HIST 100: Engineering The Past

Kyle Mitsunaga Thanksgiving

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Part 1:

  1. Out of these three articles “First Thanksgiving” or the first article in the list is the one that is closest to my childhood. The thing that made it close is just how it talks specifically about the Native Americans and then about the settlers. Just those backgrounds that we are taught then leading into the actual feast of Thanksgiving. It was the closest out of the three to my childhood understanding.
  2. The third article best represents the current understanding of Thanksgiving. It goes more in detail about the history and how it became a holiday. It also explains why the Pilgrims came to America.
  3. As I’ve gotten older I think my understanding has become a little more in detail about who was involved and why it happened. When I was younger I just know there were two groups of people. I never got caught up in all the details when I was young. Now that I’m older I have a much better understanding. As far as the celebration, personally it has become more just about family time. Where as a kid I just wanted to eat really fast and go play with whatever. Now it’s important for me to visit will all my family and spend some good time with them.

 

Part 2:

I found the last article about “the triumph of capitalism over collectivism” the most interesting because of the point it makes. “The real meaning of Thanksgiving, in other words, is the triumph of Capitalism over the failure of Collectivism in all its forms.” That is the very last line in the article and really just made me think hard about that for a little bit. It’s totally different way of thinking about it and is the big reason why I thought it was interesting. The great Thanksgiving hoax might be the one that I could have changed the way I thought about Thanksgiving. Just how it states that the real story started with the Pilgrims getting on the Mayflower to come to America. To me that and the rest of the article sound legit and something that would be able to change my understanding.

Starting with the first article Richard J. Maybury, he has written about investments, and has 22 books. His focus is on economics, history and law. Rush Limbaugh, in the second article to me is one that I didn’t take very seriously. The website just isn’t appealing to me personally and the story or play style of writing wasn’t my favorite. The third article has a saying on it “Soli Deo Gloria” this means glory to God alone. In the article also states parts of the Bible in it as well as a lot of socialism. The author of the last article is an economics professor at Loyola University. He seems to have a very good understanding of history etc. All in all after doing some research on the authors I wouldn’t say it changed my interpretations other than the fact that knowing some of their backgrounds in history and economics etc. I can see where they are coming from. I think after so many years of hearing mostly the same thing my understanding has stuck and would have to be something very strong to really change or influence my understanding.

 

Part 3:

I find the articles and the hearings in this section most interesting than in step 2. I think especially in the first article in this section it question us also in the third article. This for me really goes hand in hand with the second point. Because it questions us it make it more interesting to read and also more compelling because you almost get a sense that we’ve been told wrong our whole lives. All in all I enjoyed this section of reads more then the second section. Kate Zernike is a national correspondent for the New York Times, so mostly covers education and criminal justice. She also has a couple books.

The second article, which was the hearing, was interesting. It was published in 2003, but then updated in 2010 both right around Thanksgiving. The website is credible and was pretty interesting to listen to. The third one was another one I really liked out of these. Again the title was a question to us, which for me is more compelling. It is on education world, which seems credible; I couldn’t find an author but enjoyed the read. The fourth article for me seemed to be the most credible because of the website and the Pilgrim Hall Museum. Lastly, James Wamsutta was an Indian who was invited to speak in Plymouth Rock but then not allowed to give the speech. Coming from an Indian point of view I thought it was pretty cool to read. After knowing more about the authors or the websites the one that strikes out to me in the last one. Being an Indian and writing a speech and reading it seems very real to me and would make be more understanding on his points over the other reads in this section. Like I said this section was much more interesting.

 

Part4:

As a historian you must have an open mind on what the first Thanksgiving may have been. Maybe you hear things that could be true and other ideas that are false, but having that open mind could make you have a better understanding on where they are coming from. To make sure that their interpretation is accurate one would have to be cautious of where their sources are coming from. I suggest doing some research on the authors or websites like we did earlier in this assignment. I would include some intense research on the first Thanksgiving from reliable sources. Once again the more information you can get on the event the better your interpretation will be about it.

An average 30 year old could see these articles in a different way such as, news that they already knew or a bunch of junk that is on the Internet. Honestly I think it depends on the person that is reading these articles and what their background is like. One may interpret the same article differently than another person just depending on their background and how they were taught Thanksgiving. For one of these to be compelling I do think it would have to be loaded with facts and more information that an average person may know about the first Thanksgiving. Most of us have a pretty decent understanding of it to say the least; therefore reading an article that has a bunch of facts and information about this event would be most compelling.

