November is National American Indian Heritage Month. Thursday, November 26, most people will sit around their dinner tables with their families and talk about the things that they are grateful for as they feast on turkey, stuffing and other dishes. Quite a few people know the history behind Thanksgiving, although many only know the version taught to them in grammar school: that there was a benevolent alliance between Pilgrims and American Indians.

I recently interviewed two members of the Oneida Nation, Clint Hill (Turtle Clan representative, Oneida Nation Council) and Kathy Kuhl (Central New York Indian Outreach coordinator). I also interviewed a member of the Georgia Eastern Tribe of Cherokee, Lucian Lamar Sneed (chairman and historian of the Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokee). Hill, Kuhl and Sneed shared their thoughts on their community's past and present relationships with the United States and Thanksgiving, among other topics:

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On being the first Allies with the United States

Kathy Kuhl: In the beginning, we were not on either side. We just wanted to live and take care of our families, but then we decided to fight for the colonists, because their ideal was to get freedom like we wanted. They wanted a new beginning. We welcomed them to our country, not knowing that down the road they were going to want to take over.

On their current relationship with the United States

Clint Hill: The Oneida Nation was the first ally of the United States. The Oneidas have fought in every war the United States has fought, from the American Revolutionary War up to the present war in Afghanistan. Our relationship with the United States has been ongoing since the 1700s. We're still here. We still have our rights. The Treaty of Canandaigua recognizes our rights to live free and basically do as we please to govern ourselves. It's one of the oldest treaties the United States has ever made with another sovereign nation.

On the relationship between the Oneida and African peoples

CH: I do believe that we were a part of the Underground Railroad system. There was an old Indian schoolhouse that was used for the underground railroad. Currently, we do have a relationship with the NAACP.

On Thanksgiving

KK: It's a coming together of families to celebrate one day where we're all happy. It was our way of welcoming the colonists. We are going to be in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City this year. This is our second year participating. It's a way to show our connection to the United States.

On the relationship between the Cherokee and the United States

Lucian Lamar Sneed: The relationship for the most part has been a disaster for the Cherokee people. Every treaty that was ever entered into with the U. S. government was and has been broken. Not one promise has been completely kept by the government.

On President Obama's address to Native American Indians

LS: President Obama addressed many Native American leaders, including myself, a few weeks ago in Washington. This was virtually the first time that a president has made such an effort. He told us that he was very familiar with the many wrongs perpetrated against all Native American Indians, and that he would do all he could to address some of those wrongs. If he does only half of what he said to correct past wrongs, he will be the best president the American Indians have ever had. That does not mean that we do not have differences politically, but it is a great start.

On the Trail of Tears

LS: The forced removal of the mostly full-blood Cherokees was a horrendous act by any civilized people against another group of people. Especially people who had occupied the land for tens of thousands of years before the white man ever set foot in America. But all were not removed. Those families who had a White as a head of household were exempt from removal. Thus the Cherokee descendants who still live in Georgia and north Georgia are still considered to make up the land of the Georgia Cherokee people.

The Trail of Tears was the rounding up of as many Cherokee peoples as could then be located in the north Georgia Mountains. They were forced to march on foot, some on wagons if they still had one after the Georgia troops had stolen most everything they owned, on the infamous Trail of Tears. As many as 19,000 Cherokee people were forced to make that infamous march to Oklahoma, over one-third of those who were forced on the march died from the lack of food, exposure and the mistreatment by the soldiers, who delighted in mistreating them.

As a result of Georgia's horrific acts against the Cherokee people, those who had successfully hidden had to totally refuse to ever acknowledge again that they were Cherokee, lest they, too, would face removal or other acts of total discrimination, such as those that the African Americans had to endure in Georgia.

On the relationship between the Cherokee and African peoples

LS: The wealthy Cherokee people, trying to simulate or pacify their white neighbors, also bought African slaves for use on their massive farms. The difference was in the treatment. In many cases, they became family members, who when the Cherokee were driven west by Georgia and the federal government, accompanied them on the forced march to Oklahoma (then Indian territory) as free people.

On Thanksgiving

LS: Thanksgiving was originally a Native American tradition. The Cherokee had six major festivals they celebrated each year. The harvest festival was the last one celebrated. This festival was introduced to the Pilgrims, or early settlers, by the Native Americans of the East. Keep in mind that it was the introduction of the American vegetables, such as corn, that allowed the new settlers to even survive in America. Corn, tomatoes, squash, beans and potatoes were all Native American Indian foods.

The Cherokee people and all Native Americans have a great legacy to pass on to all people of the world. It was taught that all things done must take in to [account] the seven generations past and the seven generations to come. We are only passersby in time. The Earth and all its bounty belong to all the generations to come. We are thankful that our ancestors remembered us before we were born, and it is incumbent upon us that we preserve the future for those yet to come. georgia indiansAgain we are only temporary users of the gifts of God. We own nothing.