Punished At Boarding School (language)

Native Americans Work to Save Language


Aru Pande | VOA News Nov 28, 2014.

FORT YATES, NORTH DAKOTA—One evening a week, young and old gather in Michael Moore’s classroom in Fort Yates, North Dakota, to learn Lakota — the language of their Sioux tribal ancestors.

For many of the students here at Sitting Bull College, it’s a tongue their great grandparents spoke fluently at home.

But that changed in the early 1900’s, when thousands of Native American children were sent to boarding schools where they were told to assimilate, learn English and forget all aspects of their native culture.

Gabe Black Moon, who co-teaches Lakota with Moore, remembered his time at one such school.

“The government punished [us for speaking] our language, and I’ve seen that happen. It happened to me,” he said. “Day one, I went to school, I couldn’t speak English. I got punished pretty bad.”

More Than Food (holidaze)

For Americans Fighting to Reclaim Their Culture, Thanksgiving Means More Than Food


November 25, 2014 
by Colleen Fitzgerald

Every fourth Thursday in November, Americans find time for family, sharing food, traditions and language. Stories of that iconic first Thanksgiving evoke images of Pilgrims and Indians, but as is so often the case with history and popular culture, some details are missing. Two of the biggest ― those Indians were the Wampanoag, and within two centuries, their language ceased to be spoken.

Today, the Wampanoag and other Native American tribes give thanks for those who fight to bring their languages home again.

Food is not the only thing humans crave. Losing your language creates a hunger for that piece to make you whole again. This hunger is seen in so many U.S. indigenous communities. It is a hunger to reconnect with heritage, to regenerate culture and traditions, and to revitalize heritage languages.

Language is a powerful badge of identity. The Wampanoag know this. The restoration of their language, powered by Jessie Little Doe Baird and the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project, includes summer language camps where children experience their tribal language ‘set within a cultural context,’ for example, learning how to plant, harvest and cook traditional foods. These foods, plants and animals are familiar to those of us who are not Native Americans. Words like squash, persimmon, hickory, chipmunk, skunk and possummade their way into English in a route that originated in different Algonquian languages, writes linguist Ives Goddard.

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From Trail of Tears to texting (language)

Cherokee language: From Trail of Tears to texting in the native tongue


As elders worry about whether their culture will survive, children continue learning to speak as their ancestors did

November 22, 2014 5:00AM ET
by Juliana Keeping   @julianakeeping

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — The children stand in a circle, just beyond a poster of a U.S. map that highlights the swath of the Southeastern United States that the Cherokees once controlled.

The fourth-grade students are in a classroom at the Cherokee Nation Immersion School in eastern Oklahoma, where they speak, learn and write in nothing but the tongue of their ancestors.

The conversation among the animated pupils bounces around the circle. They are preparing for a Cherokee language competition and in doing so, talking about a scenario in which they are looking to meet up with their teacher, Glenda Beitz, in a Walmart parking lot — if they could only remember where she lived.

The exercise aims to emphasize Oklahoma town names because “those are disappearing in our language,” said Beitz, 49, who has taught the class of eight 9-year-olds since they entered kindergarten.

Access full article below: 

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/11/22/cherokee-languageoklahoma.html

NB3 and Native American Heritage Month

NB3 and Native American Heritage Month
November Is Native American and National Diabetes Prevention Month
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NB3 Foundation & Native American Heritage Month
Also National Diabetes Prevention Month

You probably know that November is both Native American Heritage Month and National Diabetes Prevention Month. As you spend time celebrating Native American culture and tradition this month, NB3F asks that you take a moment to think about the health epidemics affecting Native children in our country.
Data suggests that half of all Native children will develop type 2 diabetes, which is more than 9 times the risk their non-Native peers face
NB3F is committed supporting and assisting grassroots, homegrown community responses to the health crisis affecting Native Americans. Please consider making a gift in honor of Native American Heritage Month!
Your donation of $20, $50 or even $100 will assist NB3F in our efforts to help Native children know the importance of a healthy diet and an active lifestyle. No gift is too small to help the next generation of Native children Live Healthy, Live Strong and Live Native.
Make a gift today to support NB3F in addressing the current health crisis Native American children are facing
 
 You can find more information on our focus on Native health by:
 
Thank you,


Crystal Echo Hawk
Executive Director
Notah Begay III Foundation

 

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2014 Elders Dinner and Inter-Triba Gathering

2014 Elders Dinner and Inter-Triba Gathering

Northern California Indian Development Council's 2014 Inter-Tribal Gathering & Elders Dinner

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washington slurskin (mascot)

National Congress of American Indians

Watch the ‪#‎BigGame commercial the NFL would never air.

Get involved by contacting the Washington Professional Football Team, the NFL and the Washington Post:

DC Team

@redskins

Facebook.com/redskins

http://www.redskins.com/footer/contact-us.html 

Roger Goodell & NFL

@NFL

@NFLcommish

http://www.nfl.com/contact-us

https://www.facebook.com/NFL 

Washington Post

DC's hometown paper is still using the R-word in its coverage of the team.

@WashingtonPost

@PostSports

https://www.facebook.com/washingtonpost

Contact the Washington Post:

202-334-6100

http://help.washingtonpost.com/ics/support/ticketnewwizard.asp?style=classic&deptID=15080

Thank you to all of the filmmakers who donated their footage.

 

 

Preventing Flu

Preventing Flu
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Information for Schools & Childcare Providers

Language:
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The single best way to protect against seasonal flu and its potential severe complications is for children to get a seasonal influenza vaccine each year.Educators and staff can help slow the spread of colds and flu. On this page, you will find information on preventing the flu as well as materials and tools for schools.

Each year, an average of 20,000 children under the age of 5 are hospitalized because of flu-related complications. Influenza causes more hospitalizations among young children than any other vaccine-preventable disease. The single best way to protect against seasonal flu and its potential severe complications is for children to get a seasonal influenza vaccine each year. Flu vaccination is recommended for all children aged 6 months and older. Making healthy choices at school and at home can help prevent the flu and spreading flu to others.

Encourage children, parents, and staff to take the following everyday preventive actions[2 MB, 2 pages]:

  • Stay home when you are sick. If possible, stay home from work, school, and errands when you are sick. You will help prevent others from catching your illness. Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
  • Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue away after use and wash your hands. If a tissue is not available, cover your mouth and nose with your sleeve, not your hand.
  • Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth. Germs spread this way.
  • Clean and disinfect surfaces or objects. Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces at home, work or school, especially when someone is ill.

School-Located Vaccination

Guidance and Resources

 

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First Tday (holidaze

First Tday (holidaze
Holidaze
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Native News Network

First thanksgiving Info

from the November 27, 2002 edition –
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1127/p13s02-lign.html
 
The first Thanksgiving
 
In the fall of 1621, 90 Wampanoag Indians and 52 English colonists gathered for a three-day harvest feast. How did Americans get from that celebration to the Thanksgiving 'traditions' we observe today?
 
By Elizabeth Armstrong | Special to The Christian Science Monitor
 
PLYMOUTH, MASS. - Everyone knows about the Pilgrims and the Indians, right? How the two groups gathered peacefully in Plymouth, Mass., to feast on juicy turkeys and colorful pumpkin pies.
 
The trouble is, almost everything we've been taught about the first Thanksgiving in 1621 is a myth. The holiday has two distinct histories - the actual one and a romanticized portrayal.
 
Today, Americans celebrate a holiday based largely on the latter, whose details of turkey and cranberry sauce decorating one long table stem from the creative musings of a magazine editor in the mid-1800s.
 
The true history has been a difficult one to uncover. Staff at Plimoth Plantation, which occupies several acres on the outskirts of the city of Plymouth, just north of Cape Cod, have been in the vanguard of researching the event. But a big obstacle remains: Everything historians know today is based on two passages written by colonists.
 
Participants' accounts
 
In a letter to a friend, dated December 1621, Edward Winslow wrote: "Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a more special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruit of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week, at which time, among other Recreations, we exercised our Arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with some 90 men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted and they went out and killed five Deer, which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain and others."
 
Twenty years later, William Bradford wrote a book that provides a few more hints as to what might have been on that first Thanksgiving table. But his book was stolen by British looters during the Revolutionary War and therefore didn't have much influence on how Thanksgiving was celebrated until it turned up many years later.
 
No one is certain whether the Wampanoag and the colonists regularly sat together and shared their food, or if the three-day "thanksgiving" feast Mr. Winslow recorded for posterity was a one-time event.
 
In the culture of the Wampanoag Indians, who inhabited the area around Cape Cod, "thanksgiving" was an everyday activity.
 
"We as native people [traditionally] have thanksgivings as a daily, ongoing thing," says Linda Coombs, associate director of the Wampanoag program at Plimoth Plantation. "Every time anybody went hunting or fishing or picked a plant, they would offer a prayer or acknowledgment."
 
But for the 52 colonists - who had experienced a year of disease, hunger, and diminishing hopes - their bountiful harvest was cause for a special celebration to give thanks.
 
"Neither the English people nor the native people in 1621 knew they were having the first Thanksgiving," Ms. Coombs says. No one knew that the details would interest coming generations.
 
"We're not sure why Massasoit and the 90 men ended up coming to Plimoth," Coombs says. "There's an assumption that they were invited, but nowhere in the passage does it say they were. And the idea that they sat down and lived happily ever after is, well, untrue. The relationship between the English and the Wampanoag was very complex."
 
Since they did not speak the same language, the extent to which the colonists and Indians intermingled remains a mystery. But a few details of that first Thanksgiving are certain, says Kathleen Curtin, food historian at the Plimoth Plantation.
 
What was on the menu?
 
