoit.
- The Menu: Forget the pumpkin pie. They didn't have the butter or wheat flour for crust, and they definitely didn't have ovens. They ate venison (the Wampanoag brought five deer), wild fowl (maybe turkey, but more likely duck or goose), and flint corn.
- The Seating Chart: Ferris shows a neat table with chairs. In reality, most people were probably sitting on the ground or on logs. It was a rugged outdoor event, not a formal banquet.
There’s this weird tension in the painting where the English are standing or sitting at a high table while the Wampanoag are on the floor. It suggests a hierarchy that probably wasn't there in the same way. At that specific moment in 1621, the English were desperate. They needed the Wampanoag to survive. The power dynamic was very different than what a 20th-century painter might want to portray.
The Artistic Legacy of Jean Leon Gerome Ferris
Despite the inaccuracies, you can't deny the guy's skill. The lighting is warm. The composition draws your eye right to the center. It’s comforting. That’s why it survived.
Art historians often categorize Ferris as part of the "Golden Age of American Illustration." He was a contemporary of guys like Norman Rockwell. His goal was narrative. He wanted to tell a story that moved people. In that sense, he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. He didn't just paint a picture; he designed a holiday's entire aesthetic.
When you see a cartoon of a Pilgrim today, you are seeing a caricature of a Ferris painting.
📖 Related: Deep Wave Short Hair Styles: Why Your Texture Might Be Failing You
The Controversy and the Modern View
In recent years, the painting has become a bit of a lightning rod. Many Indigenous historians and activists point out that the peaceful imagery masks the violent colonization that followed. By focusing on this one "happy" moment, the painting conveniently ignores the King Philip’s War and the eventual displacement of the Wampanoag.
It’s important to look at The First Thanksgiving painting as a document of 1912, not 1621. It tells us more about how Americans wanted to see themselves at the turn of the 20th century than it tells us about the seventeenth century. It's a piece of propaganda, sure, but it’s also a fascinating look at how we build our national myths.
Actionable Steps for the History-Curious
If you want to get closer to the real story, don't throw the painting away—just contextualize it.
- Visit Plimoth Patuxet: If you're ever in Massachusetts, go to the living history museum. They have a 17th-century English Village and a Wampanoag Homesite. You can see the actual colors of the clothes and the layout of the houses.
- Read "Mourt’s Relation": This is the actual primary source. It’s a journal written by the settlers. It’s surprisingly short and gives you the raw details without the 300 years of polish.
- Check out Indigenous Art: Look at how modern Wampanoag artists like Elizabeth James-Perry portray their history and culture. It provides a necessary counter-balance to the Eurocentric "buckles and bonnets" imagery.
- Search for Jennie Augusta Brownscombe: She was another artist around the same time as Ferris who painted the same scene (The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth, 1914). Comparing the two shows you how common these tropes were and how they were used to sell a specific version of the American Dream.
The painting isn't a window; it's a mirror. It shows us what we value—or what we used to value—in our shared history. Understanding the difference between the art and the act is the first step in actually respecting the people who were there.