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Decolonization should be the perspective used for any lesson taught about Thanksgiving.

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Decolonization should be the perspective used for any lesson taught about Thanksgiving.

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I explored the unit on decolonizing Thanksgiving. This year especially, I struggled with trying to appreciate what was good about the holiday for my own family’s tradition (being thankful for the harvests and being able to spend time cooking together) with what is monstrous about the holiday (genocide, lies, exploitation, and pervasive myths).

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Teach respectfully and deliberately

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Lesson plans relating to traditional food and culture of the PNW.

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This online lesson provides perspectives from Native American community members, images, objects, and other sources to help students and teachers understand the efforts of Native Nations of the Pacific Northwest to protect and sustain salmon, water, and homelands. Scroll to begin an exploration of the Pacific Northwest history and cultures.

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Coast Salish, Colville Confederated Tribes, Lummi, Makah, Muckleshoot, Nisqually, Puyallup, Quileute, Skokomish, Yakama

Environmental Science, Geography, Government and Civics, History, Social Studies

Pacific Northwest, salmon, usual and accustomed, Washington state, fisheries, treaty rights, salmon runs, dams, pollution, salmon habitat, environment, sustainability, cultures, culture, spawning grounds, comanagement, food sovereignty, foods

Northwest Coast, North America

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Framework for Essential Understandings about American Indians

Building on the ten themes of the National Council for the Social Studies' national curriculum standards, NMAI's Essential Understandings reveal key concepts about the rich and diverse cultures, histories, and contemporary lives of Native Peoples. Woven throughout the lesson, the following Essential Understandings provide a foundation for students to thoughtfully understand important connections between foods and cultures.

This resource addresses the following Essential Understandings:

Essential Understanding 1:

There is no single American Indian culture or language.

For millennia, American Indians have shaped and been shaped by their culture and environment. Elders in each generation teach the next generation their values, traditions, and beliefs through their own tribal languages, social practices, arts, music, ceremonies, and customs.

Interactions with Europeans and Americans brought accelerated and often devastating changes to American Indian cultures.

Native people continue to fight to maintain the integrity and viability of indigenous societies. American Indian history is one of cultural persistence, creative adaptation, renewal, and resilience.

Essential Understanding 2:

Time, Continuity, and Change

European contact resulted in devastating loss of life, disruption of tradition, and enormous loss of lands for American Indians.

Hearing and understanding American Indian history from Indian perspectives provides an important point of view to the discussion of history and cultures in the Americas. Indian perspectives expand the social, political, and economic dialogue.

Essential Understanding 3:

People, Places, and Environments

The story of American Indians in the Western Hemisphere is intricately intertwined with places and environments. Native knowledge systems resulted from long-term occupation of tribal homelands, and observation and interaction with places. American Indians understood and valued the relationship between local environments and cultural traditions, and recognized that human beings are part of the environment.

Long before their contact with Europeans, indigenous people populated the Americas and were successful stewards and managers of the land.

Essential Understanding 4:

Individual Development and Identity

For American Indians, identity development takes place in a cultural context, and the process differs from one American Indian culture to another. American Indian identity is shaped by the family, peers, social norms, and institutions inside and outside a community or culture.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, many American Indian communities have sought to revitalize and reclaim their languages and cultures.

Essential Understanding 7:

Production, Distribution, and Consumption

For thousands of years, American Indians developed and operated vast trade networks throughout the Western Hemisphere.

American Indians traded, exchanged, gifted, and negotiated the purchase of goods, foods, technologies, domestic animals, ideas, and cultural practices with one another.

Today, American Indians are involved in a variety of economic enterprises, set economic policies for their nations, and own and manage natural resources that affect the production, distribution and the consumption of goods and services throughout much of the United States.

Essential Understanding 8:

Science, Technology, and Society

American Indian knowledge can inform the ongoing search for new solutions to contemporary issues.

American Indian knowledge reflects a relationship developed over millennia with the living earth based on keen observation, experimentation, and practice.

American Indian knowledge is closely tied to languages, cultural values, and practices. It is founded on the recognition of the relationships between humans and the world around them.

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Common Core State Standards

College, Career & Civic Life-C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards

Construct arguments using precise and knowledgeable claims, with evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging counterclaims and evidentiary weaknesses.

Shana Brown
Educator from the Yakama Nation

Essential Connections Between Food and Culture

We have not always gotten our foods from grocery stores or restaurants. Nor have we always been accustomed to eating out-of-season or imported exotic foods. Before shipping, plastic wrap, and packaged meats, we ate what our local environments provided. And we built our worlds accordingly.

The food practices of the Native Nations of the Pacific Northwest do not just reflect their identities; they define their identities. Who we are as a people is reflected in our relationship with the environment, the foods that environment provides, and the individual and collective responsibilities undertaken to care for natural resources. Natural resources are not simply viewed by Native people as commodities to be bought and sold; instead, they are viewed as relatives to be cherished and cared for. Culturally important foods, such as salmon and other fish, reflect the unique histories and experiences of Native peoples, especially the histories and experiences that are connected to landscapes and water.