First, wild turkey was never mentioned in Winslow's account. It is probable that the large amounts of "fowl" brought back by four hunters were seasonal waterfowl such as duck or geese.
 
And if cranberries were served, they would have been used for their tartness or color, not the sweet sauce or relish so common today. In fact, it would be 50 more years before berries were boiled with sugar and used as an accompaniment to meat.
 
Potatoes weren't part of the feast, either. Neither the sweet potato nor the white potato was yet available to colonists.
 
The presence of pumpkin pie appears to be a myth, too. The group may have eaten pumpkins and other squashes native to New England, but it is unlikely that they had the ingredients for pie crust - butter and wheat flour. Even if they had possessed butter and flour, the colonists hadn't yet built an oven for baking.
 
"While we have been able to work out which modern dishes were not available in 1621, just what was served is a tougher nut to crack," Ms. Curtin says.
 
A couple of guesses can be made from other passages in Winslow's correspondence about the general diet at the time: lobsters, mussels, "sallet herbs," white and red grapes, black and red plums, and flint corn.
 
"We have only one documented harvest feast that occurred between the cultures," Curtin points out. "You don't hear about [any other] harvests occurring between them. I assume that they did on some level, but it's fascinating that it is just that one source, one sentence in one letter. I wonder what else is there that someone just didn't jot down, and we now know nothing about."
 
Until the early 1800s, Thanksgiving was considered to be a regional holiday celebrated solemnly through fasting and quiet reflection.
 
But the 19th century had its own Martha Stewart, and it didn't take her long to turn New England fasting into national feasting. Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of the popular Godey's Lady's Book, stumbled upon Winslow's passage and refused to let the historic day fade from the minds - or tables - of Americans. This established trendsetter filled her magazine with recipes and editorials about Thanksgiving.
 
It was also about this time - in 1854, to be exact - that Bradford's history book of Plymouth Plantation resurfaced. The book increased interest in the Pilgrims, and Mrs. Hale and others latched onto the fact he mentioned that the colonists had killed wild turkeys during the autumn.
 
In her magazine Hale wrote appealing articles about roasted turkeys, savory stuffing, and pumpkin pies - all the foods that today's holiday meals are likely to contain.
 
In the process, she created holiday "traditions" that share few similarities with the original feast in 1621.
 
In 1858, Hale petitioned the president of the United States to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday. She wrote: "Let this day, from this time forth, as long as our Banner of Stars floats on the breeze, be the grand Thanksgiving holiday of our nation, when the noise and tumult of worldliness may be exchanged for the length of the laugh of happy children, the glad greetings of family reunion, and the humble gratitude of the Christian heart."
 
Five years later, Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens."
 
"[Hale's] depiction is wrong much more often than it's right," says Nancy Brennan, president of Plimoth Plantation. "When this idea [of the first Thanksgiving] caught on, it became a big, popular subject for prints and books and paintings, all of which used whatever people could gather about what the environment might have been like in 1621."
 
A native view
 
With little mention of the native population, the Wampanoag presence was virtually relegated to the background, and the Pilgrim presence promoted to the fore.
 
"The Wampanoag, we sometimes forget, were the majority population," Ms. Brennan says. "In the 19th and 20th centuries, Thanksgiving was really a tool for Americanization amid the great influx of immigration. It was supposed to bind this diverse population into one union."
 
And so, over the centuries, that first Thanksgiving took on a shape of mythological proportions. But how Americans celebrate today has little to do with the convergence of two different populations across an enormous cultural divide.
 
One man who would like people to know more about the actual Thanksgiving is descended from the Wampanoag Indians who were such an essential part of the first Thanksgiving celebration.
 
He steps out onto the porch in front of the Flume restaurant in Plymouth and looks south. He lifts his face - marked by deep lines and dark, heavy eyes - toward the open sky.
 
"I'm looking down the river here now, and the sun is bright, and the tide is high, and the wind is blowing," he says. "My people would say that is the spirit coming from the southwest, where the corn and beans and squash come from. So we thank the spirit world - the fire, the moon, the sky, the sun, the earth."
 
This man's name is Earl Mills Sr., and he is a retired high school teacher and athletic director, the author of two books, and the owner of the restaurant.
 
But Mr. Mills has another name and another job. As Flying Eagle, he is the chief of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe.
 
Still, he doesn't see himself as caught between two cultures. Instead, he embraces both.
 
With equal relish, Mills will spend an afternoon walking in peaceful silence, as his ancestors did, or an evening listening to the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
 
He has always spent a lot of time thinking about the history of his people, however, and the confusion about what really happened back in 1621.
 
"Things have changed so much," he says, choosing his words carefully. "Even Thanksgiving has changed. Young people today don't remember what it was like 50 or 100 years ago.
 
"Then, we picked our own cranberries from our own cranberry bogs, and we caught rabbits and hung them outside our garage doors."
 
More recently, Coombs remembers that as she was growing up, her family celebrated the holiday as most other Americans did. She went to her grandfather's house, ate a turkey dinner, and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on television. It wasn't until she was in college that she learned her ancestors had observed Thanksgiving in a different manner.
 
It is not just the eating, but the gathering together, preparing, and thanking that matters, Mills says. "The role of food is important, but it's gotten to the point where we become gluttons.... We could spend a lot more time really thinking about what's going on in our world and giving more thanks."
 
Whose history is it?
 
Mills points to the Plymouth Rock on the town's waterfront as an example of differing views. The rock, first placed in 1774, is a monument to the landing of the Mayflower, the ship that brought the Pilgrims to Massachusetts 382 years ago.
 
"They're saying this is 'America's hometown,' that this is the rock [the colonists] stepped on," Mills says. "I'm not against that, and it's nice to have the rock, but don't try to make it true when it's really a symbol, a mythology."
 
He's also disturbed by the fact that many people still don't know or seem quick to dismiss the native side of the story.
 
"When I talk about Thanksgiving, [some people think] it happened too long ago to matter," Mills says. "But when they talk about it, well, it's history."
 
Still, the Wampanoag now have many more opportunities to contribute to historical accounts of the region, offering insight into the traditions of their people that have been passed down orally through the generations.
 
"The two groups are working very well together in recent years," Mills says. "And those connections turn into a circle. No matter how small, how minor, they all contribute to the human beings that we are."
 
In late 1621, remembering the first Thanksgiving gathering, Edward Winslow expressed a sentiment similar to Mills's call for sharing and giving thanks:"And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."
 
What historians do know about Thanksgiving
 
There are many myths surrounding Thanksgiving. Here are nine things we do know are true about the holiday.
 
1. The first Thanksgiving was a harvest celebration in 1621 that lasted for three days.
 
2. The feast most likely occurred between Sept. 21 and Nov. 11.
 
3. Approximately 90 Wampanoag Indians and 52 colonists - the latter mostly women and children - participated.
 
4. The Wampanoag, led by Chief Massasoit, contributed at least five deer to the feast.
 
5. Cranberry sauce, potatoes - white or sweet - and pies were not on the menu.
 
6. The Pilgrims and Wampanoag communicated through Squanto, a member of the Patuxet tribe, who knew English because he had associated with earlier explorers.
 
7. Besides meals, the event included recreation and entertainment.
 
8. There are only two surviving descriptions of the first Thanksgiving. One is in a letter by colonist Edward Winslow. He mentions some of the food and activities. The second description was in a book written by William Bradford 20 years afterward. His account was lost for almost 100 years.
 
9. Abraham Lincoln named Thanksgiving an annual holiday in 1863.
 
Full HTML version of this story which may include photos, graphics, and related links
 
 
www.csmonitor.com | Copyright © 2002 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved. 
 
The first feast was held in 1621 to which Massasoit and 90 Indians came with food (see first two links below), however the last link is about the proclamation of 1676 which includes: "The Holy God having by a long and Continual Series of his Afflictive dispensations in and by the present Warr with the Heathen Natives of this land, ... It certainly bespeaks our positive Thankfulness, when our Enemies are in any measure disappointed or destroyed..."
 
http://members.aol.com/calebj/thanksgiving.html
http://www.plimoth.org/Library/Thanksgiving/firstT.htm
http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/thanksgiv.html
 
Are You Teaching the Real Story of the "First Thanksgiving"?
Are you teaching the true Thanksgiving story or is the version you're passing on to your students a blend of fact and myth? Ready to set the record straight?
http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr040.shtml
 
