Unthanksgiving Day: Why It Matters & How to Observe

Unthanksgiving Day—also called the Indigenous Peoples’ Sunrise Ceremony—is observed on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay every fourth Thursday of November. It gathers Native Americans and allies to honor centuries of Indigenous survival, resistance, and continuance rather than the settler-colonial Thanksgiving holiday.

The event is not a counter-holiday for non-Natives to co-opt; it is a sacred gathering centered on Indigenous sovereignty, remembrance, and community strength. While the public is invited to witness and support, the day’s purpose remains rooted in Indigenous voice, ceremony, and land back principles.

What Unthanksgiving Day Actually Commemorates

Unthanksgiving Day marks the 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz by Indians of All Tribes, a 19-month protest that demanded the return of surplus federal land to Native nations. The occupation ended with federal removal, but it ignited a modern wave of Indigenous activism, policy reform, and cultural revitalization across the United States.

Participants gather before dawn to greet the sun with song, drum, and prayer, acknowledging ancestors who survived genocide and boarding schools. The ceremony also recognizes ongoing struggles against pipelines, land theft, and murdered Indigenous women.

By centering Alcatraz—the site of a former federal prison on stolen Ohlone land—the event links historical incarceration of Native activists to present-day systems that criminalize land defenders.

The Symbolism of Sunrise

Dawn is a moment of renewal in many Indigenous cosmologies; greeting the sun affirms that Indigenous nations are still here. The east-facing ceremony on Alcatraz’s cold concrete rubble transforms a place of isolation into a stage of collective resurgence.

Each sunrise song carries distinct tribal languages, rhythms, and protocols, demonstrating that Indigenous identity is not monolithic. The synchronized drums echo across the bay, audible to commuters on ferries and to Ohlone elders watching from the shoreline.

Why Non-Native Observers Must Approach With Reciprocity

Visitors are discouraged from treating the ceremony as a tourist attraction or Instagram backdrop. Photography is restricted during sacred moments, and posting images without permission violates Indigenous data sovereignty.

Reciprocity begins with tangible support: donate to the organizers’ fund, purchase Indigenous-made art directly from vendors, and share event audio only if explicitly authorized. Listening without recording is often the greatest gift allies can offer.

Non-Natives should also commit to off-island action—support land-back campaigns, pressure elected officials to honor treaties, and redirect Thanksgiving spending to Indigenous farmers, chefs, and activists.

Decentering the Settler Gaze

Alcatraz ferries become classrooms on the ride over, with Indigenous speakers explaining federal termination policies and the 1956 Indian Relocation Act. Yet the moment the island’s shore is touched, the microphone belongs to Native youth, elders, and two-spirit leaders.

Allies are invited to witness, not to lead chants or hold banners. This deliberate shift in authority models the broader societal restructure that land back movements demand.

How to Prepare for the Alcatraz Journey

Tickets sell out weeks in advance through a single authorized vendor; scalped passes do not fund the ceremony and are considered exploitative. Layered clothing, closed-toe shoes, and reusable water bottles are essential—the island has no shelter, food, or trash service.

Ferry boarding begins at 4:15 a.m. in San Francisco; late arrivals forfeit their spot with no refund. The crossing takes 15 minutes on dark, choppy water that can trigger seasickness, so bring ginger chews and avoid heavy breakfasts.

Cell service is unreliable; download offline maps and arrange meeting points before departure. The National Park Service requires government-issued ID that matches the ticket name exactly.

Accessibility and Inclusion Notes

Alcatraz’s steep switchbacks and uneven terrain are not wheelchair-friendly; organizers arrange a limited number of golf-cart rides for elders and disabled attendees who request them in advance. ASL interpreters are present on the main stage, but auxiliary gatherings around the island may not be interpreted.

Gender-neutral portable toilets are available, and the ferry crew is trained to respect traditional regalia that may not fit through metal detectors. Bringing tobacco or sage offerings is encouraged, but open flame is restricted—use only the communal fire pans supervised by firekeepers.

Indigenous-Led Actions You Can Support From Anywhere

If travel to Alcatraz is impossible, host a virtual teach-in with recorded sunrise footage authorized by Indigenous media collectives. Pair the screening with a fundraiser for the Wampanoag-language school or the Navajo water-access project.

Replace settler-centric Thanksgiving dishes with recipes from Native chefs like Sean Sherman’s cedar-braised bison or Crystal Wahpepah’s blue corn mush. Credit the tribal origins of each ingredient and avoid appropriating sacred foods like white corn when not part of your nation.

