Tips for Approaching the True History of Thanksgiving With Your Family, Friends, and Kids

By MoveOn. Friday, November 17 2023

A father or mother and baby discuss on their front room sofa.

As Thanksgiving approaches, you could begin listening to questions and commentary concerning the historical past of the vacation—particularly from children—that aren’t rooted within the info. The customarily-told story of Thanksgiving is a delusion of concord and an erasure of the genocide that colonists dedicated towards the Wampanoag Tribe within the 1600s. Thanksgiving turned a celebrated vacation throughout the Civil Battle, possible as a tactic for Abraham Lincoln to unite the North towards a typical enemy—the South. Indigenous individuals acknowledge the vacation in varied methods. Whereas some Indigenous individuals take into account Thanksgiving a day of mourning, others collect with their households and provides thanks.  

Thanksgiving has a darkish historical past, typically neglected by mainstream society, that may be tough to debate along with your kids, college students, buddies, household, and others in your life. As you strategy conversations concerning the vacation, it’s good to go in with a couple of issues first:

An open thoughts

Speaking about Thanksgiving is difficult as a result of everybody has totally different views, feelings, and ideas regarding the vacation. 

As you endeavor to share your personal information and experiences, bear in mind to be open to others’ views as effectively, and hear to know, to not reply. 

A full understanding

Not sufficient individuals are conscious of what actually occurred on the first Thanksgiving. The long-standing legend of “smiling Pilgrims and Wampanoag individuals fortunately having fun with an enormous meal collectively” has been utterly debunked, and light-weight’s been shed on the reality of the Pilgrims’ genocide of the Wampanoag Tribe. In 1970, United American Indians of New England declared Thanksgiving a Nationwide Day of Mourning. However different Native Individuals and allies have fun the vacation as a part of a protracted cultural custom of giving thanks.

There’s no method round it: The fact of Thanksgiving doesn’t precisely make for a simple vacation dialog starter for a day that’s largely been about household, meals, and gratitude for a lot of Individuals. However dwelling on this nation, we’re all interconnected, and it’s vital to acknowledge this actuality and educate the reality of this vacation’s historical past relatively than retell the identical dangerous tales. 

Interrupt the myths and inaccuracies whenever you hear them. Fairly than altering the historical past individuals have heard, fill within the gaps. Elevate consciousness concerning the systematic displacement of and violence towards Indigenous peoples that the USA was based on. Encourage individuals to look into the historical past of the land they inhabit–this Homeland map is a tremendous academic software to share. Let individuals know that Indigenous communities are usually not of the previous. Silence and misinformation about Indigenous individuals and our nation’s origins are, sadly, all too frequent.

In order you put together to spend time with household and buddies, listed below are some concepts that will help you navigate these discussions:

Ask questions.

One nice strategy to discussing or educating about Thanksgiving is to first ask questions to know the individual’s perspective on the vacation. These questions may be jumping-off factors for writing or dialogue within the classroom or on the dinner desk:

Why is that this vacation referred to as Thanksgiving? 
What had been individuals giving thanks for? 
What’s the different a part of this story that isn’t sometimes instructed?
What does this vacation imply to you?
What, if something, is difficult concerning the holidays for you?
How might we reimagine our celebration of Thanksgiving?
How can we acknowledge the true historical past of Thanksgiving at this time and past?

Be age-appropriate. 

Naturally, younger kids will not be able to find out about all of the horrific particulars of Thanksgiving’s historical past. As an alternative, Bob Peterson, founding editor of Rethinking Colleges and co-editor of Rethinking Columbus, shares, “you’ll be able to redirect dialog about Thanksgiving to be about what you’re grateful for as a household.” 

As soon as children attain ages 5 – 6, Peterson says you’ll be able to share one thing alongside the strains of, “The Wampanoag peoples lived in Massachusetts for tons of of years, however individuals from Europe got here and took their land, and it wasn’t honest.” Older children are in a position to be taught an in-depth historical past.

In search of methods to show extra precisely about Thanksgiving within the classroom? One concept is to ask college students to rewrite the Thanksgiving story utilizing historic data and write a poem from the angle of an individual from that point, as Arlington Public College instructor Susannah Remillard had her class do. Youngsters of all ages can be taught that harvest feasts had been a part of Wampanoag life a lot sooner than the 1621 “Thanksgiving feast” with settlers and that giving thanks is a every day observe for a lot of Indigenous individuals.

Preserve the dialog going.

You don’t have to attend till Thanksgiving will get right here to debate its fact. And as soon as it’s over, maintain the dialog going and proceed studying and rising by researching, studying, and discussing historical past, colonialism, race, and privilege year-round.

Sources and extra assets:

The Actual Historical past Behind Thanksgiving

Methods to Discuss to Youngsters About Thanksgiving

10 Prompts for Speaking and Writing About Thanksgiving

Methods to Inform Your Youngsters the Reality About Thanksgiving

An Indigenous Peoples’ Historical past of the USA

Instructing the reality about Thanksgiving

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