"I propose that there may be a good deal that many of us do not know about our Thanksgiving holiday and also about the 'First Thanksgiving' story," says Chuck Larsen in the introduction to Teaching About Thanksgiving. "I also propose that what most of us have learned about the Pilgrims and the Indians who were at the first Thanksgiving at Plymouth Plantation is only part of the truth."
"When you build a lesson on only half of the information, then you are not teaching the whole truth," Larsen adds.
Larsen seems to know of what he speaks. As a public school teacher, a historian, and an American of Indian heritage, Larsen has always had a difficult time teaching about the Thanksgiving holiday.
"Every year I have been faced with the professional and moral dilemma of just how to be honest and informative with my children at Thanksgiving without passing on historical distortions, and racial and cultural stereotypes," Larsen says in his introduction.
"The problem is that part of what you and I learned in our childhood about the 'Pilgrims' and 'Squanto' and the 'First Thanksgiving' is a mixture of both history and myth," Larsen continues. "But the theme of Thanksgiving has truth and integrity far above and beyond what we and our forebearers have made of it. Thanksgiving is a bigger concept than just the story of the founding of Plymouth Plantation."
Larsen goes on to try to sort out the myth from the true history in his introduction to "Teaching About Thanksgiving," a project of The Fourth World Documentation Project of The Center for World Indigenous Studies. The project includes an accurate telling of "The Plymouth Thanksgiving Story" along with study and discussion questions, ideas for enrichment, art projects, and authentic recipes -- all intended to enable teachers to accurately portray the events surrounding the first Thanksgiving.
In closing his introduction, Larsen provokes with a question: "What started as an inspirational bit of New England folklore soon grew into the full-fledged American Thanksgiving we now know... But was [that 'First Thanksgiving'] really our first Thanksgiving?"
"There really was a true Thanksgiving story of Plymouth Plantation," Larsen says. "But I strongly suggest that there has always been a Thanksgiving story of some kind or other for as long as there have been human beings. There was also a 'First' Thanksgiving in America, but it was celebrated thirty thousand years ago…Every last Thursday in November we now partake in one of the oldest and most universal of human celebrations, and there are many Thanksgiving stories to tell."
STEREOTYPES, FOR EXAMPLE
"Teaching About Thanksgiving" offers a handful of the "old stereotypes" that are often reinforced in classrooms across the United States. According to the article, "If you enact the story of the first thanksgiving as a pageant or drama in your classroom, here are some things to consider:
"Indians should wear appropriate clothing. NO WARBONNETS! A blanket draped over one shoulder is accurate for a simple outfit.
"Squanto and Samoset spoke excellent English. Other Indians would have said things in the Algonkian language.
"These people were noted for their formal speaking style.
"Indians in the Woodlands area did not have tipis or horses, so these should not be part of any scenery or backdrop.
"Any food served should be authentic. The following would be appropriate: corn soup, succotash, white fish, red meat, various fowl (turkey, partridge, duck), berries (including whole cranberries), maple sugar candies, corn starch candy (believe it or not, candy corn is almost authentic except for the colored dyes), watercress, any kind of bean (red, black, green, pinto), squash…."
 
Larsen has detractors...
Caleb Johnson, creator of the MayflowerHistory.com Web pages, claims that Larsen's "Teaching About Thanksgiving" contains many factual errors. (See A Factual Rebuttal to a Popular Thanksgiving Lesson Plan.) Among the facts above disputed by Johnson is the idea that "Squanto and Samoset spoke excellent English." They spoke broken English at best, Johnson writes.
In Thanksgiving on the Net: Roast Bull with Cranberry Sauce, Jeremy Bangs makes an effort to sift through the "more than two hundred websites that 'correct' our assumptions about Thanksgiving" and set the record straight. "Setting people straight about Thanksgiving myths has become as much a part of the annual holiday as turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie," he writes.
THE NATIVE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE
"Young children's conceptions of Native Americans often develop out of media portrayals and classroom role playing of the events of the First Thanksgiving. That conception of Native Americans gained from such early exposure is both inaccurate and potentially damaging to others," says Debbie Reese in "Teaching Young Children About Native Americans," an ERIC Digest (May 1996).
For example, a visitor to a child care center heard a four-year-old saying, "Indians aren't people. They're all dead." "This child," Reese says, "had already acquired an inaccurate view of Native Americans, even though her classmates were children of many cultures, including a Native American child."
"By failing to challenge existing biases we allow children to adopt attitudes based on inaccuracies," Reese continues.
"Most of the commercially prepared teaching materials available present a generalized image of Native American people with little or no regard for differences that exist from tribe to tribe," Reese adds. "Many popular children's authors unwittingly perpetuate stereotypes. Richard Scarry's books frequently contain illustrations of animals dressed in buckskin and feathers, while Mercer Mayer's alphabet book includes an alligator dressed as an Indian."
TEACHING SUGGESTIONS: POSITIVE STRATEGIES
A number of positive strategies can be used in classrooms, writes Reese.
  • "Provide knowledge about contemporary Native Americans to balance historical information. Teaching about Native Americans exclusively from a historical perspective may perpetuate the idea that they exist only in the past.
  • "Prepare units about specific tribes rather than units about "Native Americans." For example, develop a unit about the people of Nambe Pueblo, the Turtle Mountain Chippewa, the Potawotami. Ideally, choose a tribe with a historical or contemporary role in the local community. Such a unit will provide children with culturally specific knowledge (pertaining to a single group) rather than overgeneralized stereotypes.
  • "Locate and use books that show contemporary children of all colors engaged in their usual, daily activities (for example, playing basketball or riding bicycles) as well as traditional activities. Make the books easily accessible to children throughout the school year. Three excellent titles on the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico are Pueblo Storyteller by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith; Pueblo Boy: Growing Up In Two Worlds by Marcia Keegan; and Children of Clay by Rina Swentzell.
  • "Cook ethnic foods but be careful not to imply that all members of a particular group eat a specific food.
  • "Be specific about which tribes use particular items, when discussing cultural artifacts (such as clothing or housing) and traditional foods. The Plains tribes use feathered headdresses, for example, but not all other tribes use them.
  • "Critique a Thanksgiving poster depicting the tradtitional, stereotyped Pilgrim and Indian figures, especially when teaching older elementary school children. Take care to select a picture that most children are familiar with, such as those shown on grocery bags or holiday greeting cards. Critically analyze the poster, noting the many tribes the artist has combined into one general image that fails to provide accurate information about any single tribe.
  • "At Thanksgiving, shift the focus away from reenacting the 'First Thanksgiving.' Instead, focus on items children can be thankful for in their own lives, and on their families' celebrations of Thanksgiving at home."
"Besides using these strategies in their classrooms, teachers need to educate themselves," Reese continues. "Stereotyping is not always obvious to people surrounded by mainstream culture. Numerous guidelines have been prepared to aid in the selection of materials that work against stereotypes."
"Much remains to be done to counter stereotypes of Native Americans learned by young children in our society," writes Reese in the conclusion to her ERIC Digest. "Teachers must provide accurate instruction not only about history but also about the contemporary lives of Native Americans."
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For activities and a long list of Web sites related to the Pilgrims, Native Americans, and the "First Thanksgiving" be sure to see this week's Education World LESSON PLANNING articles:
Classroom Activities for Exploring Native Americans
Blast stereotypes with across the curriculum activities for students of all ages.
The "First Thanksgiving" -- A Feast of Activities
Looking to cook up a feast of across-the-curriculum fun? The table is set with a plentiful selection of ideas. Dig in!
It's Turkey Time! "Gobble, gobble, gobble...."
Increase your students' knowledge and skills when you use TURKEYS as a teaching theme.
Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World ® Editor-in-Chief
Copyright © 2006 Education World
Originally published 11/24/1997
Last updated 10/04/2006

Day of the Feast
So As To Honor Carnage
by Nokwisa Yona, NAV Contributing Editor
 
http://www.imdiversity.com/article_detail.asp?Article_ID=1275
 
"Whenever, in the course of the daily hunt, the hunter comes upon a scene that is strikingly beautiful, or sublime - a black thundercloud with the rainbow's glowing arch above the mountain, a white waterfall in the heart of a green gorge, a vast prairie tinged with the blood-red of the sunset - he pauses for an instant in the attitude of worship.
 
"He sees no need for setting apart one day in seven as a holy day, because to him all days are God's days." - Charles Alexander Eastman (Ohiyesa)/Santee Sioux
 
Beware. The season is upon us... It is coming...
 
Thanksgiving is closing in quickly with all its inaccurate historic and palatable falsities, steeped in supposed commemoration of a celebration between Pilgrims and Natives.
 
Once again small children will don paper hats and headdresses while mothers stock freezers and shelves with turkey, cranberries, dressing mix and potatoes. Dads prepare by reviewing football game line-ups.
 
Though many hold out for the associated glut and entertainment, some Americans do keep with a spirit of thanks and, in spite of the truth, words escape - "in keeping with the Pilgrim's thanks." But, for what were the Pilgrims giving thanks?
 
Massasoit's good faith... "Massasoit, therefore, had good reason to hope the English could benefit his people and help them end Narragansett domination. In March (1621) Massasoit, accompanied by Samoset, visited Plymouth and signed a treaty of friendship with the English giving them permission of occupy the approximately 12,000 acres of what was to become the Plymouth plantation. However, it is very doubtful Massasoit fully understood the distinction between the European concept of owning land versus the native idea of sharing it. For the moment, this was unimportant since so many of his people had died during the epidemics that New England was half-deserted. Besides, it must have been difficult for the Wampanoag to imagine how any people so inept could ever be a danger to them. The friendship and cooperation continued, and the Pilgrims were grateful enough that fall to invite Massasoit to celebrate their first harvest with them (The First Thanksgiving).
 
