Teaching the Truth About Thanksgiving

Denise Alvarado

March 2006

Thanksgiving as it is currently portrayed by mainstream media and in the majority of academic settings is laden with myths, misinformation, and falsehoods. Driven by the need for a "feel good" history, society continues to ignore the painful fact that the Native American genocide is quite possibly the most denied of holocausts. This denial serves to perpetuate harmful stereotypes and fails to provide our children an honest education. An unknown history is a history destined to repeat itself. As such, it is imperative to learn the historical truth and pass this truth down to our children who are the next generation of leaders - leaders who determine which course this country will take with regards to the social and political relationship with Native American people.

Why teach the truth about Thanksgiving?

To debunk stereotypes and historical myths.

To move away from a monocultural paradigm to a multicultural one.

Thanksgiving is a much bigger concept than the feast at the Plymouth Plantation.

When lesson plans are built upon partial and biased information, we are not teaching the truth.

The Problem

Myth: The pilgrims came to American to escape religious persecution (partial truth). Why is this a problem? Because it sets the stage for perpetuating the stereotype of Noble Civilization vs Savagery. (1)

Fact: Pilgrims were a subsect of the Puritans, political revolutionaries who intended to overthrow the British government, and actually did so in 1649. Many were fugitives, as well as victims of bigotry.(2)

Myth: Thanksgiving Day represents a day when the pilgrims and the Indians sat down and shared a feast with each other in peace and harmony to celebrate the fall harvest. This event was the first Thanksgiving.

Fact: In 1970, the Wampanoag secured a copy of a Thanksgiving proclamation made by the governor of the colony. After a militia returned from murdering the men, women, and children of an Indian village, the governor proclaimed a holiday and feast to give thanks for the massacre. Other colonies were encouraged to do the same every autumn when the crops were in; in other words, at each fall harvest, go kill Indians and celebrate your murders with a feast.

Also, in the Thanksgiving sermon Plymouth in 1623, Mather the Elder gave
special thanks to God for the devastating plague of smallpox which wiped out the majority of the Wampanoag Indians who had been their benefactors. He praised God
for destroying "chiefly young men and children, the very seeds of increase, thus clearing the forests to make way for a better growth", i.e., the Pilgrims.(3)

Myth: The pilgrims invited the Indians to the feast to show their gratitude for the help they had received.

Fact: The purpose of the feast was to negotiate a treaty that would secure the lands of the Plymouth Plantation for the pilgrims.

Myth: The first Thanksgiving was the feast at Plymouth Plantation.

Fact: The first Thanksgiving was approximately 30,000 years ago according to the most recent archeological data. By the New Stone Age (about 10,000+ years ago), Thanksgiving had become associated with giving thanks to God for the harvests of the land. Many indigenous people have feasts of gratitude multiple times throughout the year and for a variety of reasons. Thanksgiving has always been a time of people coming together and giving thanks for that fellowship has become part of the celebration for many. In short, there are many Thanksgiving stories to tell. Why limit ourselves to one myth?

How did the current myth of Thanksgiving come to be? It is the product of the melting pot era of the 1890s and early 1900s when our country was attempting to develop a national identity. Public education was a major tool for social unity, and to many writers and educators this meant a common national history. History was written to reflect this goal. As a consequence, Thanksgiving became a national holiday (1898), replete with stereotyped Indians and stereotyped Whites, incomplete history, and an inspirational myth.

What else can we learn when we teach a balanced and informed Thanksgiving?

1. There are cultural differences between Indian tribes. Not all Indians look the same or live the same way.

2. We can learn about the political structure of Indian tribes and the importance of women in government.

3. We can broaden our concept of Indian leadership. For example, the Wampanoag did not have chiefs; rather , they had sachems and tribal councils.

3. We can learn how the Constitution of the United States and articles of Confederation came to be. We can learn what the Constitution of the United States and Articles of Confederation are, for that matter.

4. We can learn the importance of conservation and taking care of the land (Mother Earth).

5. We can learn about respect, honesty, and integrity in our interactions with others and in how we conduct ourselves.

6. We can learn about how the seasons are celebrated in different cultures.

7. We can learn the importance of the family dinner table.

8. We can learn empathy and compassion for others.

9. We can learn about agriculture.

10. We can learn about the different dwellings various Indian tribes used and continue to use, as well as the dwellings of people in cultures all over the world.

REMEMBER:

The antidote to a feel-good history is not a feel-bad history, but an honest and inclusive one (Loewen, 1998).

References

(1). See Berkhofer, Jr., R.F., "The White Man's Indian," references to frontier concepts of savagery in index. Also see Jennings, Francis, "The Invasion of America," the myth of savagery, pp. 6-12, 15-16, & 109-110.

(2). Larsen, C. (1986). An introduction for teachers. Available: http://www.ewebtribe.com/NACulture/articles/thanksgiving.html

(3). See "Chronicles of American Indian Protest," pp. 6-9. Also see Berkhofer, Jr., R.F., "The White Man's Indian," the comments of Cotton Mather, pp. 37 & 82-83.

SUGGESTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Berkhofer, Jr., Robert F, "The White Man's Indian," Vintage
Books, Random House, New York, 1978.

Blitzer, Charles, "Age of Kings," Great Ages of Man Series,
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Bradford, Sir William, and Winslow, Edward, "Of Plymouth
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"Chronicles of American Indian Protest," The Council on
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Epstein, Sam and Beryl, "European Folk Festivals," Garrand
Publishing Company, Champagne, Illinois, 1968.

Dalgliesh, Alice, "The Thanksgiving Story," Charles
Scribner's Sons, New York, 1954.

Forbes, Jack D., "The Indian in America's Past," Prentice
Hall, Inc., 1964.

Graff, Stewart and Polly Ann, "Squanto, Indian Adventurer,"
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Jennings, Francis, "The Invasion of America," W.W. Norton
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Larsen, Charles M., "The Real Thanksgiving," Tacoma Public
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Leiser, Julia, "Famous American Indians and Tribes," Youth
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