Part 1:

For me the closest to my childhood understanding was easily the third article. “The Pilgrims and America’s First Thanksgiving.” The one out of the three articles the one closest to my current understanding has to be the same article. My understanding has developed from being seen as a historical time in history to a fantastic way to get away from work and/or school and enjoy the little things with friends and family.

 

Part 2:

I found that all of the articles so far to be interesting, however knowing that a socialist experiment went on in the first american colonies is a bit new to me. Thus making these four articles very interesting. The funny thing about the first article mentioned in this section was the line “colonists were lazy thieves.” To be quite honest I’m not surprised these people that came over didn’t have the mindset to be laborers, they were the higher ups.

In all curiosity not actually from it being required I looked up all the others. Author Richard J. Maybury who wrote “The Great Thanksgiving Hoax” is author of many books some for young adults others for more mature readers. Either way he is a writer with many experiences and factual evidence to help support his claims on a plethora of topics.

Now for Rush Limbaugh the third, He has a interesting life in radio talk shows. For me  being and working on radio shows, I know this doesn’t qualify me to talk on any subject. For Mr. Limbaugh his background in historical research is a bit scarce. However he is fantastic at understanding trends in the media due to his number of listeners on his shows. He is a man who he himself does not contribute research but rather is a wizard at collecting the information from those who have.  

Moving on now, Del Tackett is a religious man with a interesting political past. He assisted President George W. Bush during one of his two terms. However the information on Mr. Tackett is all rather bias seeing as the top 10 search results from google are his or part of his organization. Needless to say they state that he is a man of higher education in what I don’t know. Most of all he has written and published a few of his works.

Looking at the author of the last article I can see that they are of of higher education due to their writing style, unfortunately I was having difficulty finding the author and the information about them. However due to the nature of AIER and the requirements that are needed to have an article published results in the author being knowledgeable about the historical events. With all information you may want to take it with a grain of salt. Knowing the background of all of the authors helps me gauge which one I want to trust more than others. In other words it changed slightly but not very.

 

Part 3:

In all seriousness the articles for the step 2 were significantly more interesting. I feel this could be due to the information starting to be repetitive and already in my own viewpoint. The interpretations are yes compelling but for me they restate very similar facts. From my prior steps I can tell you that not all the information stated in the articles were all completely true. My main take is they are building off of my current understanding of  the “First Thanksgiving” and really I have to give credit to my older family members for instilling a more truthful story no matter how grim or advanced the information was for me at that time.

Looking at the background of each author they are all published from fairly websites and publishers. Taking a quick look at the author of “The Pilgrims Were … Socialists?” Kate Zernike has in total 1,154 articles published with The New York Times. Just taking a look at that this article is not her first rodeo. Digging deeper she has a lot of investigational articles along with up and coming news along with some of the pros and cons of each topic. Most having to do with some type of political situation.

Now for the audio recording for publish by the NPR. Bob Edwards was the radio host explaining a common explanation of the first thanksgiving and how it is being taught in school. First off Bob is a well credited radio show host with a few awards to his name. Due to the nature of his shows he does not need to avoid being extremely child friendly, resulting in his show being more in depth on a mature level.

Gary Hopkins author and Editor in Chief at the Education World has been a substantially credible source. I stress credibility since the information being stated can easily be altered due to simple bias. When looking at Gary Hopkins I can see that his background is with professional writing, according to his Linkedin page he has about 25 to 26 years in professional writing careers.

When reading the Pilgrim Hall Museum article, the author was never mentioned, which is quite common for this type of publishing. The author does however state facts that are backed by the actual speech given by Frank B.  James. The interesting parts about this article are how the lack a serious bias towards the events that happened that lead to the National Day of Mourning. continuing through the website I noticed the information published is not from one or two authors but rather 33 different authors.

When reading the the speech given by Wamsutta it’s interesting to see that his aggressive yet valid point of view on this matter. Wamsutta was an avid protesters of fighting for the more accurate depiction to be in schools. Along with schools just everywhere in general he wanted society to understand and be rid of the fairy tale story that is so commonly known.

After searching through and understanding the background of each individual it’s nice to see a little less biases in the author’s writings whereas the step two the authors involved could have simply altered the story based off of the environment they have been in.

 

Part 4:

When a historian starts off, knowing the simple story is the best place. Clearly ending there would not benefit in any way, but knowing it will help get the ball rolling. Once the simple story is understood dive more into the commonly known facts and understand what will they all have in common that is where some truth will shine through. In all seriousness the steps needed to take would be all of them. I say this since each step gathered more and more truth to the event that happened we call thanksgiving. Within each step knowing where the information is coming from can substantially aid in the most accurate interpretation possible. Along with knowing the source of the information, gathering as much as you can would be in the best possible favor for the author and their final interpretation.