Because our lives and identities are so intertwined with salmon, many Native peoples in the Pacific Northwest call themselves the Salmon People. From the late eighteenth-century on, European and American arrivals in the Pacific Northwest made it increasingly difficult for our ancestors to maintain their food practices, especially once non-Native diets became so prevalent. The influx of non-Native settlers in the Pacific Northwest, thus, threatened our very identity as Salmon People. Over time, the activities of non-Indian settlers brought about commercial fishing, pollution, habitat loss, hydroelectric dams, and other factors that had a very negative impact on the salmon population and the environment as a whole. Instead of respectfully using and managing existing resources, the newcomers altered the landscape and depleted resources. They also denied Indians access to millennia-old hunting, fishing, and gathering sites.

Despite these challenges, tribal nations have been able to maintain their traditional food practices to varying degrees of success. Today, we see a renewed resurgence of and respect for traditional Native food practices. This resurgence not only complements the survival of tribal peoples, their collective identities, and their sovereignty, but it also supports the changing viewpoints of non-Indian people, who now more frequently accept the essential and sustainable value in the very food practices they once sought to eliminate altogether.

A number of contemporary practices and events reflect and strengthen the revival of traditional indigenous food practices. One such event, the annual Canoe Journey along the Pacific coastline of Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington, illustrates the renaissance our nations are experiencing. Once a year, canoes filled with indigenous peoples from all over the world converge on the Pacific Northwest. Native Nations here host these events, and share their stories, songs, foods, and food practices with everyone who has gathered for the occasion. Indigenous participants and canoe families exchange cultural protocols to demonstrate the mutual respect for "homelands" among the gathered people, and particularly for the homelands of the people being visited. Inaugurated by Native leaders in 1989, the annual Canoe Journey event was developed to help tribal youth strengthen their connections with their past and present cultures and environments and, by doing so, strengthen personal identities for the future.

Through the activities and resources of this lesson, you will witness the incredible resiliency and innovation of the Native Nations of the Pacific Northwest in their efforts to protect and cultivate healthy relationships with their relatives-salmon, water, and homelands. And, you will see how foods can define not only who we are, but also who we wish to be.

Toggle between Native Nations and landscape views to orient yourself to the locations of the nations today and the geographical features of their homelands.

What Actions are Native Nations Taking to Restore Salmon and Strengthen Cultures?

Explore three short case studies and a video to see how efforts to restore salmon also strengthen Native cultures. First, watch this short video about one Native-led project to restore salmon in the Columbia River.

WATCH SHORT INTRODUCTION VIDEO "

The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) expresses gratitude to the people of the American Indian Nations whose histories, cultures, and contemporary lives are represented on these pages.

The NMAI extends special thanks to members of the Pacific Northwest-region team whose thoughtful collaboration and extraordinary expertise made these inquiry-based lessons possible.

The museum also thanks the following staff and other contributors for their work in the creation of these lessons:

Museum Director: Kevin Gover (Pawnee)

Producer and Writer: Edwin Schupman (Muscogee)

Content Manager, Developer, and Lead Writer: Colleen Call Smith

Developer and Lead Writer: MaryBeth Yerdon

Pacific Northwest-Region Team:

Willard Bill, Jr. (Muckleshoot), Cultural Expert

Shana Brown (Yakama), Lead Writer and Educator

Hanford McCloud (Nisqually), Cultural Expert

Jerry Price, Educator

Dr. Josh Reid, Ph.D. (Snohomish), Scholar

Researchers

Erin Beasley, NMAI

Jessica Phippen, NMAI

Reviewers

Mark Hirsch, Ph.D., NMAI

Joe Horse Capture (A'aninin), NMAI

Carrie Loretto (Zuni, Acoma, San Felipe Pueblo), NMAI Teacher-In-Residence, New Mexico

Stacey Mann

Michelle Nelin-Maruani, NMAI Teacher-In-Residence, South Dakota

Vilma Ortiz-Sanchez, NMAI

Christopher Robinson, NMAI Teacher-In-Residence, Kentucky

Kathy Swan, Ph.D., University of Kentucky and C3Teachers.org

Community Interviews:

Hank Adams (Assiniboine Sioux of Fort Peck Tribes)

Freedom Bill (Muckleshoot)

Justice Bill (Muckleshoot/Tlingit)

Sovereign Bill (Muckleshoot)

Willard Bill Jr. (Muckleshoot)

Ramona Bennett (Puyallup)

Gregory Colfax (Makah)

Carol Craig (Yakama)

Phoenix Dorsey-Billy (Shoalwater Bay/Yakama/Hawaiian)

Samuel Eli George (Yakama)

Randy Finley (Yakama)

Elizabeth Furse (Former Congresswoman, Oregon)

Glen Guzman (Nez Perce)

Elijah Green

Cecile Hansen (Duwamish)

Mary Johnson (Shoalwater Bay/Chinook/Hawaiian)

William James (Lummi)

Phillip A. Kahclamat (Yakama)

James L. Kiona (Yakama)

Gerald Lewis (Yakama)

Michael Marchand (Confederated Tribes of Colville, WA)

Don McCloud Jr. (Puyallup)

Melvin Moon Jr. (Quileute)

John Platt

Valarie Segrest (Muckleshoot)

Anthony Settler Sr. (Yakama)

Randy Settler (Yakama)

Nancy Shippentower (Puyallup)

Steven Soloman Sr. (Lummi)

Charles Strom (Yakama)

Myenngan Syrette (Shoalwater Bay)

Richard Talman (Lummi)

Howard Wahpat (Yakama)

