400 years after Pilgrim landing, natives finally being heard

PLYMOUTH, Mass. – The seaside town where the Pilgrims came ashore in 1620 is making sure Native Americans aren't an afterthought in its 400th anniversary commemoration.

Plymouth, Massachusetts, marks its quadricentennial in 2020 — and organizers are taking care to honor the native people whose ancestors wound up losing their land and their lives.

Plymouth 400 executive director Michele Pecoraro says she hopes yearlong events will help all Americans have a frank discussion about immigration and indigenous people.

That wasn't the case in 1970 on the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrim landing. The Wampanoag Nation — the tribe that helped the settlers survive their first bitter winter — was mostly ignored, and the tribe has staged a National Day of Mourning on every Thanksgiving Day since.