Contact your local library to request purchases of books by Indigenous authors, then organize a reading circle that prioritizes Indigenous voices in discussion facilitation.

Land Back in Urban Contexts

City dwellers can map whose ancestral land they occupy using Native Land Digital and then push municipal governments to install permanent signage acknowledging tribal sovereignty. Small victories include renaming Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day and removing statues of colonizers.

Support Indigenous-led urban farms that convert vacant lots into spaces for traditional cultivation of Three Sisters gardens—corn, beans, and squash grown in mutualistic mounds that regenerate soil.

Educational Resources That Center Indigenous Scholarship

Start with the free curriculum “Thanksgiving Truth” by the Zinn Education Project, which offers lesson plans vetted by Native educators. Avoid glossy textbooks that frame the 1621 harvest feast as a friendship feast; instead use primary sources like Massasoit’s actual treaty transcripts.

Stream documentaries such as “Dawnland” about the Wabanaki truth commission or “Inhabitants” on Indigenous climate stewardship. These films come with discussion guides written by tribal members, ensuring accurate interpretation.

Podcasts like “Toasted Sister” and “All My Relations” dive into decolonized foodways and blood-quantum critiques, providing on-the-go learning that can replace Black Friday shopping podcasts.

Children’s Media Without Pilgrim Hats

Read “We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga” by Traci Sorell to children; it follows a Cherokee year of gratitude tied to seasons, not a single November meal. Pair story time with making shell necklaces using ethically sourced quahog slices, teaching the Wampanoag wampum tradition without resorting to paper feather headdresses.

Encourage schools to invite local tribal storytellers instead of reenactment actors; many nations maintain cultural-education departments willing to visit classrooms for honoraria rather than exposure.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Do not stage “Unthanksgiving dinners” that mimic potlucks with paper turkeys; such events dilute a sacred gathering into a themed party. Avoid wearing generic “Native” regalia—if you are not enrolled, feathers and fringe are not yours to don.

Refrain from quoting Thanksgiving proclamations by Abraham Lincoln without acknowledging his simultaneous approval of the largest mass execution in U.S. history—the hanging of 38 Dakota men in 1862.

Never ask Indigenous people to “prove” their identity by naming their grandparents’ boarding schools; such interrogations perpetuate colonial blood-quantum policing.

Language Pitfalls

Replace the phrase “low man on the totem pole” with “entry-level employee”; totem poles record family histories, not hierarchies. Say “nation” or “people” instead of “tribe” when referring to specific political entities, as “tribe” can carry derogatory connotations in legal documents.

Capitalize Indigenous and Native when referring to peoples, just as you would European or Asian, to signal equal respect.

Building Year-Round Solidarity

Unthanksgiving ends at 8 a.m., but Indigenous struggles continue year-round. Set calendar alerts for May 5—National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women—to post about local cases and donate to survivor-led databases.

Follow Indigenous journalists on social media and pay for their newsletters rather than relying on free content. Financially supporting Native media ensures stories are told without settler editors softening land-back rhetoric.

Shift philanthropic budgets to Native-controlled nonprofits; groups like the NDN Collective allow tribes to set their own grant criteria, avoiding paternalistic benchmarks imposed by outside foundations.

Policy Advocacy That Outlasts Hashtags

Call your representatives to support the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act with expanded tribal jurisdiction provisions that allow Native courts to prosecute non-Native offenders on tribal land. Personal calls outweigh emails; staffers tally each conversation.

Demand that universities disclose Indigenous human remains held in anthropology departments and return them under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Many institutions still house thousands of ancestors despite federal mandates.

Support the SAVE Native Seeds Act, which protects Indigenous intellectual property over heritage crops against biopiracy by agribusiness corporations seeking to patent drought-resistant strains.

Reflection Practices for Allies

After attending or streaming the ceremony, write a reflection letter to yourself dated one year ahead. Include three concrete commitments—such as attending a tribal-council meeting or investing in a Native community development financial institution—and mail it back to yourself as a reminder.

Create a solidarity fund by automatically transferring one percent of monthly income to Indigenous organizations; even small percentages accumulate into meaningful reparations when sustained.

Finally, teach what you have learned to other non-Natives, but always credit Indigenous speakers by name and direct audiences to their original work, ensuring knowledge circles back to the community that generated it.