Answering the second question on this step is a rather tough one. The average person ranging from 18 to 30 will find different parts of each article compelling. Looking back at the articles its simple to see that the repetitiveness I mentioned above is actually the information everyone can agree on. Knowing what each person agrees on helps build to the final story. After reading all of articles, the one that resides best with the 18 to 30 year old hopefully will be the one with the most credible sources backed by many variations with the most common facts throughout all of the articles. This is the best way to encourage the average person to pursue the more compelling interpretation.

If I was asked to find a primary source related to all of this would be google, why? It’s simple and can give you grounds to search on the more you develop the and understand everyone’s interpretation. Once hitting the end of my possible sources I would either end there or I might take it to the library I would first hit the campus then once that ended I would move to libraries and historical articles I could find. I say this in all seriousness, not trying to blow smoke up your butt or anything.

Knowing that I would be looking for a secondary source I would do the same steps stated above however without going to historical articles. My final step would most likely be the closest library or even google since they have a fantastic library of pdf files.

 

Step 1

I would say that the third article is the closet to what i learned about Thanksgiving. A lot of the terms spurred thoughts of my childhood. Names like John Smith and Governor Bradford sounded very familiar. I remember hearing about the Mayflower Compact but never being told what it really pertained to. My understanding of the first Thanksgiving has never really been challenged because i have never looked into the history of it.  I find it very interesting that Thanksgiving wasn’t even made a national holiday until 200+ years later by Lincoln.

 

Step 2

I found these articles very compelling. They have not completely changed how i view the “pilgrims”. These articles don’t really explain the interactions between the Native Americans and the settlers. They are based heavily around the fact that socialism or a commonwealth idea, doesn’t work.  I do find that as primary source, Bradford himself, states this almost 400 years ago, but still to this day we have presidential candidates trying to legitimize socialism as a good idea.  I feel author of the third article “Pilgrims, Socialism and Thanksgiving” is not as credible as some of the other authors. He doesn’t use direct quotes or paraphrase from any sources. His article feels like it is just his opinion of how it all went down. The first article written by Richard J. Maybury is much more backed in research. After researching about Maybury he has a degree in economics. He also taught economics as a public school teacher for many years. Based on this research i feel that his viewpoint is sound and not too biased. I also feel the last article “The Real Meaning of Thanksgiving…” to be very accurate. After researching about AIER and learning that they are a nonprofit who only cares about providing accurate information.

 

Step 3

I found this set of articles interesting but they did not change my view of Thanksgiving either. The story that every child is told is not completely wrong or right. It has been washed down to a happy story about prosperity and giving thanks. I felt that these articles were more built around how to be more politically correct during the Thanksgiving time. There was only 1 article that actually helped understand Thanksgiving from the Native American’s viewpoint. That was the “The Suppressed Speech of Wamsutta”. The “The Pilgrims were…Socialists?” by Kate Zernike was a great article to counteract the previous section of articles. After reading up about the author and her previous works. She sets herself apart by being fair and unbiased even though she speaks from a Liberal agenda.

 

Step 4

In order to be a truly objective historian, you would need to put your opinions and previous understandings of the situation aside and research every side as thoroughly as possible.  To be as accurate as possible you would need to kind of stitch together all the information into a bigger picture to fully understand it. I felt that the second and some of the third set of articles were to politically biased, right against left type stuff. In order to build the big picture you need to separate the chaff from the grain. While it is interesting that the Pilgrims lived under a kind of socialist system, it doesn’t really bear any weight to “the first Thanksgiving”. I would start with the original telling of the first thanksgiving and build from there, trying to see if that information was accurate. If i were to look for primary sources i would start with Bradford’s journal/diary. Does Governor Bradford’s diary tell more about the first thanksgiving or is it just about the economic systems they used in those times? Were there other journals from Pilgrims that could fill in some holes? Did the Native Americans keep any journals as well?  Looking into secondary sources should be fairly easy, making sure they are accurate and reliable would be more difficult. I would look into Wamsutta more to find a starting point and work my way backwards. Also any museum exhibits and books would be a decent source to start looking into.

