sdWhy You Treat Me Like a Dog?: The First Thanksgiving .comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}
The Main Page
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
 
The First Thanksgiving

It has been a long time since the 1970s when I was in elementary school studying the Thanksgiving story so I thought it would be interesting to see how it is being taught now.

Overall, I'd say that the story I was taught in my Los Angeles public elementary school was not much different than what Scholastic is peddling to teachers now. Maybe things really were good between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag (at first). Back when I as in school we called them Indians and now they are called the more accurate Native Americans. The area is referred to as Plimoth, the Wampanoag name, and we learned it (and it became known) as Plymouth. Progress, I guess. The Scholastic story ends with:

More English people arrive at Plimoth. They begin settling other areas
nearby. Sometimes the English give the Native Americans beads or tools in
exchange for the land. But the natives believe that the land belongs to everyone
and cannot be owned.
Today only a small number of Wampanoag still live in this area.

No mention is made of what happened to the rest of the Wampanoag or the other Native American tribes of New England and why only a small number of Wampanoag still live there. I guess its up to the teachers to fill in the blanks.

We have much to be thankful for on Thanksgiving and its a wonderful holiday, but there are others out there who probably have a different take on the holiday, and they should be remembered as well.

A Happy and Peaceful Thanksgiving to All!
- posted by wanderer @ 7:24 PM
Comments: Post a Comment



<< Home

Powered by Blogger