Since then, with exception to during the Covid-19 pandemic, American Indians have journeyed from the mainland to Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay on Thanksgiving Day. Previously the day was called “Un-Thanksgiving Day. In modern times, Alcatraz Island has become a symbol to American Indians.
Each year on the fourth Thursday of November, when many people start to take stock of the marathon day of cooking ahead, Indigenous people from diverse tribes and nations gather at sunrise in San Francisco Bay.Their gathering is meant to mark a different occasion – the Indigenous People’s Thanksgivi.
The origins of the Indigenous People’s Thanksgiving Sunrise Ceremony, held on the traditional lands of the Ohlone people, go back to 1969, a pivotal moment of Indigenous activism.