I would look up anything that came from a pilgrim or Native American background for a primary source. Just knowing that they might have some more in depth information about the event would make me feel confident. Also they would be a reliable source to take facts from. If I couldn’t find anything with that background I would go with an educational website that peer reviewed.

A reliable secondary source would include an interview of a historian or anyone that has a history background. Knowing that there may be some uncertainty, that is were I would go to get a reliable secondary source.

Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving Interpretations
Step 1
The first reading was closest to my understanding of how Thanksgiving came about. I remembered more than I thought, although reading this article brought back a lot of memories from when I was first learning. I remember thinking how cool it was that the Wampanoag’s thought they were going there to fight but instead they marked history. I have not read a lot since I was little about thanksgiving and where it really came from so the first article about our history is really all I know to be honest. Although after all the readings this week I have gained much more knowledge about this holiday than I thought I would. One thing that interested me a lot was the fact that the Wampanoag’s don’t celebrate this holiday, its remembrance of blood shed because this gathering did not last long between them and the English in history. I have always thought of this day as just a feast day, and just a day that we stop and think of all the things we are thankful for. I never considered the history of this day, although im sure I will now that I have this knowledge. It makes me want to learn about the history of all our holidays actually
Step 2
I found these reading very interesting. I have always had a completely different image in my head about thanksgiving. I literally looked at it as a big day for thanks because it was a feast day in our history and we were thankful for the Indians, and it was as simple as that. Now that I have actually learned more about thanksgiving I realize it was much deeper than what I was taught as a child, which is why I found these readings so interesting. They were defiantly compelling, I actually had to laugh at myself for still believing what I was taught about thanksgiving as a kid. Obviously there is far more to the story than what someone is going to teach a bunch of young kids. One thing that really caught my attention was how it has evolved from when it was created to now. I also am curious how many people actually really know about thanksgiving. Richard J Maybury stood out to me the most out of the authors is responsible for The Great Thanksgiving Hoax he is famous for numerous political pieces. After reading up about this man it seems as though is extremely intelligent and knows what he is talking about. One thing I really liked about his writing was that he always seems to consider both sides. He is very passionate about politics and history. Even in his pictures I could tell that he was a very professional and well educated man. After reading about the authors, my perception did not change on how I viewed this topic. What it did was support my view. I had my new view of this topic after reading about it and it supported it even more when I read about the authors and realized that they are all actually really intelligent people and I believe they really know what they are talking about. Although I might not agree with everything that they say, they are very good authors with a lot of intelligence.
Step 3
Compared to the first steps reading I am liking these ones more and more. I liked these readings because I feel like they are real. They don’t beat around the bush, they want the readers to know the story and opinions. They want people to know the truth which I respect. For the past 15 years I have had the completely wrong image in my head because I honestly think that it was taught wrong. What was the point of teaching me that? It’s not the real story so why make me believe it for so long. Kate Zernike stood out a lot to me. She is a great women author. I noticed that a lot of her topics that she writes about are extremely controversial which I give her props for getting her voice out there along with men. She works for the New York Times which is a very rewarding title. She writes a lot about criminal justice which I found really interesting because that is my major. Just like the other authors, knowing more information about them does not change my outlook, it only adds credibility.
Step 4
Anyone who really wants to know about Thanksgiving would look through in depth research, simple as that. I wish that I would have done my own research instead of believing the story that I did for so long. If I would have looked more into the subject and found credible authors like in these readings I would have learned a lot more. Not only did I learn a lot more about this holiday but I also learned about many different views that are among people. There are different ways to look at this which I found interesting. If I were to do more research on this subject I would look for credible articles by good authors, peer reviewed material, supported books, etc. I would not go to Wikipedia and take that information to heart. I want to know my information is coming from credible places rather than most of your .com sites I would look for .org, .gov and so on. I really enjoyed this extensive reading, I learned so much in this short work week.

First Thanksgiving

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While I vaguely remember the details the I learned about Thanksgiving as a child (it was somewhere between second and fourth grade), I do remember that I was taught that it was a positive experience between the Pilgrims and Native Americans. We were told that, upon arriving in Plymouth, the Pilgrims were ravished with disease and a lack of food until they were taught by the Native Americans how to hunt and grow crops. We were also taught about the treacherous journey that they were faced with when sailing from England to America. I remember celebrating the holiday with arts and crafts, such as covering our hands in finger paint and using the handprint to make colorful turkeys.