Posted on 11/26/2019 1:01:07 PM PST by Perseverando
RALEIGH Social studies teacher Keisha Worthey wants her 13-year-old students to consider the Native American perspective as they celebrate the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.
Worthey asked her students at East Millbrook Middle School in Raleigh to go beyond the traditional story about Pilgrims and their American Indian neighbors celebrating the “First Thanksgiving” in 1621. The seventh-grade students heard about how Thanksgiving is a day of mourning as opposed to a day of celebration among many Native Americans.
“Our question for the day is how do we frame the narrative — or the story — of Thanksgiving?” Worthey told her class on Friday. “For some of us, that means we’ve been taught ‘oh the Pilgrims and Indians had a great time at the first feast. They were best friends.’
“But historically we know what happened to the indigenous population in America. What happened to them? They were killed. Can we talk about Thanksgiving without talking about that conversation? No.”
Worthey is among a growing number of educators who are changing the way Thanksgiving has historically been taught. These educators say they’re peeling away the myths that have surrounded the Thanksgiving story.
TEACHING THANKSGIVING IN A CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE WAY Earlier this month, the Wake County school system’s Office of Equity Affairs tweeted that teachers should teach Thanksgiving in a historical and culturally appropriate way that includes centering on the voices of indigenous people. The tweet included links from the state Department of Public Instruction and the Center For Racial Justice in Education.
Do you teach Thanksgiving in a historical & culturally appropriate way? Are you centering voices of Indigenous people? See links from NCDPI, @RaceJusticeEd about this crucial & often misrepresented part of our nation's history. https://t.co/yNrbP8RLWghttps://t.co/DBp2ioS4Bq
— WCPSS Equity Affairs (@WCPSSEquity) November 12, 2019
(Excerpt) Read more at newsobserver.com ...
So, she’s saying the people who were already there died because they welcomed or at least didn’t or couldn’t fight off invaders from outside.
Perhaps there is something for children to learn from that.
Native American groups often enslaved war captives whom they primarily used for small-scale labor.[1][2] Others however would stake themselves in gambling situations when they had nothing else which would put them into servitude for a short time in some cases for life; captives were also sometimes tortured as part of religious rites, and these sometimes involved ritual cannibalism.[1][4] During times of famine some Native Americans would also temporarily sell their children to obtain food.[1]...
That is true, but before William Bradford convinced them to drop the “commune” approach, the American Indians gave the Pilgrims knowledge in planting, hunting and harvesting...
Most of the Pilgrims were not farmers and had little to no experience in those fields...
The best movie most historically accurate portrayal I have seen of the Thanksgiving story is “Saints & Strangers”.
The Pilgrims and subsequent colonial Puritans believed in designated days of thanksgiving to thank God for His blessings, as well as days of fasting to ask God for his forgiveness and mercy. These were proclaimed by their governors. This was later reflected in the Thanksgiving proclamations issued by our presidents, first by President Wahington, and then by President Lincoln and subsequent presidents.
It is a specifically religious action by the leaders of our country (which of course would be denied by all the present progressives as a violation of “separation of church and state”). This continued up until Barack Obama, who stripped God from the proclamation and made it a secular proclamation. Trump restored God to the proclamations.
You both have great posts. Kinda points towards a bumper sticker, “Socialism: Failing since the time of the Pilgrims.”
>>The “story” perhaps then is, Keisha, that I bet the Indians wish they had really good border security, did not have open borders, were not fighting each other all the time, and were able to clearly know who they were letting into “their” land.<<
Ding, ding. We have a winner.
Were the different dates centered around the local harvest times?
Why don’t they just stick to William Bradfords Diary if they really want the truth, Thanksgiving is a Celebration of the END of Communism in the United States.
+. Thank you!
Limbaugh’s fathers story is cool.
Happy National Genocide (Thanksgiving) Day!