Massasoit and 90 of his men brought five deer, and the feasting lasted for three days. The celebration was a little premature. During the winter of 1622, a second ship arrived unexpectedly from England, and with 40 new mouths to feed, the Pilgrims were once again starving. Forgiving the unfortunate incident in the graveyard the previous year, the Nauset sachem Aspinet brought food to Plymouth." [See Wampanoag Compact History]
 
Stage set for more "thanks to the Lord"
 
"The [1636] massacre at Mystic broke the Pequot. Despite the obvious loss of life, the Pequot still had most of their warriors, but the attack demonstrated their fortified villages were vulnerable and deprived the Pequot of the support they needed from their allies. Starving and unable to plant their crops, the Pequot abandoned their villages, separated into small bands, and fled for their lives. As small groups, they were easy prey, and few escaped. After an abortive attempt to find refuge among the Metoac on Long Island, Sassacus in June led 400 of his people west paralleling the coast and its seafood because they were short of food. Slowed by their women and children, the Pequot crossed the Connecticut but killed three Englishmen they encountered near Saybrook. Unfortunate, because it told the English exactly where they were. Hartford declared June 15th as a day of prayer and thanksgiving for the "victory" at Mystic. The English, however, were not satisfied with merely winning the war and had decided to destroy the Pequot." [See Pequot Compact History]
 
"And indeed such a dreadful Terror did the Almighty let fall upon their Spirits, that they would fly from us and run into the very Flames, where many of them perished...God was above them, who laughed his Enemies and the Enemies of his People to Scorn, making them as a fiery Oven: Thus were the Stout Hearted people spoiled, having slept their last sleep, and none of their Men could find their Hands: Thus did the Lord judge among the Heathen, filling the place with dead bodies!" American Holocaust, David E. Stannard, pg. 113
 
Pillage honored
 
Then we have the proclamation shared among the thankful on June 20, 1676, when the governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts, unanimously voted to proclaim June 29 as a day of thanksgiving:
 
"The Holy God having by a long and Continual Series of his Afflictive dispensations in and by the present Warr with the Heathen Natives of this land, written and brought to pass bitter things against his own Covenant people in this wilderness, yet so that we evidently discern that in the midst of his judgments he hath remembered mercy, having remembered his Footstool in the day of his sore displeasure against us for our sins, with many singular Intimations of his Fatherly Compassion, and regard; reserving many of our Towns from Desolation Threatened, and attempted by the Enemy, and giving us especially of late with many of our Confederates many signal Advantages against them, without such Disadvantage to ourselves as formerly we have been sensible of, if it be the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed, It certainly bespeaks our positive Thankfulness, when our Enemies are in any measure disappointed or destroyed; and fearing the Lord should take notice under so many Intimations of his returning mercy, we should be found an Insensible people, as not standing before Him with Thanksgiving, as well as lading him with our Complaints in the time of pressing Afflictions:
 
The Council has thought meet to appoint and set apart the 29th day of this instant June, as a day of Solemn Thanksgiving and praise to God for such his Goodness and Favour, many Particulars of which mercy might be Instanced, but we doubt not those who are sensible of God's Afflictions, have been as diligent to espy him returning to us; and that the Lord may behold us as a People offering Praise and thereby glorifying Him; the Council doth commend it to the Respective Ministers, Elders and people of this Jurisdiction; Solemnly and seriously to keep the same Beseeching that being persuaded by the mercies of God we may all, even this whole people offer up our bodies and souls as a living and acceptable Service unto God by Jesus Christ." [See http://www.night.net/thanksgiving/First-proc.htm]
 
There is also the thankful declaration of 1704 by Governor Dudley calling for a General Thanksgiving to celebrate: "[God's] infinite Goodness to extend His Favors... In defeating and disappointing.... the expeditions of the Enemy [Indians] against us, And the good Success given us against them, by delivering so many of them into our hands."
 
In truth, America's Thanksgiving is wrought with false and misleading history. It is not and has never been meant in Honor of the Indian People. We have our own Harvest feasts, Ceremonies and manner of Thanks and if you are serious about this "holiday," I (and, all members of the First Nations) ask you to do your homework.
 
Below are several sites that address the "other" side of this day:
 
Thanksgiving: A National Day of Mourning for Indians, by Moonanum James and Mahtowin Munro
 
Open a Can of Worms for Thanksgiving, by Patricia Ross
 
Teaching Young Children about Native Americans (ERIC Digest), by Debbie Reese
 
Wampanaog Compact History, by Lee Sultzman Pequot Compact History, by Lee Sultzman
 
A First Proclamation, Prepared by Gerald Murphy (The Cleveland Free-Net - aa300). Distributed by the Cybercasting Services Division of the National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN)
 
 
Andre Cramblit, Operations Director
Northern California Indian Development Council
andrekaruk@ncidc.org
241F Street Eureka California 95501
http://ncidc.org
(707) 445-8451

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Deconstructing Thanksgiving (holidaze)

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Deconstructing Thanksgiving

Deconstructing the Myths of “The First Thanksgiving”
 
by Judy Dow (Abenaki) and Beverly Slapin
 
What is it about the story of “The First Thanksgiving” that makes it essential to be taught in virtually every grade from preschool through high school? What is it about the story that is so seductive? Why has it become an annual elementary school tradition to hold Thanksgiving pageants, with young children dressing up in paper-bag costumes and feather-duster headdresses and marching around the schoolyard?  Why is it seen as necessary for fake “pilgrims” and fake “Indians” (portrayed by real children, many of whom are Indian) to sit down every year to a fake feast, acting out fake scenarios and reciting fake dialogue about friendship? And why do teachers all over the country continue (for the most part, unknowingly) to perpetuate this myth year after year after year?
 
Is it because as Americans we have a deep need to believe that the soil we live on and the country on which it is based was founded on integrity and cooperation? This belief would help contradict any feelings of guilt that could haunt us when we look at our role in more recent history in dealing with other indigenous peoples in other countries. If we dare to give up the “myth” we may have to take responsibility for our actions both concerning indigenous peoples of this land as well as those brought to this land in violation of everything that makes us human. The realization of these truths untold might crumble the foundation of what many believe is a true democracy. As good people, can we be strong enough to learn the truths of our collective past? Can we learn from our mistakes? This would be our hope. 
 
Myth #1: “The First Thanksgiving” occurred in 1621.
 
“Thanksgiving is a truly American holiday. Its traditions began in the New World with a feast shared by the Pilgrims and Native Americans….The Pilgrims decided to have a three-day celebration feast to give thanks for a good harvest. Thus began the first Thanksgiving.”
Judith Stamper, Thanksgiving Fun Activity Book
 
“In New England the first traditional Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Plymouth colonists.”
Kathy Ross, Crafts for Thanksgiving
 
"During the fall of 1621, he declared that there would be a feast to celebrate their first bountiful harvest….Today, we think of that wonderful harvest feast…as the first American Thanksgiving. (Although for them Native Americans, it was actually their fifth thanksgiving feast of the year!)”
Deborah Fink, It's a Family Thanksgiving!
 
“The first Thanksgiving was a celebration of the Pilgrims’ very first harvest….[The cornucopia reminds] us of the first Thanksgiving when Pilgrims gave thanks for their first rich harvest in the New World.”
Janice Kinnealy, Let’s Celebrate Thanksgiving, A Book of Drawing Fun
 
“The feast at Plymouth in 1621 is often called The First Thanksgiving.”
                                                            Robert Merrill Bartlett, The Story of                                        Thanksgiving
“The pilgrims wanted to give thanks for all the good food. That was the first Thanksgiving.”
Karen Gray Ruelle, The Thanksgiving Beast Feast
 
Fact: No one knows when the “first” thanksgiving occurred. People have been giving thanks for as long as people have existed. Indigenous nations all over the world have celebrations of the harvest that come from very old traditions; for Native peoples, thanksgiving comes not once a year, but every day, for all the gifts of life. To refer to the harvest feast of 1621 as “The First Thanksgiving” disappears Indian peoples in the eyes of non-Native children.
 
••••
 
Myth #2: The people who came across the ocean on the Mayflower were called Pilgrims.
 
“The Pilgrims lived in England.”
                                                            Robert Merrill Bartlett, The Story of                                        Thanksgiving
 
“The first group of newcomers was called the Pilgrims.”
David F. Marx, Thanksgiving
 
“Once upon a time in the land of England, there lived a small group of people called Pilgrims. The Pilgrims were unhappy, because…”
Katherine Ross, The Story of the Pilgrims
 
 “Many, many years ago some people who called themselves Pilgrims left England to find a new home.”
Lou Rogers, The First Thanksgiving
 
The people were called Pilgrims.”
Ann McGovern, The Pilgrims’ First Thanksgiving
 
 “The Pilgrims sailed on a ship called the Mayflower.”
Judy Donnelly, The Pilgrims and Me
 
“Many years ago, the Pilgrims came to America.”
Pat Whitehead, Best Thanksgiving Book, ABC Adventures
 
 “These are the Pilgrims, who farmed the new land,…”
Rhonda Gowler Greene, The Very First Thanksgiving Day
 
 “Thanksgiving reminds people of the Pilgrims many years ago.”
Gail Gibbons, Thanksgiving Day
 
 “The Pilgrims!’ said Squanto. ‘Pilgrims?’ said Ocomo.”
Clyde Robert Bulla, Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims
 
“1 little, 2 little, 3 little Pilgrims, 4 little, 5 little, 6 little Pilgrims,…
B.G. Hennessy, One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims
Fact: The Plimoth settlers did not refer to themselves as “Pilgrims.” Pilgrims are people who travel for religious reasons, such as Muslims who make a pilgrimage to Mecca. Most of those who arrived here from England were religious dissidents who had broken away from the Church of England. They called themselves “Saints”; others called them “Separatists.” Some of the settlers were “Puritans,” dissidents but not separatists who wanted to “purify” the Church. (1)
 
••••
 
Myth #3: The colonists came seeking freedom of religion in a new land.
 