Ronnie Wilson (Makah)

Philip Willard Olney (Yakama)

Lisa Wilson Howard (Lummi)

Dana Wilson (Lummi)

Media

Aerial footage by Foresight Aerial Photography

Mark Christal, NMAI

Dan Davis, NMAI

Doug McMains, NMAI

Web

David Chang

Rebecca Estes, NMAI

Laurie Swindull, NMAI

Jason Wigfield

Cheryl Wilson, NMAI

Deanna Wood, NMAI

Interactivity Concepts and Design

Stacey Mann

Interactive Mechanics

Editing

Martha Davidson

Christine Gordon

Anne Litchfield

Rights and Permissions

Wendy Hurlock-Baker, NMAI

Jessica Phippen, NMAI

Colleen Call Smith, NMAI

MaryBeth Yerdon, NMAI

Evaluation

Jerrell Cassady, Ph.D., Research Design Studio at Ball State University

Teacher Testing

Julie Bell, Washington-Lee High School, Arlington, VA

Boo Balkan Foster, Chief Sealth International School, Seattle, WA

Leirdre Galloway, River Hill High School, Clarksville, MD

Troy Grant, International High School at Largo, Upper Marlboro, MD

Kate Hall, Glasgow Middle School, Lincolnia, VA

Victoria Hildebrand (Muckleshoot), Muckleshoot Tribal School, Auburn, WA

Tasha Johnson, Yelm High School, Yelm, WA

Michelle Nelin-Maruani, NMAI Teacher-In-Residence, South Dakota

Ben Masaoka, Roosevelt High School, Seattle, WA

Tamiko McVicker, West Potomac High School, Alexandria, VA

Audrey Rackley, James Monroe High School, Fredericksburg, VA

Christopher Robinson, Model Laboratory High School, Richmond, KY

Becky Taylor, Sherwood High School, Sandy Spring, MD

Joseph Wood, Lake Ridge Middle School, Woodbridge, VA

Voice Talent

Studio Center, Virginia Beach, VA

Edwin Schupman (Muscogee), NMAI

Contract Management

Pam Woodis (Jicarilla Apache), NMAI

Special thanks to:

Staff at the Burke Museum for their time and expertise in assisting with research in support of these lessons: Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse, Curator of Northwest Native Art and Director of Bill Holm Center; Bridget Johnson, Assistant Director for the Bill Holm Center; Laura Phillips, Archaeology Collections Manager; Rebecca Andrews, Ethnology Collections Manager

The Muckleshoot Canoe Family: For generously allowing the NMAI media and education teams to accompany, film, and interview members of the Muckleshoot Canoe Family during the 2016 Canoe Journey.

The Nisqually Indian Tribe: For acting as gracious hosts to the NMAI media and education teams during the 2016 Canoe Journey.

The Salmon Defense Fund: For the generous gift of footage from the film Back to the River.

Sheryl Antelope (Yakama), Yakama Cultural Center Manager

Carol Craig (Yakama): For generous support in coordinating interviews with community members of the Yakama Nation and providing access to tribal fisheries.

Wade Frogley, Chief Leschi Schools

Janine Ledford (Makah)

Gail Morris (NuuChahNulth, Ahousat Band): For the time, energy, and expertise offered to the Pacific Northwest-region team in support of the development of these lessons.

Robin Pratt (Tlingit), Director of the Auburn School District Native American Program

The National Museum of the American Indian gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation in the development of these educational resources.

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Native Knowledge 360°- Pacific Northwest History and Cultures: Why do the foods we eat matter?

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This online lesson provides perspectives from Native American community members, images, objects, and other sources to help students and teachers understand the efforts of Native Nations of the Pacific Northwest to protect and sustain salmon, water, and homelands. Scroll to begin an exploration of the Pacific Northwest history and cultures.

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“With one mind, we turn to honor and thank all the FoodPlants we harvest from the garden. Since the beginning of time, the grains, vegetables, beans, and berries have helped the people survive. Many other living things draw strength from them, too. We gather all the Plant Foods together as one and send them a greeting of thanks.”

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“With one mind, we turn to honor and thank all the FoodPlants we harvest from the garden. Since the beginning of time, the grains, vegetables, beans, and berries have helped the people survive. Many other living things draw strength from them, too. We gather all the Plant Foods together as one and send them a greeting of thanks.”

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-Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address

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From the National Museum of the American Indian

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Discuss what it means for humans and plants and animals to have a reciprocal relationship. Include examples of the salmon and buffalo and their roles in Native communities as providers of both physical and cultural sustenance.

[source: National Museum of the American Indian]

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What is the story of Thanksgiving from a Native perspective?

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In this activity, students will explore the perspectives of two Native American authors about the meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday and then write journal entries.

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By Vera L. Stenhouse

Illustrator: Eric Hanson

Illustration: Eric Hanson

In 2006, an Atlanta newspaper ran several photos with captions describing the celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday. The first picture featured a 5-year-old girl wearing a precision-cut fringe vest made out of a brown paper bag from a local grocery store (as identified by the store name and tagline detailed prominently in big blue letters on the vest). On top of her head sat a multicolored feather headdress made of construction paper. The caption under the picture read: "Feathers in her cap. Ava adjusts the headdress of her American Indian costume for a Clairemont Elementary School Thanksgiving feast. More photos from the feast are on page J9."

