Teaching the History of Thanksgiving

In the United States, it is a common fall tradition in elementary classrooms to teach about the "first" Thanksgiving. Recently, I was talking with a colleague at BU about her daughter's "Pilgrims and Indians" project. Troubled by the inaccurate portrayal of the Separatists (Pilgrims) and Wampanoag people, we worked together on helping her daughter get quality resources to build her historically accurate project. My colleagues' daughter now has a much more accurate understanding of the Wampanoag way of life and a healthy obsession with learning more about the Wampanoag people.

Elementary and secondary students should know the whole history of Thanksgiving, which extends beyond the 1620s (and is much more complex than is usually portrayed in the media). It is true that there was a harvest celebration at Plymouth in 1621 (it was not a thanksgiving). It is true that Squanto (whose name was Tisquantum and who had been previously kidnapped by English fisherman) and Massasoit helped the Separatists survive their first winter (out of political necessity). It is true that the two groups lived in relative peace for several years. It is true that eventually, conflicts grew between the two groups and the Whites demanded that the Wampanoag eventually give up their guns. It is true that the Whites did not respect the Indigenous peoples' way of life and issues of the Whites' cattle rampaging Native villages were common. It is true that war would break out and Metacom/King Philip, the Wamponoag chief, would be killed. His head would later be placed on a pike at the entrance of Plymouth and remained for over two decades. It is true that the English attempted to Christianize the Native people and "praying towns" were formed for this purpose. It is also true that in 1970, Wamsutta (Frank B.) James was asked to speak and then had his speech suppressed by the local officials holding the 350th anniversary celebration of Pilgrim's landing. A protest of this resulted in the first National Day of Mourning, where a group of Native activists protested their oppression by pouring red paint on Plymouth Rock and occupying the Mayflower II. It is true that jessie little doe baird has led an effort by the Wamponoag people to reclaim their language as a form of survivance. It is critical that this event is taught through the lens of Native resistance and uplift. Below are a few resources that may help...

Here is a list of links for elementary and secondary teachers to teach the whole story of Thanksgiving (several more were added in a 2020 update of this post):

Adult Books:

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (2020 Update)

New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of America

The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of America


Teen and Children's Books:

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People (2020 Update)

1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving (National Geographic)

Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving


Teaching Resources:

First National Day of Mourning

The Suppressed Speech of Wamsutta (Frank B.) James, Wampanoag (1970)

National Day of Mourning: United American Indians of New England

PBS American Experience: We Shall Remain: After the Mayflower
[Full Video]

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe: Historical Timeline (2020 Update)

Massachusetts Indigenous Legislative Agenda (2020 Update)

Zinn Education Project: The Politics of Thanksgiving Day (2020 Update)

Rethinking Schools: Rethinking Thanksgiving: Myths and Misgivings (2020 Update)

NPR: What Educators Need To Know About Teaching Thanksgiving (2020 Update) 

Age of Awareness: Decolonizing Thanksgiving Toolkit (2020 Update)

The New Yorker: The Invention of Thanksgiving (2020 Update)

Washington Post: Making Indian Headdresses in School Is a Terrible Way to Teach Thanksgiving (2020 Update)

History News Network: Top Ten Myths About Thanksgiving

National Archives: Thanksgiving as a National Holiday

Smithsonian: Thanksgiving

History Channel: Thanksgiving

Plimoth Plantation: Thanksgiving

Black Friday: Teaching About Consumerism

Consumerism: n. the belief that it is good for people to spend money on goods and services; a preoccupation of society with the acquisition of consumer goods.

In the United States, the day after Thanksgiving has been dubbed by the media as "Black Friday." It is a time when stores (usually large chain and "big box" stores) run sales to attract people to begin Christmas shopping. This results in crowded shopping malls across the country (see the above picture). It has even become a consumer tradition to wait out of stores the night before in hopes of getting that "hot-ticket" item. In the recent decades, "Black Friday" has also been marked by stampeding herds of people running into stores after opening. Often the ensuing fights and injuries among shoppers are then covered by the same media sources that promoted Black Friday.

