The True Story of Thanksgiving

It's somewhat disturbing to me to learn that everything I thought about Thanksgiving is apparently wrong. However, thanks to a report today in The Arizona Republic, I'm now aware of the academically accurate version of the story of Thanksgiving.

From AZCentral.com:

Teaching about Thanksgiving can be fraught with problems anyway, given that there are so many misconceptions about the holiday.

And, boy, there are some misconceptions.

Teachers no longer rely only on textbooks but use the wealth of information available through the Internet, historical research and the media. They show children first-person accounts, photographs and artifacts.

First-graders in Luz Campos' class at Herrera School in Phoenix learn about Thanksgiving as part of their ongoing study of Native Americans, researching how the Wampanoag Indians lived compared with other Native people.

Now, in all my years of schooling, no one ever mentioned the first-person accounts and photographs from the first Thanksgiving. It's probably because my school system was underfunded.

"We're teaching more from a historical and more-balanced perspective," says Elie Gaines, a first-grade teacher at Grayhawk Elementary School in Scottsdale. "Because of the multicultural emphasis over the last 10 or 15 years, people are much more aware that there is more than just one side of the story."

By golly! All sides of the controversial Thanksgiving story should be aired. In particular, it's obvious that Thanksgiving was a traditional Indian feast long before the Pilgrims arrived in the New World.

"There were good things that the Pilgrims learned from the Indians, and there were good things that the Indians learned from the Pilgrims," Campos says.

"They exchanged ideas and things. They taught each other."

Children also may learn in school that the Wampanoags lived in wigwams instead of tepees and that celebrating the harvest, as they did that first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims, was a regular tradition.

According to Carol Warren, social studies specialist for the Arizona Department of Education, "We want the children to know that every cultural group was unique in its own methods of living and language."

In third- and fourth-grades, teachers are asked to tackle the more difficult subject of how exploration affected the Indians, of how they lost their lands and their way of life.

"We don't want to set the stage that everything was wonderful and perfect," Warren says.

She taught third- and fourth-graders in Sacaton on the Gila River Reservation for more than 25 years. She understands that some Native American groups consider Thanksgiving to be a day of mourning.

So, in summary, Thanksgiving is not the day of reflection and giving thanks started by the Pilgrims but a traditional Wampanoag Indian harvest feast in which the Pilgrims joined. Also, Thanksgiving is not solely a day of celebration but also a day of mourning for the difficulties suffered by the Indians due to exploration.

Surely, thanks must be given to the Arizona public school system for assuring that the true story of Thanksgiving is told. Unfortunately, the Republic report only came out today so many people will likely sit down for Thanksgiving dinner without reflecting upon how the Indians lost their lands and their way of life.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.