For the second year in a row, the Boston City Council has passed a resolution formally recognizing November 27, 2025, as a “National Day of Mourning.”
The resolution describes colonization as having led to violence, land loss, and cultural erasure. The resolution also notes that Native Americans make up less than one percent of Boston’s population today and lists tribes historically connected to the New England region.
“To the Native population in our community, Thanksgiving doesn’t represent a celebration. It is a yearly haunting reminder of the devastation that was brought upon them,” Boston City Councilor Benjamin Weber said before the resolution was passed.
The council’s resolution cites the origins of the National Day of Mourning in 1970, when Wamsutta Frank James of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) organized a gathering to challenge traditional Thanksgiving narratives. The resolution states that the annual observance continues to be held by Indigenous groups in New England.
While supporters frame the measure as an acknowledgment of Indigenous history and resilience, critics have argued that such resolutions risk dividing communities by casting a national holiday in a negative light. Opponents contend that Thanksgiving should remain a unifying celebration, and that official recognition of a day of mourning politicizes the holiday.