STEP 1

1. After reading through each article I feel like the first article, written on National Geographic Kids was closest to my childhood and current understanding of the first Thanksgiving. It was very simple and to the point. There wasn’t a lot of details which I think is important because no one really knows exactly was was worn, what was said and what they ate because we weren’t there. It had all the key components that I have learned about; the Mayflower, Plymouth rock, Native Americans helping with crops and hunting, and them sharing a meal to show friendship and gratitude.
2. Well my understanding of the event hasn’t changed much since I first learned about it in elementary school. I still have the same basic knowledge of how it came about and why we celebrate it today. I haven’t done any research or further investigation into what happened to the pilgrims and why its a national holiday. I still celebrate the same way with my family for the holidays, we have our special traditions. We eat thanksgiving dinner around 3:00 pm, my dad always has the football game on, my mom in the kitchen cooking all day (she always makes homemade pies and rolls), and then we play board games as a family. Since I have gotten older we have alternated holidays with my family and my husbands family. Sometimes the holidays can be a hassle; taking off work, traveling, finding someone to watch our dog. I find the holidays comforting but not as exciting as I did when I was younger.

STEP 2

1. I did find these interpretations interesting. They are very different from the simplistic, child-like interpretations we read earlier. They seemed more harsh and gave me a different insight into the pilgrims and how they made it work in the new world.
2. I found a couple of the articles compelling and they made me think differently about the true meaning of Thanksgiving. However, I don’t know how accurate any of the statements made by the authors are. Therefore I’m not sure it changes my thoughts about the holiday or situation right away. I would need to do more research into their sources. I do find some of the information reasonable and I feel like it makes sense as to why the pilgrims struggled in the beginning. It also makes me think that leadership/government played a much larger role in the new settlement than what is taught in school.
3. 1st article: Richard J. Maybury- publisher U.S. and World Early Warning Report for Investors. His belief is Juris Naturalism (do all agreed upon and do not encroach on others or their property).

2nd article: Rush Limbaugh- Conservative radio show host and author.

3rd article: Del Tackett-he is a “tour guide”. He seems very religious and godly.

4th article: American Institute Economic Research (I couldn’t find an specific author for this article).            Their goal seems to educate the public on economic issues. It says on their website that they have objective,    reliable and useful information.

4. I don’t think knowing more about the authors changed my perception on their articles. I found that I connected to the 3rd article the most, but because of what it said not because of who wrote it. I do want to know whether the authors are credible because thats important to me in making a decision on what I believe.

STEP 3 

1. I found these articles more interesting than in Step 2. I enjoyed the perspective from each author, especially those of the last two articles. I think its important to hear the story and history from a Native American perspective.
2. I did find these articles compelling and reasonable. Article number 3 seemed accurate because as a school teacher Chuck Larsen wants to find a way to convey the truth in an educational way so that all children can have a better understanding of what really happened on the first Thanksgiving and what it meant to come to the new world. The last two articles were driven from a Native American perspective but seemed accurate and reasonable as it was their land to begin with and they feel they have a right to be heard and be a part of that history. This has changed my way of looking at the first thanksgiving to a more well rounded experience for all the people involved. Not just the pilgrims but the Native Americans as well, what they experienced and how it changed their world.
3. 1st article: Kate Zernike is a correspondent for the New York Times since 2000 and an author.

2nd article: Bob Edwards on NPR. He has a satellite radio program and is an author.

3rd article: Chuck Larsen is a public school teacher and historian.

4th article: Russell M. Peters is a Wampanoag indian and an author of Native American literature.

5th article: Frank B. James on the Teaching Tolerance website. He is also a Wampanoag indian and author.

4. I would say knowing more about these authors may have influenced my view a little bit. Knowing that Chuck Larsen is a school teacher and historian makes him more trust worthy. I would hope that he really wants to teach accurate information to children and has done research to make sure that happens. I’m not sure that the last two authors have incredibly accurate information but I do trust that they speak from truth because their history is passed down from generation to generation. It seemed like all the authors wanted some truth brought back into the teachings of the first Thanksgiving, which I think is important.

Step 4

1. I think for historians to make sense of this event, they would research the topic and try to find reliable sources that describe and elaborate on the details. I feel like historians would compare information with other historians, evaluate all the evidence available and ask questions. To make sure that their narrative is accurate and objective they would find out where there sources are coming from, situate the document to a place and time, carefully consider what the source is saying and the language being used, and use multiple sources to determine points of agreement and disagreement.
2. I think anyone looking to make sense of this event would ask questions. They would ask friends and family, professors and colleagues for their opinions. A big component of todays society is the internet, and I believe most people would start searching for their answers on the world wide web. Another great resource is the library. I think that most people will end up determining which is more compelling based on what they find on the internet, how they were raised and what the people closest to them are saying and believing about the event.
3. To find a primary source I would probably go to the library. A primary source is a first hand account of the event. For example a letter from the pilgrims or a diary entry. I would think that the library would have a copy of either of these documents.
4. To find a secondary source I would probably look on the internet. A secondary source is an interpretation of a primary source. I would google “first thanksgiving” and use Wikipedia or an excerpt from a textbook to gather my information.