“The Pilgrims wanted their own religion….So the Pilgrims decided to leave England.”
Linda Hayward, The First Thanksgiving
 
“The Pilgrims had left England because King James did not want them to practice their own religion. They were in search of a new home.”
Garnet Jackson, The First Thanksgiving
 
“They left their old country because they could not pray the way they wanted.”
Ann McGovern, The Pilgrims’ First Thanksgiving
 
The Pilgrims wanted to worship God in their own way...”
Gail Gibbons, Thanksgiving Day
 
‘They are people who want to have their own church and be free,’ said Squanto. ‘I heard of them in London.’”
Clyde Robert Bulla, Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims
 
Fact: The colonists were not just innocent refugees from religious persecution. By 1620, hundreds of Native people had already been to England and back, most as captives; so the Plimoth colonists knew full well that the land they were settling on was inhabited. Nevertheless, their belief system taught them that any land that was “unimproved” was “wild” and theirs for the taking; that the people who lived there were roving heathens with no right to the land. Both the Separatists and Puritans were rigid fundamentalists who came here fully intending to take the land away from its Native inhabitants and establish a new nation, their “Holy Kingdom.” The Plimoth colonists were never concerned with “freedom of religion” for anyone but themselves. In a Thanksgiving sermon delivered at Plimoth in 1623, Cotton Mather or “Mather the Elder” praised God for the smallpox epidemic that that wiped out the majority of the Wampanoag people who had been their benefactors. He gave thanks for the destruction of “chiefly young men and children, the very seeds of increase, thus clearing the forests to make way for better growth,” i.e., the colonists. It wasn’t until around the time of the American Revolution that the name “Pilgrims” came to be associated with the Plimoth settlers, and the “Pilgrims” became the symbol of American morality and Christian faith, fortitude, and family. (2)
 
••••
 
Myth #4: When the “Pilgrims” landed, they first stepped foot on “Plymouth Rock.”
 
“The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.”
Kathy Ross, Crafts for Thanksgiving
 
“On December 11, 1620, the Pilgrim men landed on Plymouth Harbor beach, jumped into the icy waves and, fighting the sea and wind, secured the shallop to Plymouth Harbour’s glacial rock.”
Jean Craighead George, The First Thanksgiving
 
“The old story says that when the Pilgrims first came ashore, they stepped on a big rock—Plymouth Rock.”
Judy Donnelly, The Pilgrims and Me
 
“Sarah told how all the Pilgrims were thankful when they finally reached land. They named a big rock Plymouth Rock, after the place they came from in England.”
Anne Rockwell, Thanksgiving Day
 
“Here a brook flows into the harbor. A big rock marks the landing. They will call this place New Plymouth.”
Linda Hayward, The First Thanksgiving
 
“This is the harbor, marked by a huge stone where first steps were taken to chart the unknown,…”
Rhonda Gowler Greene, The Very First Thanksgiving Day
 
“The Pilgrims came/To Plymouth Rock/One snowy, cold December...”
Nan Roloff, The First American
Thanksgiving
 
“On top of the gravel the glacier deposited huge boulders it had carried from distant places. One settled in Plymouth Harbor….A wandering pilgrim, it left its home in Africa two hundred million years ago….Eons later, battered by glaciers, all 200 tons of it came to rest in lonely splendor, on a sandy beach in a cove. This boulder is Plymouth Rock….Yet to Americans, Plymouth Rock is a symbol. It is larger than the mountains, wider than the prairies and stronger than all our rivers. It is the rock on which our nation began.”
Jean Craighead George, The First Thanksgiving
 
"Whether the Pilgrims really stepped ashore onto this particular rock is open to question. But perhaps that is unimportant. Plymouth Rock is a symbol—a symbol of faith and hope and of something to be relied on. As such, it might be called a symbol of the Pilgrims themselves, the brave men, women, and children who worked together to found Plymouth."
Edna Barth, Turkeys, Pilgrims, and Indian Corn: A Story of the Thanksgiving Symbols
 
Fact: When the colonists landed, they sought out a sandy inlet in which to beach the little shallop that carried them from the Mayflower to the mainland. This shallop would have been smashed to smithereens had they docked at a rock, especially a Rock. Although the Plimoth settlers built their homes just up the hill from the Rock, William Bradford in Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, does not even mention the Rock; writing only that they “unshipped our shallop and drew her on land.” (3) The actual “rock” is a slab of Dedham granodiorite placed there by a receding glacier some 20,000 years ago. It was first referred to in a town surveying record in 1715, almost 100 years after the landing. Since then, the Rock has been moved, cracked in two, pasted together, carved up, chipped apart by tourists, cracked again, and now rests as a memorial to something that never happened. (4)
 
It’s quite possible that the myth about the “Pilgrims” landing on a “Rock” originated as a reference to the New Testament of the Christian bible, in which Jesus says to Peter, “And I say also unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18) The appeal to these scriptures gives credence to the sanctity of colonization and the divine destiny of the dominant culture. Admittedly, the colonists were not dominant then, but they behaved as though they were.
 
••••
 
Myth #5: The Pilgrims found corn.
 
“During their first hard year in America, the Pilgrims found corn buried in the sand of Cape Cod. The corn had been stored there by Native Americans. This important find gave the Pilgrims seeds to plant—and these became the seeds for survival.”
Judith Stamper, Thanksgiving Fun Activity Book
 
“On their way back they found Indian graves and some Indian corn.”
Edna Barth, Turkeys, Pilgrims, and Indian Corn: The Story of the Thanksgiving Symbols.
 
“The men dug down into [a hill of sand] and—there was a little old basket filled with corn! Now they had corn to plant. They found other baskets. These were big baskets, and it took two men to carry one. They filled their pockets with corn.
Alice Dalgliesh, The Thanksgiving Story
 
“The men keep exploring. They find wonderful things—corn, baskets, a spring.”
Linda Hayward, The First Thanksgiving
 
“Governor Carver meted out five kernels of Indian corn to each person once a day. The scouts had found the corn stored in reed baskets in the sand of Cape Cod.”
Jean Craighead George, The First Thanksgiving
 
“The Pilgrims showed Massasoit some fine baskets they had found in the village. The baskets were full of seed corn.”
Kate Jassem, Squanto: The Pilgrim Adventure. Troll Communications (1979)
 
 
Fact: Just a few days after landing, a party of about 16 settlers led by Captain Myles Standish followed a Nauset trail and came upon an iron kettle and a cache of Indian corn buried in the sand. They made off with the corn and returned a few days later with reinforcements. This larger group “found” a larger store of corn, about ten bushels, and took it. They also “found” several graves, and, according to Mourt’s Relation, “brought sundry of the prettiest things away” from a child’s grave and then covered up the corpse. They also “found” two Indian dwellings and “some of the best things we took away with us.” (5) There is no record that restitution was ever made for the stolen corn, and the Wampanoag did not soon forget the colonists’ ransacking of Indian graves, including that of Massasoit’s mother. (6)
 
••••
 
Myth #6: Samoset appeared out of nowhere, and along with Squanto became friends with the Pilgrims. Squanto helped the Pilgrims survive and joined them at “The First Thanksgiving.”
 
“When Spring came, two men named Squanto and Samoset appeared and made friends with the surviving Pilgrims.”
                                                            Robert Merrill Bartlett, The Story of                                        Thanksgiving
 
 “One day, three Native Americans came to visit. One named Squanto stayed to help the Pilgrims.”
Nancy J. Skarmeas, The Story of Thanksgiving
 
“Squanto liked the Pilgrims. He could see that they needed help. He helped the Pilgrims make friends with the other Indians.”
Teresa Celsi, Squanto and the First Thanksgiving
 
“A tall Indian was walking into Plymouth. ‘Welcome, Englishmen,’ he said. …He carried a bow and two arrows. His black hair hung long in back. The Indian called himself Samoset….He was eager to talk to the Pilgrims….The Pilgrims were glad to have Samoset as a friend.”
Judith Bauer Stamper, New Friends in a New Land
 
"Squanto was the Pilgrims’ teacher and friend. He helped save their lives and made sure their little settlement survived in the rocky New England soil. By saving the Pilgrims, Squanto became one of our first American heroes."
Deborah Fink, It's a Family Thanksgiving!
 
 “An Indian named Squanto turned out to be a special friend. He taught the Pilgrims many things…”
Katherine Ross, The Story of the Pilgrims
 
“Then one day an Indian walks right into the settlement. The children are terrified. But the Indian smiles and says, ‘Welcome.’ His name is Samoset. He speaks English! He learned it from sea captains….Samoset comes back with an Indan named Squanto. Squanto speaks even better English! He likes the Pilgrims and he decides to live with them. He shows them how to survive in the wilderness…”
Linda Hayward, The First Thanksgiving
 
"I must have been quite a shock one March day when all of a sudden a Native American walked right into the Pilgrims' little village. The Pilgrims must have been even more amazed when he started speaking English! His name was Samoset and he was a member of the Wampanoag tribe."
Deborah Fink, It's a Family Thanksgiving!
 
“Squanto spoke really good English. He had even been to England. Squanto had no family, so he acted as though the Pilgrims were his family. He liked them so much he came to live at Plymouth.”
Judith Donnelly, The Pilgrims and Me
 
“Squanto had been to England with some sailors. He could talk English. Squanto lived with the Pilgrims. Squanto was a good friend. He showed the Pilgrims…”
Lou Rogers, The First Thanksgiving
 
“One Indian decided to stay with the Pilgrims. He spoke English. His name was Squanto….The Pilgrims praised God for sending Squanto to them.”
Elaine Raphael and Don Bolognese, The Story of the First Thanksgiving
 
"Squanto decided to stay in Plymouth and help the Pilgrims. He became their guide and translator, and he showed them how to catch fish and find food. The Pilgrims called their new friend ‘a special instrument sent of God.’”
Anne Kamma, If you Were At… The First Thanksgiving
 
“One day, a kind Indian came to the Pilgrims’ village. He like the Pilgrims and wanted to help them. Soon, more Indians came. They were nice and showed the Pilgrims how to….”
Pat Whitehead, Best Thanksgiving Book: ABC Adventures
 
“The Pilgrims made a good friend who helped them. His name was Squanto. Squanto was one of the people who had lived near Plymouth years before the white men came. He taught the Pilgrims everything about the land he knew so well.”
Ann McGovern, The Pilgrims’ First Thanksgiving
 
"One day an Indian walked right into town and said, ‘Welcome.’…This Indian was friendly and he spoke English! The Pilgrims gave him presents, and he came back with more Indians. One was named Squanto."
Judy Donnelly, The Pilgrims and Me
 