Page J9 includes three additional pictures-one showing a group of Pilgrims (with white paper collars and hats) and Indians (as identified by their feather headdresses, of course). A second picture shows students in "costume" working on a coloring project and a third captures a student showing off his "homemade American Indian costume." Between the pictures it reads: "Clairemont Elementary School studied American Indians and Pilgrims in preparation for today's big holiday. Last week, they re enacted the first Thanksgiving and dressed in costumes for a feast with family members." In the center is the phrase "Thanks for the lessons."

What lessons did they learn? Between Columbus Day in October and Thanksgiving in November, Native Americans [the "official" curricular name in Georgia] play a key role in the mythology of U.S. history as taught in schools. As someone who works with pre- and inservice elementary teachers, I see firsthand how these happy stories maintain children's ignorance and reinforce stereotypes.

The traditional first Thanksgiving story recounts Pilgrims from Europe settling in the wilds of the New World and celebrating their survival by sharing their bountiful feast with the Indians. As my students learn, this version of Thanksgiving is inaccurate. The Pilgrims did leave Europe and comprised 35 out of 102 colonists traveling on the Mayflower, eventually settling in 1621 at Patuxet-aka Plimoth. The "new" and "wild" world to which they arrived was neither new, wild, or unnamed, thanks to the Wampanoag, the indigenous people who lived there. Given the Pilgrims' ignorance of the "new" land, their survival was made possible through indigenous knowledge, labor, harvest traditions, and trade. Most significant to the first Thanksgiving story: According to the Wampanoag and the ancestors of the Plimoth settlers, no oral or written account confirms that the first Thanksgiving actually occurred between them in 1621. The Wampanoag, however, did participate in daily and seasonal thanksgivings for thousands of years prior to the Pilgrims' arrival.

Beyond the inaccuracy of the first Thanksgiving story itself are its omissions: Colonists initially stolebushels of corn buried and stored by Wampanoag families for their own use, robbed graves and homes, and left diseases that devastated (albeit unintentionally) Native American communities, subsequently enabling European settlers to overtake Indian land.

The traditional Thanksgiving story is continuously retold through plays, activities, worksheets, and children's books, perpetuating misinformation and stereotypes that maintain a deep misunderstanding of American Indian history and current issues. Thanksgiving Day, for example, is considered a Day of Mourning by many American Indians-a time to acknowledge the ongoing painful legacy of removal from their homelands, enslavement, and deaths from diseases. Thanksgiving images further negate significant cultural and sacred distinctions among indigenous peoples. Long feather headdresses and tipis are not part of an accurate portrayal of Northeast Coast Native Americans. Thanksgiving pictures tend to depict garments and housing of Plains Indians, whom the Pilgrims would have not met.

As a teacher of teachers, I attempt to engage students in a more accurate, inclusive, and culturally respectful approach to a time in history that began to set the pattern for U.S. race relations. I choose to critique the first Thanksgiving story because of its familiarity, inclusion in so many schools' curricula, and persistent misrepresentation of Indians and Pilgrims.

Flipping the Script on the First Thanksgiving

Before launching into the myths and omissions surrounding the "first Thanksgiving," I ask my teacher education students what they already know about the event: Who celebrated the original Thanksgiving and when? What was celebrated and for how long? Who initiated the celebration? Why? Where did the event take place?

My students find the details difficult to recall. Generally, their contributions reflect a disjointed recollection: Pilgrims and Indians; something about religious persecution; the Mayflower; Jamestown, Va.; an abundant harvest after tough times; the Pilgrims' generosity toward the Indians; and three days of fun, games, and eating popcorn, turkey, and pie. Sometimes students suggest names of actual "Indians" like the Sioux or Cherokee nations or people such as Sacagawea, Squanto, or Pocahontas.

I challenge my students' knowledge about Pilgrims, Indians, and Thanksgiving through a series of exploratory activities using elementary-appropriate materials. I designed activities meant to model how they might introduce a critique of Thanksgiving to their own elementary students that also identifies stereotypes about Native Americans and explores the events surrounding 1621. The activities require my students to work first within and then across small groups to compare and contrast the histories of the "Indians" and "Pilgrims," separate fact from fiction about the Thanksgiving story, and uncover new information concerning Native Americans past and present.

For one activity, I divide a set of students into "Indians" and "Pilgrims." Both groups visit www.plimoth.org/education/olc/index_js2.html#, a website elementary teachers and students could use that offers an interactive timeline with key dates in the history of the Wampanoag and the Pilgrims. I send the students to the "path to 1621" for their respective group's story. The "Indians" follow the Wampanoag ancestor Ahsaupwis' story and the "Pilgrims" follow English ancestor Remember Allerton. In the penultimate phase of the activity, I combine the "Indians" and "Pilgrims" and tell them to create a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting what they learned.

Other student groups work to determine the facts, fictions, and omissions of the first Thanksgiving story using a selection of traditional first Thanksgiving picture books. To add to their critique, students receive additional texts that provide perspectives and information often distorted or omitted in traditional texts.I send the students to partner-read their selected books with questions: From whose perspective is the story told? Whose voices are active and passive? What words are used to describe the groups? Whose story has the most detail? What details were offered or implied in the text or illustrations about Thanksgiving and each group's lifestyle (e.g., food, clothing, beliefs, and traditions)? Are the illustrations accurate? How do you know?

