Second of two parts
Re “Teaching the Real First Thanksgiving Story”
Historian/educator Chuck Larsen, who sought yesterday to straight the record about the origin of Thanksgiving, has detractors…
Caleb Johnson, creator of the MayflowerHistory.com web pages, claims that Mr. Larsen’s “Teaching About Thanksgiving” contains many factual errors. Among the facts above disputed by Johnson is the idea that “Squanto and Samoset spoke excellent English.” They spoke broken English at best, Mr. Johnson writes.
The Native American Perspective
“Young children’s conceptions of Native Americans often develop out of media portrayals and classroom role playing of the events of the First Thanksgiving. That conception of Native Americans gained from such early exposure is both inaccurate and potentially damaging to others,” says Debbie Reese in “Teaching Young Children About Native Americans,” an ERIC Digest (May 1996).
For example, a visitor to a child care center heard a four-year-old saying, “Indians aren’t people. They’re all dead.” “This child,” Ms. Reese says, “had already acquired an inaccurate view of Native Americans, even though her classmates were children of many cultures, including a Native American child.
“By failing to challenge existing biases we allow children to adopt attitudes based on inaccuracies.
“Most of the commercially prepared teaching materials available present a generalized image of Native American people with little or no regard for differences that exist from tribe to tribe,” Ms. Reese adds.
“Many popular children’s authors unwittingly perpetuate stereotypes. Richard Scarry’s books frequently contain illustrations of animals dressed in buckskin and feathers, while Mercer Mayer’s alphabet book includes an alligator dressed as an Indian.”
Positive Teaching Strategies
A number of positive strategies can be used in classrooms, writes Ms. Reese.
- “Provide knowledge about contemporary Native Americans to balance historical information. Teaching about Native Americans exclusively from a historical perspective may perpetuate the idea that they exist only in the past.
- “Prepare units about specific tribes rather than units about ‘Native Americans.’ For example, develop a unit about the people of Nambe Pueblo, the Turtle Mountain Chippewa, the Potawotami. Ideally, choose a tribe with a historical or contemporary role in the local community. Such a unit will provide children with culturally specific knowledge (pertaining to a single group) rather than overgeneralized stereotypes.
- “Locate and use books that show contemporary children of all colors engaged in their usual, daily activities (for example, playing basketball or riding bicycles) as well as traditional activities. Make the books easily accessible to children throughout the school year. Three excellent titles on the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico are Pueblo Storyteller by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith; Pueblo Boy: Growing Up In Two Worlds by Marcia Keegan; and Children of Clay by Rina Swentzell.
- “Cook ethnic foods but be careful not to imply that all members of a particular group eat a specific food.
- “Be specific about which tribes use particular items, when discussing cultural artifacts (such as clothing or housing) and traditional foods. The Plains tribes use feathered headdresses, for example, but not all other tribes use them.
- “Critique a Thanksgiving poster depicting the traditional, stereotyped Pilgrim and Indian figures, especially when teaching older elementary school children. Take care to select a picture that most children are familiar with, such as those shown on grocery bags or holiday greeting cards. Critically analyze the poster, noting the many tribes the artist has combined into one general image that fails to provide accurate information about any single tribe.
- “At Thanksgiving, shift the focus away from reenacting the ‘First Thanksgiving.’ Instead, focus on items children can be thankful for in their own lives, and on their families’ celebrations of Thanksgiving at home.
“Besides using these strategies in their classrooms, teachers need to educate themselves,” Ms. Reese says. “Stereotyping is not always obvious to people surrounded by mainstream culture. Numerous guidelines have been prepared to aid in the selection of materials that work against stereotypes.
“Much remains to be done to counter stereotypes of Native Americans learned by young children in our society,” she writes in the conclusion to her ERIC Digest.
“Teachers must provide accurate instruction not only about history but also about the contemporary lives of Native Americans.”