“Later [Samoset] brought another Indian named Squanto, who spoke better English, because he had been taken to England on a ship.”
Alice Dalgliesh, The Thanksgiving Story
 
“The sole survivor of the Pawtuxet tribe of the Plymouth area, Squanto had spent several years in England and could speak the language.”
Edna Barth, Turkeys, Pilgrims, and Indian Corn: The Story of the Thanksgiving Symbols
 
“Squanto was their special friend. He taught the Pilgrims many useful things, like…”
Janice Kinnealy, Let’s Celebrate Thanksgiving: A Book of Drawing Fun
 
Fact: Samoset, an eastern Abenaki chief, was the first to contact the Plimoth colonists. He was investigating the settlement to gather information and report to Massasoit, the head sachem in the Wampanoag territory. In his hand, Samoset carried two arrows: one blunt and one pointed. The question to the settlers was: are you friend or foe? Samoset brought Tisquantum (Squanto), one of the few survivors of the original Wampanoag village of Pawtuxet, to meet the English and keep an eye on them. Tisquantum had been taken captive by English captains several years earlier, and both he and Samoset spoke English. Tisquantum agreed to live among the colonists and serve as a translator. Massasoit also sent Hobbamock and his family to live near the colony to keep an eye on the settlement and also to watch Tisquantum, whom Massasoit did not trust. The Wampanoag oral tradition says that Massasoit ordered Tisquantum killed after he tried to stir up the English against the Wampanoag. Massasoit himself lost face after his years of dealing with the English only led to warfare and land grabs. Tisquantum is viewed by Wampanoag people as a traitor, for his scheming against other Native people for his own gain. Massasoit is viewed as a wise and generous leader whose affection for the English may have led him to be too tolerant of their ways. (7)
 
••••
Myth #7: The Pilgrims invited the Indians to celebrate the First Thanksgiving.
 
“A company of men had been sent to the Indian village with the invitation to the feast.”
Cheryl Harness, Three Young Pilgrims
 
“The Pilgrims invited Native Americans to the first Thanksgiving.”
David F. Marx, Thanksgiving
 
 “The Pilgrims invited their Native American friends to a great feast.”
Nancy J. Skarmeas, The Story of Thanksgiving
 
“The new governor, William Bradford, asked Squanto to invite Massasoit and a few friends to a feast.”
Jean Craighead George, The First Thanksgiving
 
“There was a lot to be thankful for, so they decided to have a big feast and invite Massasoit. They asked him to bring some friends.”
Judy Donnelly, The Pilgrims and Me
 
“’Join us,’ they said to the Indians. Join us in a big feast of Thanksgiving. It will be a very special holiday.’”
Pat Whitehead, Best Thanksgiving Book, ABC Adventures
 
“The harvest was/So plentiful/The Pilgrims were delighted—/They prepared to have/A giant feast,/And the Indians were invited.”
Nan Roloff, The First American Thanksgiving
 
“The Pilgrims especially wanted to thank the Indians for the help they had given them. So they asked them to come to their Thanksgiving celebration.”
Margot Parker, What Is Thanksgiving Day?
 
“The people said,… “We will have a feast and invite our Indian friends.”
Lou Rogers, The First Thanksgiving
 
“The Pilgrims decided to have...a party. They invited the Wampanoag to join them.”
Mir Tamim Ansary, Thanksgiving Day
“To celebrate, the Pilgrims decided to have a big party—a harvest festival. And they invited their new Indian friends to join them.”
Anne Kamma, If You Were At…The First Thanksgiving
 
“They decided to have a Thanksgiving feast. The Pilgrims invited their Indian friends.”
Gail Gibbons, Thanksgiving Day
 
“We invited the Indians to a Thanksgiving feast.”
William Accorsi, Friendship’s First Thanksgiving
 
 
Fact: According to oral accounts from the Wampanoag people, when the Native people nearby first heard the gunshots of the hunting colonists, they thought that the colonists were preparing for war and that Massasoit needed to be informed. When Massasoit showed up with 90 men and no women or children, it can be assumed that he was being cautious. When he saw there was a party going on, his men then went out and brought back five deer and lots of turkeys. (8)
 
In addition, both the Wampanoag and the English settlers were long familiar with harvest celebrations. Long before the Europeans set foot on these shores, Native peoples gave thanks every day for all the gifts of life, and held thanksgiving celebrations and giveaways at certain times of the year. The Europeans also had days of thanksgiving, marked by religious services. So the coming together of two peoples to share food and company was not entirely a foreign thing for either. But the visit that by all accounts lasted three days was most likely one of a series of political meetings to discuss and secure a military alliance. Neither side totally trusted the other: The Europeans considered the Wampanoag soulless heathens and instruments of the devil, and the Wampanoag had seen the Europeans steal their seed corn and rob their graves. In any event, neither the Wampanoag nor the Europeans referred to this feast/meeting as “Thanksgiving.” (9)
 
••••
 
Myth #8: The Pilgrims provided the food for their Indian friends.
 
“The Wampanoag smoked their pipes, tasted English cooking, and presented a dance to the Pilgrims.”
Judith Stamper, Thanksgiving Fun Activity Book
 
“The pilgrims hunted wild turkeys. They picked fruits and berries. When there was enough food, they all had a feast.”
Karen Gray Ruelle, The Thanksgiving Beast Feast
 
“They knew they could never have survived without the Indians, so the Pilgrims invited the Indians to join them in a feast.”
Katherine Ross, The Story of the Pilgrims
 
The twelve women of New Plymouth began great preparations. From the kitchens came the savory smell of roasting geese and turkey. An abundance of corn bread and hasty pudding was being prepared. Stewed eels, boiled lobsters, and juicy clam stews simmered over the fires. Before the feast, Squanto was sent with an invitation to Massasoit and his chiefs....The Indians were in no hurry to go home as long as the food held out, and the holiday-making carried on for three days.
James Daugherty, The Landing of the Pilgrims
 
 
Fact: It is known that when Massasoit showed up with 90 men and saw there was a party going on, they then went out and brought back five deer and lots of turkeys. Though the details of this event have become clouded in secular mythology, judging by the inability of the settlers to provide for themselves at this time and Edward Winslow’s letter of 1622 (10), it is most likely that Massasoit and his people provided most of the food for this “historic” meal. (11)
 
••••
 
Myth #9: The Pilgrims and Indians feasted on turkey, potatoes, berries, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and popcorn.
 
“…[T]he corn and sweet berries, the wild turkey dressed….”
Rhonda Gowler Greene, The Very First Thanksgiving Day
 
“Pilgrim women also invented many ways to sweeten the bitter berries for food. The most popular recipe passed down from them is cranberry sauce.”
Judith Stamper, Thanksgiving Fun Activity Book
 
“[Squanto] even showed [the Pilgrims] how to make [corn] pop for a tasty treat called ‘popcorn.’…There were all kinds of wonderful foods to eat: turkey, squash, corn, clams, pumpkin, and more.”
Janice Kinnealy, Let’s Celebrate Thanksgiving, A Book of Drawing Fun
 
We do know the meal included deer, oysters, boiled pumpkin, corn, and cranberries.”
David F. Marx, Thanksgiving
 
There were meat pies, wheat breads, and corn puddings. There were berries, grapes, dried plums, and nuts.
Garnet Jackson, The First Thanksgiving
 
“There was also cod and bass. Lobsters boiled in big iron pots. Oysters and clams roasted in the coals. The women made cornmeal cakes and biscuits of course wheat flour. There were salads of watercress and leeks. And there were squash, pumpkins and dried berries.“
                                                            Robert Merrill Bartlett, The Story of                                        Thanksgiving
 
“The Pilgrims collected fish, lobsters, oysters, and clams from the shore. There were carrots, onions, beans, berries, and dried fruit.”
                                                            Robert Merrill Bartlett, The Story of                                        Thanksgiving
 
“Many tables are filled with the same foods the Pilgrims and Indians shared. There is cranberry sauce and a big turkey stuffed with breadcrumbs, herbs, and nuts. Also there are sweet potatoes, beans, squash, and cornbread. Sometimes there is a tasty pumpkin pie for dessert.”
Gail Gibbons, Thanksgiving Day
 
“He sent men out to shoot turkeys and ducks. The women baked. … Massasoit arrived the day of the feast with five deer and many turkeys. With him were not just a few guests, as expected, but ninety. For a moment the cooks were shocked. Then they recovered and quickly went to work. More bread was baked, more vegetables were cooked, more turkeys were stuffed with bread and cranberries.”
Jean Craighead George, The First Thanksgiving
 
“They had prepared several kinds of meat and fish, corn and pumpkin dishes, cranberries, and more. Still, there was not going to be enough food for so many. When the chief saw that more food would be needed,,.he sent some of his men out. They returned with five deer, turkeys, corn, squash, beans and berries. It was a true potluck dinner!”
Deborah Fink, It’s a Family Thanksgiving!
 