After partner-reading, students read the short version of Judy Dow and Beverly Slapin's article " Deconstructing the Myths of The First Thanksgiving." I tell them to mark new and surprising information. Typically during this activity, as students read and discuss, I'll overhear one say, "So there was no Thanksgiving at all? I'm confused." I clarify that although the Thanksgiving story as told is not historically accurate, Native Americans and Pilgrims had thanksgiving traditions exclusive of each other.

When the groups reconvene as a whole class, I ask each to report what they learned and to share what they believe to be the main points of their activities. It is clear from their reactions that in most instances, the activities presented different depictions from what they had previously believed or known. As Lorrie said, "I remember learning about a huge friendly feast between 'Pilgrims' and 'Indians.' It was taught almost as though it was a culmination of a friendship that had been building from day one."

Charlie commented, "I remember making the feather headdress for Thanksgiving. I had no idea it could be inaccurate, let alone inappropriate." Students often remark on the cultural disrespect implicit in illustrating Thanksgiving stories with clothing that the Wampanoag didn't wear.

By the end of our re-examination of Thanksgiving, students grow anxious and begin to consider if and how they might integrate a more critical perspective of Thanksgiving with their own students. As Iris later wrote:

So, how do we go about talking about Thanksgiving now that we have all of this new information? How should we treat it with our students? Truly, it is not a day of Thanksgiving for all people in this country. I am at a loss now. I think that we could approach it with the new information that Ms. Stenhouse gave us and debunk some of these myths for our students, but I'm beginning to question what the bigger message should be. Is the holiday real? Is there really something to celebrate? I mean, sure, I'm glad to be here, and I'm thankful for the blessings in my life, but am I celebrating at the expense of others? If I do teach my children that the coming of the settlers was at the indigenous people's expense, will they want to continue celebrating this day? Will their parents thank me if I do? I am not sure how to proceed.

My response to Iris' conundrum and to students who ask "now what?" starts with prompting my students to generate alternative ideas for teaching Thanksgiving. I want them to start thinking about how they might use or adapt our activities or their underlying concepts with their students. I notice that, as they share their ideas with each other, they introduce a variety of ways to reframe Thanksgiving based on what they experienced in class (for example, book critiques or use of the two-voice poem, as described in Rethinking Our Classrooms, Vol. 1) and begin to consider tactical approaches to parents' and administrators' potential concerns. Given my students' focus on the repercussions from school authorities, I also ask them to imagine for a moment what the first Thanksgiving story means for Native American children in their classes. And based on their own experiences, I ask them to keep in mind the lasting impressions about Indians and Pilgrims from their own schooling. I further encourage them to first find out what their students already know, which is how I started with them.

More recently, I have also begun showing a video clip of Monty, a former student of mine, who discusses how he addressed Thanksgiving with his 1st graders. After witnessing parents, students, and teachers delight in a Thanksgiving re-enactment held at his school, he determined he needed to provide his students with a more complex perspective of Native American-Pilgrim relations. Monty shares candidly the steps he took (including a trip to his principal's office) and the process he went through to teach his students about fairness through a lesson on the consequences of colonial encroachment on indigenous lands. Watching Monty adds a perspective to our discussion other than my own about the possibilities, relevance, and power of teaching critically at any grade level.

I know that what I am asking my students to consider is unsettling to many of them; however, I'm convinced that it is necessary in order for them to be the teachers they wish to be. In addition to our in-class discussion, I ask my students to continue thinking, problem-posing, and talking with me and each other through the class blogs and journals.

Waiting for Later to Disrupt the Status Quo

As preservice teachers, my students are overwhelmed by learning to teach the prescribed curriculum and consumed by their university schoolwork. They work in schools they assume are not populated by indigenous students or other students for whom it is relevant to know the unpleasant details of historical events. Why trouble a good story?

Silent in most discussions about indigenous peoples are the current realities of Native American life, including widespread poverty; relegation to reservations; the persistent political, social, and economic disregard for things cultural or sacred by the dominant U.S. society; and the advocacy necessary for linguistic, cultural, economic, and territorial sovereignty. I use the Thanksgiving story to provide an opportunity for my students to ask themselves, "If not me, who?" and "If not now, when?" as it relates to challenging the status quo.

In terms of measuring progress, we have come a long way from learning how to count to 10, one "Indian" at a time. Yet national multimillion-dollar franchise sports teams retain derogatory "Indian" names, logos, and chants; commercial products still utilize "Native" names and imagery as brands; and we still have the enduring uncritical portrayal of the first Thanksgiving. I believe a connection exists between the unwillingness to "give up" the beneficent 1621 Thanksgiving story and the ongoing appropriation of the imagery, spirituality, ceremonies, sovereign rights, and identity of this country's indigenous peoples. Students from all racial and cultural backgrounds learn early that it is OK to play Indian. They learn that Indians wear "costumes," feathers define cultural features for all Indians, and sacred cultural artifacts are crafts to be made from brown paper bags, paper towel rolls, paper plates, and construction paper. And after Thanksgiving, crafts and all, the "Natives" disappear back onto the shelf.