Consumerism developed in the United States in the late 19th century and has increasingly become a component of modern American life. The first major boom in consumerism occurred during the 1920s (see the below picture of billboards outside New York City during this time) and a second major boom after World War II (see the below picture of a California shopping mall in the 1950s). The cost of this consumerism has been a dramatically inequitable allocation of wealth, increased global pollution, and negative psychological effects on individuals. Moreover, almost everything in western society is being commoditized. Services that were once for the public good are becoming privatized (an idea rooted in Milton Friedman's work on privatizing education and supported by current day wealthy philanthropists). The term "consumer" is problematically used to describe people who seek education, housing, or health care. There are underlying assumptions that consumers can make the best choices in the market place and capitalism creates fair and equalizing conditions.

Yet, students are rarely taught in their social studies classrooms to be critical of consumerism and capitalism. While there are many economics curricula and lesson plans that promote an uncritical view of capitalism, there are also numerous resources that highlight the problems caused by it. By challenging students to think about consumerism, they learn to question a system that has potentially negative effects on communities and nations. If students gain a better understanding of the economic system and the problems that arise from it, they develop important critical thinking skills necessary to be democratic citizens.

Here are some websites for helping students better understand consumerism:

Ad Busters: Buy Nothing Day Campaign
A grassroots movement to create an international day of protest against consumerism celebrated annually just after Thanksgiving. Appropriate for elementary and secondary students.

Social Justice Economics Lesson
A lesson plan that I created for teaching key economic concepts through a social justice lens. Highlights that not everyone starts with the same resources and that the system has certain advantages and disadvantages. More appropriate for elementary students.

Media Smarts
A Canadian Center for digital and media literacy. Has many lesson plans related to consumerism. Appropriate for elementary and secondary students.

Oakland Unified School District: Critical Consumerism Unit
A unit plan developed by J. Flaningam of the Oakland Unified School District to teach his students to critically read the world of consumerism.

The Story of Stuff
A popular 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production. Appropriate for elementary and secondary students. 

TED Talks on Consumerism
Short talks on consumerism from the TED Conference. Some frame it in positive terms and others question it. More appropriate for secondary students. 

Film: PBS Frontline: The Persuaders
Examines the world of marketing, from products to politics and its impact on the American social structure.

Film: The Corporation
A 2003 Canadian documentary film that examined the modern-day corporation. More appropriate for secondary students.

Film: PBS American Experience: Tupperware
Looks at 1950s consumerism through the development of the Tupperware product line. More appropriate for secondary students.

Teaching About Marriage Equality: 10 Years After Massachusetts Legalized Marriage for All Couples

Today marks the 10th Anniversary of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's decision legalizing marriage for all couples. This was the first U.S. state to have marriage equality (what was then called "gay marriage" or "same-sex marriage," but will be avoided in this post; see here). Since 2003, U.S. public opinion appears to continue to change in favor of marriage equality and a 2013 Washington Post/ABC News polls shows 58% of Americans support the right for gay and lesbian couples to marry (and to 71% support in 2023). Yet, marriage equality is viewed negatively in many religious and conservative communities and 29 states prohibited same-sex marriage in their state constitutions (this was changed by the 2015 Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges providing a right to marriage nationwide). Like any social movement, students should grapple with the impact of change related to the legal definition of marriage, but also consider deeply issues of fairness and justice. Here are some excellent resources to help social studies teach about the marriage equality movement:

Original 2013 Resources (Now Historical Primary Sources)

The Massachusetts SJC Ruling and Related Law: http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/subject/about/gaymarriage.html

The History of Marriage Equality (Boston Globe): http://www.boston.com/news/specials/gay_marriage/ and http://www.bostonglobe.com/2013/11/12/same-sex-marriage-over-time/mbVFMQPyxZCpM2eSQMUsZK/story.html

