The Myth of The First Thanksgiving and Picture Books That Tell the Truth

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Ashlie (she/her) is an educator, librarian, and author. She is dedicated to diversifying the studying lives of her college students and supporting fats acceptance because it intersects with different ladies’s points. She’s additionally perpetually striving to be taught extra about how she will use her many privileges to assist marginalized teams. Interests embrace studying learn how to curler skate along with her native curler derby staff, shopping for extra books than she’ll ever learn, mountaineering along with her husband and sons, and making lists to keep away from actual work. You can discover her on Instagram (@ashlieelizabeth), Twitter (@mygirlsimple) or at her web site, www.ashlieswicker.com.

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There are infinite the explanation why North Americans purchase into the fable of the First Thanksgiving, and many of them focus on elementary faculty schooling. The first downside is a scarcity of path. I work in Massachusetts, an space identified for its pretty rigorous faculty curriculum, however even right here, it’s normally solely math and language arts that obtain curriculum merchandise. Math and ELA are additionally the solely two issues examined in a standardized approach under fourth grade. As a outcome, science and social research can develop into afterthoughts in a crowded faculty day. Many academics are left to design classes from scratch with no path or paid time for planning.

Historically, this results in seasonal social research instructing in decrease elementary grades. Think apples in the fall and holidays of the world in the winter. This isn’t dangerous at face worth and might be carried out accurately, but when it’s not given the planning time essential to develop significant classes, the classes can develop into fluff fairly shortly. I discovered myself falling into this entice usually after I taught first grade. There isn’t any solution to describe the sensory and psychological overwhelm of instructing in a classroom, and you’ll be able to’t understate how social research is ignored in decrease elementary. An absence of instructor coaching and supplies is a serious tenant of the downside.

None of this, nevertheless, excuses the settler mentality that has led to a smiling, blissful Thanksgiving story that includes wholesome Pilgrims with buckle hats and ambiguous Native individuals sporting feathers. By eradicating the most essential particulars, historic context, and tribal accuracy, the fable of the First Thanksgiving has develop into a lie that folks use to again up claims of optimistic interactions between Native individuals and settlers. It’s not solely not true, but it surely additionally results in the erasure of future atrocities stemming from Europeans taking on North America.

I don’t know of a decrease elementary social research curriculum that gives a transparent clarification of the historic details round the feast the place Europeans and Wampanoag individuals ate collectively. I do know, nevertheless, that publishing has taken strides to heart Native voices and enhance historic accuracy. Below, I’ve gathered a number of books that add essential context to the Thanksgiving story most kids are taught and educate readers about particular tribes and traditions. These can be utilized with elementary college students to verify the viewpoint will not be solely European and to assist them extra precisely perceive this piece in an extended and heartbreaking historical past between Native individuals and the settlers who displaced them.

Books About What Really Happened

Keepunumuk: Weeâchumun’s Thanksgiving Story by Danielle Greendeer, Anthony Perry, Alexis Bunten, Garry Meeches Sr.

This title talks about the historic occasion from a Wampanoag perspective whereas highlighting the significance of corn.

cover of 1621 a new look at thanksgiving

1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving (National Geographic) by Catherine O’Neill Grace and Margaret M. Bruchac

Geared extra towards higher elementary and older, this assortment of pictures provides essential Native perspective to the first Thanksgiving.

cover of if you lived during the plimouth thanksgiving

If You Lived During the Plimoth Thanksgiving by Chris Newell and Winona Nelson

The “If You Lived” sequence has usually been written from a white, colonist perspective, however this one is written by a Native writer.

Is the story doing any hurt? Why does it matter?

The harm carried out by the fable of the First Thanksgiving is bigger than the misrepresentation of a single historic occasion. By having a optimistic, whitewashed interplay be the fundamental unit of examine about Native individuals, kids are educated from a younger age to know Native individuals and settlers as mates and, extra egregiously, to know settlers as variety and welcome visitors. The reality is that European teams colonized North America and violently killed or eliminated Native teams that resisted. By the time these truths probably emerge in higher-level historical past research, it’s tougher for college students to reconcile them with the blissful story they internalized at a younger age.

Additionally, a single occasion in the seventeenth century doesn’t symbolize the wealthy and assorted lives of American Indians who’ve fought in opposition to unimaginable odds to protect their tradition in the face of tragedy. Many college students stay in areas the place Native individuals have been generationally confined to reservations or the place no reservation exists. As a outcome, college students are left with a story that paints Native individuals as a gaggle that existed in a historic sense and not as a contemporary, various group contributing to a society that tends to erase them. Public schooling doesn’t do sufficient to struggle this notion.

Below are a number of titles that spotlight fashionable Native individuals dwelling their lives, honoring their cultures, and preventing in opposition to erasure.

Bowwow Powwow by Brenda J. Child, Jonathan Thunder, and Gordon Jourdain

A combination of life like fiction and dreamy fantasy, Bowwow Powwow tells the story of Windy Girl, her thrilling go to to the actual powwow, and her artistic, imaginary daydream powwow.

Hungry Johnny by Cheryl Minnema and Wesley Ballinger

The undeniable fact that these characters are Native comes secondary to the classes realized by an impatient baby as he honors the custom of letting all elders eat first.

Hopefully, you’ve discovered some books that may show you how to educate your self or the kids in your life who deserve historic accuracy. The fable of the First Thanksgiving appears unimaginable to rewrite, however it’s going to begin with instructing kids the reality from a younger age.

Looking for extra books about Native and Indigenous individuals? Check out this record of center grade novels. Happy studying!

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