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 weve 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 theyre peeling away the myths that have surrounded the Thanksgiving story.
TEACHING THANKSGIVING IN A CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE WAY Earlier this month, the Wake County school systems 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 ...
The true story: Before the Pilgrims went west across the ocean Squanto went east, converted to Catholicism in Spain and then went to England and then back home.
The Pilgrims practiced Socialism. It failed miserably. They almost starved to death, if not for the Native Americans led by Squanto.
The Pilgrims switched from Socialism to Capitalism and thrived with much extra food to share. The Protestant Pilgrims were as thankful to the Catholic Squanto and the Native Americans as they were to God for their bounty and for surviving their first year of failure.
Isn’t that the historically accurate nut shell?
Social studies has replaced history and civics and should be discontinued NOW !
What saved the Pilgrims was they abandoned the commune lifestyle, sharing the labor to plant and harvest. The lazy ones didnt work, and they almost starved. They then divided the land and each had to produce his/her own food. Then they prospered. Test of Socialism. Big fail.
As an experiment in socialism it did demonstrate on a small scale what happens when socialism overcomes a nation and the workers cannot provide for the takers.
“I dont care, I just like turkey.”
I like cod, which is quite possibly (and historically) what the pilgrims ate.
Let's add that the Indians wish they had modern arms and that they would have fought to the death before allowing anyone to disarm them.
There were several French & Indian Wars (though they fought on both sides), and plenty of Indians fought for Britain in the American Revolution.
I’ll bet she woke up in a warm bed in a nice house and not a teepee. Such hypocrites all.
Really.
And she uses modern medicine, drives an automobile, uses an airline for travel, uses hot and cold running water, uses modern plumbing, has a flushing toilet, well, you get the point.
Perhaps it is time that she be told that if she hates white people that badly then stop using any and all goods, services, and products that were invented, developed by, or improved upon by white people.
It would be a hoot just to see her reaction.
Perhaps there is something for children to learn from that.
LOL - Good one!
What we’ve all been taught is a part of the history: The Pilgrims came, they almost starved, the Indians taught them how to survive, and they had a big feast. All true. But it’s the tip of the iceberg.
The Puritans were being persecuted in Britain by the Church of England. They decided to get out. They first went to the Netherlands. After several years there, they decided to go to the New World for religious liberty.
They found some sponsors for their journey, who made William Bradford, their leader, sign a contract. It provided that every Pilgrim would get one share in a common store and they would all work for the community. (They would own nothing and be happy.)
They arrived at Plymouth Rock in 1620. Between the journey and that harsh first winter, about 44 of the original 100 settlers died. Including Governor Bradford’s wife.
The Native Americans taught them how to plant corn and fish, but according to Governor Bradford’s notes, even the most industrious didn’t work very hard at it. After all, why work so hard when you’re only going to get the same amount as the ones who don’t? Why expend all that effort for other people’s families when they’re not willing to expend the effort for themselves? So Governor Bradford changed the system.
Bradford assigned each family a plot of land and told them to work it as they saw fit, and they could keep the proceeds or trade it or sell it or give it away, if they chose. (Does this sound familiar?)
Well, they thrived. They produced an abundance of food and goods. Probably more than they could figure out what to do with. In gratitude to God, they had a big community feast to use and share all they had produced, and they invited the Indigenous to thank them for their help (and as a gesture of friendship.)
The original system in which everyone worked for the collective failed. It almost starved them to death. The new system, which incentivized producing as much as you wanted, produced an abundance they had to share.
Accordingly, one of the things I am grateful for today is Governor Bradford’s decision to abandon the failing collectivism of the original Compact and adopt a system based on incentive, which gave rise to an abundance we still enjoy.
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