“Everyone eats so much—turkey, lobster, goose, deer meat, onions, pumpkin, corn bread, berries.”
Linda Hayward, The First Thanksgiving
 
 “Fat geese and wild turkeys roasted slowly over the fire. Pies and corn bread baked in the outdoor ovens.”
Elaine Raphael and Don Bolognese, The Story of the First Thanksgiving
 
“Turkey, cornbread, cranberry stuffing,/Pumpkin, cider, Indian pudding./Clams and oysters—tummies growling.”
B.G. Hennessy, One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims
B.G.
"[American Indians] showed [the Pilgrims] how to make popcorn.”
Karen Gray Ruelle, The Thanksgiving Beast Feast
 
“From the gardens they gathered cucumbers, carrots and cabbages, turnips and radishes, onions and beets. Corn was cooked in many ways. There was popcorn, too! There were wild fruits for dessert. Thanksgiving was a time for eating and for sharing.”
Ann McGovern, The Pilgrims’ First Thanksgiving
 
“There was enough good food for everybody. They had deer, turkeys, geese, ducks, fish, and clams. They had corn, beans, squash, pumpkins, plums, grapes, nuts, cranberries, and corn cakes.”
Lou Rogers, The First Thanksgiving
 
“The Pilgrims baked and baked. They made good things to eat. The Pilgrims went to the lake for fish and to the hills for turkeys. They all made food for the big feast.”
Teresa Celsi, Squanto and the First Thanksgiving
 
“There was eel and cod and lobster and quahogs and mussels and wild turkey and cranberries and succotash and berry pies.”
Eric Metaxas, Squanto and the First Thanksgiving
 
“They ate stewed eels. They ate cod and sea bass, their favorite fish.”
Anne Kamma, If You Were At…The First Thanksgiving
 
 
 
Fact: Both written and oral evidence show that what was actually consumed at the harvest festival in 1621 included venison (since Massasoit and his people brought five deer), wild fowl, and quite possibly nasaump—dried corn pounded and boiled into a thick porridge, and pompion—cooked, mashed pumpkin. Among the other food that would have been available, fresh fruits such as plums, grapes, berries and melons would have been out of season. It would have been too cold to dig for clams or fish for eels or small fish. There were no boats to fish for lobsters in rough water that was about 60 fathoms deep. There was not enough of the barley crop to make a batch of beer, nor was there a wheat crop. Potatoes and sweet potatoes didn’t get from the south up to New England until the 18th century, nor did sweet corn. Cranberries would have been too tart to eat without sugar to sweeten them, and that’s probably why they wouldn’t have had pumpkin pie, either. Since the corn of the time could not be successfully popped, there was no popcorn. (12)
 
••••
 
Myth #10: The Pilgrims and Indians became great friends.
 
“The Indians and Pilgrims agreed to live in Peace. Together they hunted quail and turkey.”
Pat Whitehead, Best Thanksgiving Book, ABC Adventures
 
“Then in friendship/And goodwill,/The braves and Pilgrims parted./And that’s how/The tradition/Of Thanksgiving Day got started!”
Nan Roloff, The First American Thanksgiving
 
“The Pilgrims lived in peace with their Indian neighbors.”
Janice Kinnealy, Let’s Celebrate Thanksgiving, A Book of Drawing Fun
 
“They had food and houses and warm fires. The Indians were their friends. They were free in this new land.”
Alice Dalgliesh, The Thanksgiving Story
 
“How thankful they are! They have food, and shelter, and new friends, the Indians. The Pilgrims decide to invite the Indians to a thanksgiving feast.”
Linda Hayward, The First Thanksgiving
 
“The Pilgrims knew it was time to give thanks to God and their Indian friends. They decided to have a harvest feast.”
Judith Bauer Stamper, New Friends in a New Land
 
“All of the Pilgrims took part. So did their Indian friends.”
Ann McGovern, The Pilgrims’ First Thanksgiving
 
“12 tables groaning/beneath a harvest spread—/Wampanoag and Pilgrim friends/together will break bread./Joined  under one sky/with one prayer to say—/a prayer of thanks for all they have/this first Thanksgiving Day.”
Laura Krauss Melmed, This First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story
 
“Together the Pilgrims and Indians lived in peace and grew in friendship.”
Elaine Raphael and Don Bolognese, The Story of the First Thanksgiving
 
 
Fact: A mere generation later, the balance of power had shifted so enormously and the theft of land by the European settlers had become so egregious that the Wampanoag were forced into battle. In 1637, English soldiers massacred some 700 Pequot men, women and children at Mystic Fort, burning many of them alive in their homes and shooting those who fled. The colony of Connecticut and Massachusetts Bay Colony observed a day of thanksgiving commemorating the massacre.  By 1675, there were some 50,000 colonists in the place they had named “New England.” That year, Metacom, a son of Massasoit, one of the first whose generosity had saved the lives of the starving settlers, led a rebellion against them. By the end of the conflict known as “King Philip’s War,” most of the Indian peoples of the Northeast region had been either completely wiped out, sold into slavery, or had fled for safety into Canada. Shortly after Metacom’s death, Plimoth Colony declared a day of thanksgiving for the English victory over the Indians. (13)
 
••••
 
 
Myth #11: Thanksgiving is a happy time.
 
“Today, Thanksgiving is a happy time when families gather together.”
                                                            Robert Merrill Bartlett, The Story of                                        Thanksgiving
 
“It’s a time to remember the Pilgrims and their first Thanksgiving.”
Janice Kinnealy, Let’s Celebrate Thanksgiving, A Book of Drawing Fun
 
“On Thanksgiving families are thankful for being together to share a special meal.”
                                                            Robert Merrill Bartlett, The Story of                                        Thanksgiving
 
“Thanksgiving is a special day. It’s a time for friends, family and lots of fun. It’s also a time for giving thanks—just as the Indians and Pilgrims did long ago on the first Thanksgiving.”
Judith Conaway, Happy Thanksgiving! Things to Make and Do 
 
“Thanksgiving has always been a holiday to share with those we love. We celebrate the joy of being together, and give thanks for our families and friends.”
Ronne Randall, Thanksgiving Fun: Fun Things to Make and Do
 
“Thanksgiving reminds us of the little band of people who founded the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. Each November it reopens a favorite chapter in our nation’s history.”
Edna Barth, Turkeys  Pilgrims, and Indian Corn: The Story of the Thanksgiving Symbols
 
“Today, families and friends gather together to celebrate Thanksgiving….No matter how Thanksgiving is celebrated, it is a time for families to feast together and think about all of the reasons they  have to give thanks.”
                                                            Robert Merrill Bartlett, The Story of                                        Thanksgiving
 
“On Thanksgiving Day, we join our families and friends for prayer, feasting, and fun.”
Judith Bauer Stamper, New Friends in a New Land: A Thanksgiving Story
J
“All over the country, people gather their families together and have a feast. They thank God for the good things of the past year. They eat turkey. They remember the brave Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving Day.”
Lou Rogers, The First Thanksgiving
 
“Today Thanksgiving is celebrated by families and friends enjoying a big Thanksgiving meal….Many families set aside some time to give thanks just as the Pilgrims and Native Americans did so many years ago.”
Kathy Ross, Crafts for Thanksgiving
 
“Thanksgiving is about more than a big meal. It is a chance to think about what is good in our lives. These are the things we can be thankful for.”
David F. Marx, Thanksgiving
 
“That was the first Thanksgiving! It’s a story we’ll never forget. It’s something we celebrate every year.”
Anne Rockwell, Thanksgiving Day
 
 
Fact: For many Indian people, “Thanksgiving” is a time of mourning, of remembering how a gift of generosity was rewarded by theft of land and seed corn, extermination of many from disease and gun, and near total destruction of many more from forced assimilation. As currently celebrated in this country, “Thanksgiving” is a bitter reminder of 500 years of betrayal returned for friendship.
 
 
(Note: We have based our “fact” sections in large part on the research, both published and unpublished, that Abenaki scholar Margaret M. Bruchac developed in collaboration with the Wampanoag Indian Program at Plimoth Plantation.  We thank Marge for her generosity and good heart. We thank Doris Seale (Santee/Cree) for her guidance and clear vision. We thank Lakota Harden (Lakota/Ho-Chunk) for her cante ista. —J.D. and B.S.)
 