Confronting racism, injustice, prejudice, and stereotypes through a consciousness-raising education is a far cry from the fun-filled, feel-good activities characteristic of how schools approach holidays. With respect to indigenous peoples, I want my students to acknowledge the diverse and unique traditions among Native American cultures and to explore the historic and contemporary legacy of colonial intrusion, brutality, and cultural ignorance. As a teacher educator, I seek to invite my students on a journey of interrogating the fallacy of the "standard" curriculum as neutral and push them to develop an understanding of official knowledge as politically constructed and contestable. Critiquing received fact, such as the first Thanksgiving, is an integral piece of an overall critical approach to teaching and learning. I want my students to recognize that the histories of indigenous peoples have been subverted, silenced, and misrepresented in the curriculum. Equally important: I want my students to recognize that we can do something about it.
RESOURCES Evaluating resources about Native Americans:
Boston Children's Museum. Evaluating Resources: The Wampanoag in Teacher Resources on Native American History and Culture. ( www.bostonkids.org/educators/wampanoag/html/evaluate.htm)

Seale, D., and Slapin, B., eds. (2005)
A Broken Flute: The Native Experience in Books for Children. Lanham, Md.: Altamira Press.
Cultural appropriation in books for children. Evaluates hundreds of books for children and teenagers published from the early 1900s through 2004.
"Evaluating Children's Books for Bias." Integrating New Technologies into the Methods of Education. (www.intime.uni.edu/multiculture/curriculum/children.htm)
Wampanoag information past and present:
"Mashpee Wampanoag Timeline." Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Website. ( mashpeewampanoagtribe.com/timeline.html)
Timeline of events from precolonial times to current federal recognition.

Boston Children's Museum. "People of the First Light." Teacher Resources on Native American History and Culture. ( www.bostonkids.org/educators/wampanoag)
Information and suggested activities about Wampanoag origins and life before, during, and after 1620; survival; and current day.
Teacher and student resources on Thanksgiving, Native Americans, and colonists:
Dow (Abenaki), J., and Slapin, B. " Deconstructing the Myths of The First Thanksgiving." Oyate. ( www.oyate.org/resources/longthanks.html)
Facts and fiction about the first Thanksgiving story, including critiqued excerpts from popular books.

Oyate. Primary Sources from a Colonialist Perspective. ( www.oyate.org/resources/booklistcolonialist.html)

Oyate. Recommended Books About Thanksgiving. ( www.oyate.org/resources/booklistrecommended.html)
Recommended books, links, and videos:
Goldstein, K. "As American as Pumpkin Pie." Plimoth Plantation.
( www.plimoth.org/discover/thanksgiving/pumkin-pie.php)
How, when, and why the "first Thanksgiving" came to be known as such.

Boston Children's Museum. Teacher Resources on Native American History and Culture. ( www.bostonkids.org/educators/wampanoag)
Wampanoag voices, information, and suggested activities.

Seale, D., Slapin, B., and Silverman, C., eds. (2001) Thanksgiving: A Native Perspective. Berkeley, Calif.: Oyate (available at www.oyate.org). Historical and contemporary information about Thanksgiving. Context and counterstories for a critical cultural approach to Thanksgiving.

Jones, G., and Moomaw, S. (2002) Lessons from Turtle Island: Native Curriculum in Early Childhood Classrooms. St. Paul, Minn.: Red Leaf Press.
Problems and appropriate alternatives to addressing Native peoples' experiences.

Loewen, J. (2007) Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York City: Touchstone Press.
Detailed information on the first Thanks-giving based on primary resources.

Bigelow, B., and Peterson, R., eds. (1998) Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years . Milwaukee: Rethinking Schools
Essays, poems, historical vignettes, and lesson plans.

Slapin, B., and Seale, S., eds. (2006) Through Indian Eyes: The Native Experience in Books for Children. University of California Press (available at www.oyate.org). Stereotypes and myths in children's literature.

Rethinking Schools. (2008) Unlearning "Indian" Stereotypes (DVD). Milwaukee: Rethinking Schools (available at www.rethinkschools.org). Introduction to Native American history through the eyes of children. Includes teaching ideas and resources.

Rosenstein, J. (1997) In Whose Honor? American Indian Mascots in Sports. New Day Films (available at www.oyate.org).
Examination of the use of racist logos, nicknames, and caricatures as "mascots" in college and professional sports-and the impact of this practice on Indian families and communities.

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Rethinking Thanksgiving: Myths and Misgivings - Rethinking Schools

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By Vera L. Stenhouse Illustrator: Eric Hanson In 2006, an Atlanta newspaper ran several photos with captions describing the celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday. The first picture featured a 5-year-old girl wearing a precision-cut fringe vest made out of a brown paper bag from a local grocery store (as identified by the store name and tagline detailed prominently in big blue letters on the vest).

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Native Peoples of the Americas have grown corn for thousands of years.

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This article contains sample letters intended for schools that are holding problematic Thanksgiving events

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This article contains sample letters intended for schools that are holding problematic Thanksgiving events

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Myth #1: "The First Thanksgiving" occurred in 1621.

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Myth #1: "The First Thanksgiving" occurred in 1621.

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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.
[source: oyate.org]

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Myth #3: The colonists came seeking freedom of religion in a new land.

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Myth #3: The colonists came seeking freedom of religion in a new land.