Nicole Breedlove
Contributor
Customer Service Racial Bias
huffpost.com — 11/25/2013 06:40 pm ET Updated Jan 25, 2014
Thanksgiving has never been a celebratory holiday in my family. Whenever my family did cook we always gave thanks that all the Native Americans weren’t wiped out when Columbus “discovered” America. I never understood why my family was so against Thanksgiving. In school we drew turkeys with our hands and it was a happy time. It meant a couple of days off from school. My teachers made it seem like Thanksgiving was a holiday to look forward to. The New York City public education system told me what Thanksgiving was all about. I was very careful to regurgitate what they taught me when tested so I wouldn’t get a failing grade. When I was older though I was told the truth by my family.
My great, great, great, great grandfather was a part of a band of Black Indians in Florida, hence my unique and Native American-sounding last name. It seems I come from a long line of warriors and activists. I am a revolutionary not by choice but by lineage. When I did finally learn, there was no stopping me. Whenever someone asked what I was doing for Thanksgiving I proudly stated that I no longer celebrate it. Thanksgiving day should be known as National Land Theft and American Genocide Day.
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I learned that in 1637 the body of a white man was discovered dead in a boat. Armed settlers — which we tell our children were God fearing, gentle, sharing, kind Pilgrims — invaded a Pequot village. They also set the village, which included many children, on fire. Those who were lucky enough to escape the fire were systematically sought, hunted down and killed. While many, including historians, still debate what exactly happened this day, also known as the Pequot Massacre, it directly led to the creation of “Thanksgiving Day.” This is what the governor of Bay Colony had to say days after the massacre, “A day of thanksgiving. Thanking God that they had eliminated over 700 men, women and children.”
William B. Newell, a Penobscot Indian and former chairman of the Anthropology Department at the University of Connecticut stated, “Gathered in this place of meeting, they were attacked by mercenaries and English and Dutch. The Indians were ordered from the building and as they came forth were shot down, The rest were burned alive in the building. The very next day the governor declared a Thanksgiving Day. For the next 100 years, every Thanksgiving Day ordained by a Governor was in honor of the bloody victory, thanking God that the battle had been won.”
When I finally found out the origins of Thanksgiving it made me nauseous. Never again will I celebrate a holiday I know nothing about until I investigate its origins. I am very thankful, pun intended, that I learned about the origins of this holiday. It is a reminder that history can be rewritten and if told enough times eventually becomes the truth!
People always tell me to forget the past. I should just let it go and move on. Why do people of color always have to forget?! Would you tell a Jewish person to forget about the holocaust and just move on?! Would you tell the family of those who lost their lives on 9/11 to just forget about it?! So why are our tragedies forgettable and others are not?! I WILL NEVER forget! I will ALWAYS honor those who lost their lives unjustifiable.
So when you sit down to dinner this year, look at your family, serve the food and tell each other what you are most thankful for, think about the origins of Thanksgiving. Think about the countless Native Americans who lost their lives so you can carve a turkey and get the best deals on Black Friday. Say a prayer for them, especially the children, who died simply because of the color of their skin.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/thanksgiving-pequot-massacre_b_4337722
That was a good series, not seeing that it will re-run this year.
Proud to say I descend from both, John Alden a “stranger” as part of the crew and Priscilla Mullins a “saint”, both her parents William and Alice and her brother died the first winter.
Way, to go Keisha, you bigoted, exclusionist ass.
The Indians fought against the colonies and the U.S. in two wars. French and Indian plus the war of 1812. After being so nice to them.
Lincoln declared it the last Thursday of the month. FDR changed it to the Thursday before the last one of the month if , I believe, it fails on Nov 30.
It’s the 4th Thursday this year.
I’m old enough to remember when I could go a whole day without reading or hearing the word “Keisha.”
Give me a cheeseburger and fries. A proper supreme pizza would suffice.
Never cared for turkey and the rest of the traditional fare.
Amen!
lol
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