We're Still Here

In late November, people across the U.S. will celebrate Thanksgiving. But the holiday means something different to 14-year-old Storam Coombs. That’s because her ancestors were at what is often called the first Thanksgiving feast.

Storam is a member of the Wampanoag (WAHM-pahnawg) Nation. They were the first Native people to make contact with the Pilgrims. Without them, Plymouth Colony might have failed.

“I feel proud to be Wampanoag,” Storam says.

The Wampanoag were here long before the Mayflower arrived in 1620. They’ve lived in the northeastern U.S. for more than 12,000 years. They had been trading with European explorers since at least 1524.

In the early 1600s, the Wampanoag Nation had about 100,000 people living in nearly 70 communities. By the time the Mayflower arrived, many Wampanoag had died from a disease brought by Europeans.

The Wampanoag community of Patuxet was almost completely wiped out. It was on that land that the Pilgrims built their new colony.

The Wampanoag first met the Pilgrims in March 1621. Each group was struggling. The Wampanoag were threatened by a neighboring Native American nation. The Pilgrims had barely survived their first winter. The groups signed a treaty, agreeing to support each other.

A Wampanoag man named Tisquantum (tis-KWAHN-tum) taught the colonists how to grow crops. That fall, they held the famous feast Americans remember each November.

The Wampanoag story doesn’t end with the first Thanksgiving. 

“For us as Wampanoag people, a lot of the history isn’t pretty,” says Storam’s dad, Darius Coombs. He’s a historian at the Wampanoag Homesite, a museum near the original site of the community of Patuxet.

As more European settlers arrived, they took over much of the land where the Wampanoag had lived for thousands of years. They tried to change the Wampanoag way of life and forced them to convert to their religion. The peace broke down.

In 1675, a war broke out between the colonists and the Wampanoag. A chief named Metacom, later known as Philip, led them. The English won the war, which was called King Philip’s War.

Thousands of Wampanoag were killed, and many survivors were enslaved. The war set the stage for centuries of mistreatment of Native people.

Still, the Wampanoag endured. Today, Storam is among the roughly 10,000 Wampanoag living in the northeastern U.S.

Storam is doing her part to keep Wampanoag traditions alive. For example, she is learning her native language, which had nearly died out.

She also volunteers at the Wampanoag Homesite. She educates visitors about Wampanoag traditions.

“I think it’s important for people to learn about the Wampanoag history,” she says. “I want people to remember who we are.”