A Personal Retrospective of Marriage Equality in Massachusetts (TIME Magazine): http://ideas.time.com/2013/11/18/why-massachusetts-was-so-important-to-marriage-equality/

Different Strategies to Marriage Equality (Learning for Justice): http://www.tolerance.org/lesson/marriage-equality-different-strategies-attaining-equal-right

A Contentious Debate: Marriage Equality in the U.S. (Pew Religion and Public Life Project): http://www.pewforum.org/2009/07/09/a-contentious-debate-same-sex-marriage-in-the-us/

The Marriage Equality Debate (PBS NewsHour): http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/gaymarriage/

Updated 2024 Resources

The Journey to Marriage Equality (Human Rights Campaign)

https://www.hrc.org/our-work/stories/the-journey-to-marriage-equality-in-the-united-states

Freedom to Marry Archive (UC Berkeley Bancroft Library)

https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/visit/bancroft/oral-history-center/projects/freedom-to-marry

Milestones on the Road to Marriage Equality (National Archives)

https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2019/06/26/milestones-on-the-road-to-marriage-equality/

Teaching About the 150th Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address

Today marks the 150th Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, given at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg. Former Senator Edward Everett of Massachusetts delivered a two-hour speech before Lincoln gave his approximately 2 minute address. Lincoln's words became one of the most widely-known speeches in U.S. history. Here is the full text:

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."

Teaching About the JFK Assassination

This Friday will mark the fiftieth anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Although there is significant evidence to support the conclusion of the Warren Commission that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman, there is also a healthy amount of disconfirming evidence. This has led to doubt among the American public of the government's official findings. In a recent Gallup poll, 61% of Americans believed that Oswald did not act alone. When I was a classroom teacher, students would routinely ask me about the various conspiracy theories related to Kennedy's assassination. Social studies teachers should embrace American's skepticism and instead use the Kennedy assassination as an exercise in historical inquiry. It offers an excellent case study in historical thinking and can help students understanding the important role that science plays in understanding history.

I would suggest the following as the inquiry question for students to explore: Was Lee Harvey Oswald the sole person responsible for John F. Kennedy's assassination?

Teachers can start with an introduction of the incident. Most students have not had a chance to see the actual historical footage. There are some decent archives of the original CBS broadcast interruption and Walter Cronkite's report of Kennedy's death. Teachers may also consider using the Zapruder film, which is the only known film record of the assassination. This can be followed by one of the recent documentaries on the JFK presidency or assassination and an overview of conspiracy theories or NPR's recent story on why the conspiracy theories persist, as well as Oliver Stone's recent USA Today editorial that criticizes mainstream media coverage of the assassination.

Here is a list of websites where teachers can then seek primary sources to help students answer this inquiry question. I would recommend using shorter excerpts (300-400 words) for high schools students:

1. The National Archives website includes the full Warren Commission Report and images of evidence collected from the crime scenes.

2. The JFK Presidential Library has an in-depth discussion of the day's events, while PBS has the first speech Lyndon Baines Johnson gave after becoming president and the New York Times has the front page of their newspaper from the next day.

3. Digital History, Spartacus Educational, Mary Ferrell Foundation, the Assassination Archives and Research Center, and John McAdams at Marquette University all have extensive catalogues of primary source documents on the assassination.

4. There are several studies that support the "single-bullet theory," including Dale Myers (and a related ABC News Special), Michael and Luke Haag (and a Washington Post story summarizing their study), and Arlen Specter's work on the Warren Commission.

5. There are several studies that put into question the "single-bullet theory," including Cliff Spiegelman (and NBC News coverage of his study) and G. Paul Chamber, and the 1992 Congressional Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board.

By using the Kennedy assassination controversy, social studies teachers can engage students in a historical inquiry involving an incomplete record and no clear answer, which allows students created and recreated history themselves.