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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 Plymouth 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 Plymouth colonists were never concerned with "freedom of religion" for anyone but themselves.
[source: oyate.org]

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Myth #2: The people who came across the ocean on the Mayflower were called Pilgrims

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Myth #2: The people who came across the ocean on the Mayflower were called Pilgrims

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Fact: The Plymouth 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. It wasn't until around the time of the American Revolution that the name "Pilgrims" came to be associated with the Plymouth settlers, and the "Pilgrims" became the symbol of American morality and Christian faith, fortitude, and family.
[source: oyate.org]

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Myth #10: The Pilgrims and Indians became great friends.

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Myth #10: The Pilgrims and Indians became great friends.

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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.
[source: oyate.org]

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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.
[source: oyate.org]

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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.
[source: oyate.org]

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Award-winning children's books from Native perspectives

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Award-winning children's books from Native perspectives

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The 2020 American Indian Youth Literature Award winning titles were highlighted during the American Library Association (ALA) Youth Media Awards, the premier announcement of the best of the best in children's and young adult literature. The awards are new to the ALA Youth Media Awards lineup and are administered by the American Indian Library Association (AILA), an affiliate of the ALA.

Awarded biennially, the American Indian Youth Literature Award identifies and honors the very best writing and illustrations by Native Americans and Indigenous peoples of North America. Books selected to receive the award present Indigenous North American peoples in the fullness of their humanity. Winners and Honor Books were selected in the categories Best Picture Book, Best Middle Grade Book, and Best Young Adult Book.

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2020 Awards - American Indian Library Association

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The 2020 American Indian Youth Literature Award winning titles were highlighted during the American Library Association (ALA) Youth Media Awards, the premier announcement of the best of the best in children's and young adult literature. The awards are new to the ALA Youth Media Awards lineup and are administered by the American Indian Library Association ...

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What gets left out? Children at that first feast (on the site of a former village that had been destroyed by disease) grew up to fight in the "Indian Wars."

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The story of Thanksgiving helped create a common American heritage. But the so-called facts aren't so true. NPR's Bob Edwards explains that the real Thanksgiving was much more grim than grade school teachers will allow in the annual pageant.

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The True, Grim Story of the First Thanksgiving

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The story of Thanksgiving helped create a common American heritage. But the so-called facts aren't so true. NPR's Bob Edwards explains that the real Thanksgiving was much more grim than grade school teachers will allow in the annual pageant.

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School Thanksgiving activities often mean dressing children in "Indian" headdresses and paper feathers as they sing " My Country 'Tis of Thee" or " Mr. Turkey." Some teachers might even ask their students to draw themselves as Native Americans from the past, complete with feather-adorned headbands and buckskin clothing. These activities might seem friendly and fun, unless you are aware of how damaging this imagery is to perceptions of contemporary Native peoples. This imagery contributes to the indoctrination of American youth into a false narrative that relegates Indigenous peoples to the past and turns real human beings into costumes for a few days a year. It's not just bad pedagogy; it's socially irresponsible.

Native Americans have been speaking out and writing back against the colonialist narrative of Thanksgiving for as long as the American narrative has existed. More recently, comedian Jim Ruel (Ojibwe) includes Thanksgiving in his act ( starting at 1:40 in this clip), Dr. Debbie Reese (Nambe Pueblo) writes about children's books that "set the record straight," and Native American students speak out about what Thanksgiving means to them.

Doris Seale (Santee/Cree) and Beverly Slapin (Dakota/Cree/Abenaki) edited A Broken Flute in 2005, which includes a chapter that deconstructs the myths perpetuated about the first Thanksgiving. This chapter also includes critical reviews of many books on the market or readily available in libraries and classrooms. Providing ample evidence that many non-Native publishers, illustrators and writers are missing the mark in several critical ways, these books exemplify the ineffectiveness of good intentions, the perpetuation of misinformation and the exclusion of Native American voices and experiences.

Teaching about Thanksgiving in a socially responsible way means that educators accept the ethical obligation to provide students with accurate information and to reject traditions that sustain harmful stereotypes about Indigenous peoples. Thankfully, there are excellent online resources that can help educators interested in disrupting the hegemonic Thanksgiving story.

Challenging the dominant and inaccurate narrative about Thanksgiving, providing students with a more balanced perspective of this oft-romanticized holiday, and refusing to dress students in feathered headbands are socially responsible actions. They're actions that every teacher should undertake to benefit their students and the society their students will inherit.

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Teaching Thanksgiving in a Socially Responsible Way

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School Thanksgiving activities often mean dressing children in "Indian" headdresses and paper feathers as they sing " My Country 'Tis of Thee" or " Mr. Turkey." Some teachers might even ask their students to draw themselves as Native Americans from the past, complete with feather-adorned headbands and buckskin clothing.

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Winona LaDuke on water, seeds, and the 2020 pandemic.
Colonization = Loss of biodiversity

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Teach In 2020 Keynote—Winona LaDuke: Water and Food Justice

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Listen: Political leaders seeking reconciliation

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Listen: Political leaders seeking reconciliation

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A resolution making its way through Congress offers an apology to all Native peoples on behalf of the United States. It passed the Senate as an amendment to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. The legislation comes after Australian and Canadian governments have both apologized to their native populations in recent years. Melissa Block talks to the measure's sponsor, Sen. Sam Brownback.

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper stood before parliament on Wednesday and offered this formal apology.

