As Americans gather for Thanksgiving feasts, they are paying homage to a meal that took place more than 400 years ago between a group of colonists and Wampanoag Native Americans in Patuxet, the area now known as Plymouth, Massachusetts. TIME reached out to experts on Native American history nationwide to talk about moments in history that hold more significance to Native Americans than the first Thanksgiving. Featured in the story are Kathleen DuVal, UNC professor of history; Raquel Escobar, current Carolina postdoctoral scholar who will begin as an assistant professor in the history department next fall; and Kyle Mays, former Carolina postdoctoral scholar.