References/“Books to Avoid”
Accorsi, William, Friendship’s First Thanksgiving. Holiday House, 1992, grades 1-2
Aliki, Corn is Maize: The Gift of the Indians. Harper & Row, 1976, grades 1-3
Anderson, Laurie Halse, Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving. Simon & Schuster, 2002, grades 1-4
Ansary, Mir Tamim, Thanksgiving Day. Heinemann, 2002, grades 1-3
Bartlett, Robert Merrill, The Story of Thanksgiving. HarperCollins, 2001, grades 3-5
Barth, Edna, Turkeys, Pilgrims, and Indian Corn: The Story of the Thanksgiving Symbols. Clarion, 1975, grades 2-4
Borden, Louise, Thanksgiving Is… Scholastic, 1997, grades 1-2
Brown, Marc, Arthur’s Thanksgiving. Little, Brown, 1983, grades 1-2
Bulla, Clyde Robert, Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims. Scholastic, 1990
Celsi,Teresa, Squanto and the First Thanksgiving. Steck-Vaughn, 1989), grades 1-2
Clements, Andrew, Look Who’s in the Thanksgiving Play! Simon & Schuster, 1999, preschool-2
Conaway, Judith, Happy Thanksgiving! Things to Make and Do. Troll Communications, 1986, grades 1-3
Crane, Carol, and Helle Urban, P is for Pilgrim: A Thanksgiving Alphabet. Sleeping Bear Press, 2003, grades 1-4
Dalgliesh, Alice, The Thanksgiving Story. Scholastic, 1954, 1982, grades 3-4
Daugherty, James, The Landing of the Pilgrims. Random House, 1987, grades 4-6
DePaola, Tomie, My First Thanksgiving. Putnam, 1992, preschol
Donnelly, Judy, The Pilgrims and Me. Grossett & Dunlap, 2002
Dubowski, Cathy East, The Story of Squanto, First Friend to the Pilgrims. Dell, 1990, grades 3-4
Fink, Deborah, It’s a Family Thanksgiving! A Celebration of an American Tradition for Children and Their Families. Harmony Hearth, 2000
Flindt, Myron, Pilgrims: A simulation of the first year at Plymouth Colony. Interact, 1994, curriculum for grades 3-up
Fritz, Jean, Who’s That Stepping on Plymouth Rock? Putnam & Grossett, 1975, grades 3-5
George, Jean Craighead, The First Thanksgiving. Puffin, 1993
Gibbons, Gail, Thanksgiving Day. Holiday House, 1985
Greene, Rhonda Gowler, The Very First Thanksgiving Day. Atheneum, 2002
Hale, Anna W., The Mayflower People: Triumphs and Tragedies. Harbinger House, 1995
Hallinan, P.K., Today Is Thanksgiving! Ideals Children’s Books, 1993, grades 1-2
Harness, Cheryl, Three Young Pilgrims. Aladdin, 1995, grades 3-6
Hayward, Linda, The First Thanksgiving. Random House, 1990, grades 1-3
Hennessy, B.G., One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims. Viking, 1999, grades 1-2
Jackson, Garnet, The First Thanksgiving. Scholastic, 2000, grades 2-up
Jassem, Kate, Squanto: The Pilgrim Adventure. Troll Communications, 1979, grades 3-5
Kamma, Anne,  If you Were At… The First Thanksgiving. Scholastic, 2001
Kessel, Joyce K., Squanto and the First Thanksgiving. Carolrhoda, 1983, grades 3-5
Kinnealy, Janice, Let’s Celebrate Thanksgiving, A Book of Drawing Fun. Watermill, 1988, grades 1-2
Koller, Jackie French, Nickommoh!: A Thanksgiving Celebration. Atheneum, 1999, grades 2-4
Marx, David F., Thanksgiving. Children’s Press, 2000, grades 1-2
McGovern, Ann, The Pilgrims’ First Thanksgiving. Scholastic, 1973, grades 2-up
McMullan, Kate, Fluffy’s Thanksgiving. Scholastic, 1997, grades ps-2
Melmed, Laura Krauss, This First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story. HarperCollins, 2001
Metaxas, Eric, Squanto and the First Thanksgiving. Rabbit Ears Books, 1996, grades 1-3       
Ochoa, Ana, Sticker Stories: The Thanksgiving Play. Grosset & Dunlap, 2002, grades 1-2
Osborne, Mary Pope, Thanksgiving on Thursday. Random House, 2002, grades 3-5
Parker, Margot, What Is Thanksgiving Day? Children’s Press, 1988, grades 1-2
Prelutsky, Jack, It’s Thanksgiving. Morrow, 1982, preschool-2
Rader, Laura J., A Child’s Story of Thanksgiving. Ideals Children’s Books, 1998, grades 2-4
Randall, Ronnie, Thanksgiving Fun: Great Things to Make and Do. Kingfisher, 1994, grades 1-3
Raphael, Elaine, and Don Bolognese, The Story of the First Thanksgiving. Scholastic, 1991, grades 1-2
Rau, Dana Meachen, Thanksgiving. Children’s Press, 2000, grades 1-2
Roberts, Bethany, Thanksgiving Mice! Clarion, 2001, preschool-1
Rockwell, Anne, Thanksgiving Day. HarperCollins, 1999
Rogers, Lou, The First Thanksgiving. Modern Curriculum Press, 1962, grades 1-3
Roloff, Nan, The First American Thanksgiving. Current, 1980
Roop, Connie and Peter:
Let’s Celebrate Thanksgiving. Millbrook, 1999, grades 3-5
Pilgrim Voices: Our First Year in the New World. Walker, 1995, grades 3-5
Ross, Katherine, 1995, grades 1-3:
            Crafts for Thanksgiving. Millbrook
            The Story of the Pilgrims. Random House
Ruelle, Karen Gray, The Thanksgiving Beast Feast. Holiday House, 1999, grades 1-2
San Souci, Robert, N.C. Wyeth's Pilgrims. Chronicle, 1991, grades 1-3
Schultz, Charles M., A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Simon & Schuster, 2002, grades 1-3
Sewall, Marcia, Atheneum, grades 1-3:
            People of the Breaking Day. Atheneum, 1990
            The People of Plimoth. Aladdin, 1986
            Thunder from the Clear Sky. Atheneum, 1995
Siegel, Beatrice, Walker, grades 3-5:
            Fur Trappers and Traders: The Indians, the Pilgrims, and the Beaver. 1981  
            Indians of the Northeast Woodlands. 1992
Skarmeas, Nancy J., The Story of Thanksgiving. Ideals Publications, 1999
Stamper, Judith Bauer:
            New Friends in a New Land: A Thanksgiving Story. Steck-Vaughn, 1993, grades 1-2   
            Thanksgiving Fun Activity Book. Troll, 1993, grades 1-4
Tryon, Leslie, Albert’s Thanksgiving. Aladdin, 1998, grades 1-3
Umnik, Sharon Dunn, ed., 175 Easy-to-Do Thanksgiving Crafts. Boyds Mills Press, 1996, grades 2-up
Waters, Kate, Giving Thanks: The 1621 Harvest Feast. Scholastic, 2001, grades 3-up
Weisgard, Leonard, The Plymouth Thanksgiving. Doubleday, 1967, grades 1-3
Whitehead, Pat, Best Thanksgiving Book, ABC Adventures. Troll Communications, 1985, grades 1-2
 
References/Recommended Books
Bruchac, Margaret M. (Abenaki), and Catherine Grace O’Neill, 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2001, grades 4-up
 
Hunter, Sally M. (Ojibwe), Four Seasons of Corn: A Winnebago Tradition. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1997, grades 4-6.
 
Peters, Russell M. (Wampanoag), Clambake: A Wampanoag Tradition. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1992, grades 4-6.
 
Regguinti, Gordon (Ojibwe), The Sacred Harvest: Ojibway Wild Rice Gathering. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1992, grades 4-6.
 
Seale, Doris (Santee/Cree), Beverly Slapin, and Carolyn Silverman (Cherokee), eds., Thanksgiving: A Native Perspective. Berkeley: Oyate, 1998, teacher resource.
 
Swamp, Jake (Mohawk), Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message. New York: Lee & Low, 1995, all grades.
 
Wittstock, Laura Waterman (Seneca), Ininatig’s Gift of Sugar: Traditional Native Sugarmaking. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1993, grades 4-6.
 
 
References/Primary Sources
Bradford, William, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647, originally published in 1856 under the title History of Plymouth Plantation. Introduction by Francis Murphy. New York: Random House, 1981.
 
Bradford, William, Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, first published in 1622. Introduction by Dwight B. Heath. Bedford, Mass.: Applewood Books, 1963.
 
Council on Interracial Books for Children, Chronicles of American Indian Protest. New York: CIBC, 19 71,
 
 Winslow, Edward, Good Newes from New England: A True Relation of Things Very Remarkable at the Plantation of Plimoth in New England, first published in 1624. Bedford, Mass.: Applewood Books, n.d.
 
Notes
(1) Correspondence with Abenaki scholar Margaret M. Bruchac. See also Plimoth Plantation, “A Key to Historical and Museum Terms,” www.plimoth.org/education/field_trips/ft-terms.htm; “Who Were the Pilgrims?” www.plimoth.org/library/whowere.htm; and Chuck Larsen, “There Are Many Thanksgiving Stories to Tell,” in Thanksgiving: A Native Perspective, p. 50. Also see Council on Interracial Books for Children, Chronicles of American Indian Protest, pp. 6-10.
 
(2) See Note 1.
 
(3) See William Bradford’s Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, p. 19.
 
(4) Conversation with Douglas Frink, Archaeology Consulting Team, Inc. See also Plimoth Plantation, “The Adventures of Plimoth Rock,” www.plimoth.org/library/plymrock.htm.
 
(5) See William Bradford’s Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, p. 28.
 
(6) Correspondence with Margaret M. Bruchac. See also “The Saints Come Sailing In,” in Dorothy W. Davids and Ruth A. Gudinas, “Thanksgiving: A New Perspective (and its Implications in the Classroom)” in Thanksgiving: A Native Perspective, pp. 70-71.
 
(7) Correspondence with Margaret M. Bruchac about the relationship Samoset, Tisquantum, Hobbamock, and Massasoit. See also Margaret M. Bruchac and Catherine O’Neill Grace, 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving.
 
(8) See Margaret M. Bruchac and Catherine O’Neill Grace, ibid.
 
(9) For a description of how the European settlers regarded the Wampanoag, as well as evidence of their theft of seed corn and funerary objects, see Mourt’s Relation. See also Margaret M. Bruchac and Catherine O’Neill Grace, ibid.
 
(10) See Edward Winslow, Good Newes from New England: A True Relation of Things Very Remarkable at the Plantation of Plimoth in New England.
 
(11) See Duane Champagne, Native America: Portrait of the Peoples. Detroit: Visible Ink (1994), pp. 81-82; and Chuck Larsen, op. cit., p. 51.
 
(12) See Plimoth Plantation, “No Popcorn!,” www.plimoth.org/library/thanksgiving/nopopc.htm, and “A First Thanksgiving Dinner for Today,” www.plimoth.org/library/thanksgiving/afirst.htm. See also Margaret M. Bruchac and Catherine O’Neill Grace, op. cit.
 
(13) See “King Philip Cries Out for Revenge,” pp. 43-45; and “There Are Many Thanksgiving Stories to Tell,” pp. 49-52, in Thanksgiving: A Native Perspective. See also Margaret M. Bruchac and Catherine O’Neill Grace, op. cit.
 
Copyright © 2003 by Judy Dow and Beverly Slapin. All rights reserved. This material may be reproduced for classroom use only.
 
 

 

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