Prime Minister STEVEN HARPER (Canada): The government of Canada sincerely apologizes and asks the forgiveness of the aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly.

BLOCK: Harper repeated the apology in French.

Prime Minister HARPER: (Speaking French)

BLOCK: And in Cree.

Prime Minister HARPER: (Speaking Cree)

BLOCK: And in Ojibway.

Prime Minister HARPER: (Speaking Ojibway)

BLOCK: And in Inuit.

Prime Minister HARPER: (Speaking Inuit)

BLOCK: Canada was apologizing for government policy that forcibly removed aboriginal children from their homes and sent them to residential schools, where many were abused. Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, spoke of generations who suffered.

Mr. PHIL FONTAINE (National Chief, Assembly of First Nations): The memories of residential schools sometimes cut like merciless knives at our souls. This day will help us to put that pain behind us.

(Soundbite of applause)

BLOCK: In this country, Congress has for years had similar legislation before it, but hasn't acted. Republican Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas is the sponsor of a resolution that finally passed the Senate in February; a House version is in the works. His resolution acknowledges a long history of official depredations and ill-conceived policies toward Indian tribes, and apologizes for violence, maltreatment and neglect.

Senator SAM BROWNBACK (Republican, Kansas): I just think reconciliation is one of great needs we've got in the country and in the world today. And we get people that are just at each other, and sometimes they're not even sure why anymore, but they just don't get along. And here is a clear one that we need reconciliation on. And what we need is for the U.S. government to admit, yes, we did this, and yes, it is wrong, and will you forgive us?

BLOCK: Is your commitment to this based on some experience back home in Kansas?

Sen. BROWNBACK: It's based on a couple of experiences. Number one, right after I went into the U.S. Senate I started traveling around the state and introducing myself. And I noticed, particularly when I went to the Native American areas and tribes in our state, that there was just this real anger that was there, and it was palpable. And I started to ask the question, well, why is this? Why has your American experience led to this sort of feeling? And digging in to it, then people would start talking about the stories and then the heritage. And then Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell was a big part of this for me. And I would sit on the floor and talk about some of the heritage and then he would talk about some of the oral history from Native Americans and abusive treatment. And both of those stimulated me on this.

BLOCK: How do you explain that this has been such a sticking point? There have been resolutions like this kicking around in Congress for some time. Nothing has happened. Why is that?

Sen. BROWNBACK: Apologizing's tough. Tough on a personal basis. It's equally if not more difficult on a corporate basis. It's acknowledging that something was wrong and did happen. I just think that's a very hard thing for people to do.

BLOCK: You know, when Bill Clinton went to Africa in 1998 he tiptoed toward an apology for the U.S. role in the slave trade and was raked over the coals by Republicans for it. Is that a fear here, and does your party seem to have an issue with this in particular, do you think?

Sen. BROWNBACK: Well, maybe it's a fear here. I'd like to think that, you know, we're moving on forward as a country. And I can tell you, I've been out there on this for several years and have not gotten that much of a negative pushback. I've gotten some, but not that much of one.

BLOCK: Are there fears, do you think, that that if you apologize, then that leads to things like reparations or possible grounds for lawsuits? There is talk of, you know, a genocide case before the World Court.

Sen. BROWNBACK: Well, I mean there are fears of those sort of things, but it shouldn't keep you from doing the right thing. Even of you have those sort of fears. And we specifically in this apology say this does not settle any property disputes or settlement claims in anybody's favor. This is a straight apology without regards for any sort of property issues or disputes. And those are frequently the things that keep us from doing the right thing and then getting to reconciliation, which is the desperate need that we have.

BLOCK: Would you want to see, Senator Brownback, assuming this resolution does get passed, would you want to see a formal statement from President Bush, much as Canada got from their prime minister?

Sen. BROWNBACK: I would. I mean that's up to the president to decide. It would be my hope that there would be some solemn ceremony or event with a number of Native Americans and Native American leaders around.

BLOCK: And do you actually think that could happen in the twilight and in the final months of the Bush administration?

Sen. BROWNBACK: I do. This is one of those intangibles that's highly valuable and highly important. And that's really what we've got to do now.

BLOCK: Well, Senator Brownback, it's good to talk to you. Thanks so much.

Sen. BROWNBACK: My pleasure, all the best.

BLOCK: That's Senator Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas.

Copyright © 2008 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

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Apology to American Indians Moves Forward

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A resolution making its way through Congress offers an apology to all Native peoples on behalf of the United States. It passed the Senate as an amendment to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. The legislation comes after Australian and Canadian governments have both apologized to their native populations in recent years.

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'Oyate is pleased to provide resources that can help the Native peoples and the community at large. We strive to provide resources that teach respect for Native peoples, and help parents and educators to provide their children with historically accurate, culturally appropriate information about Native peoples."
"Oyate is a Native organization working to see that our lives and histories are portrayed with honesty and integrity, and that all people know that our stories belong to us. For Indian children growing up in the 21st century, it is as important as ever for them to know who they are and learn about the histories that they come from. For all children, it is time to know and acknowledge the truths of history. Only then will they come to have the understanding and respect for each other that now, more than ever, will be necessary for life to continue."

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By looking at Thanksgiving in the context of living cultures, we can make the holiday a more meaningful part of teaching and learning

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By looking at Thanksgiving in the context of living cultures, we can make the holiday a more meaningful part of teaching and learning