Part I

• I think the first reading is closest to what I learned as a child about the first Thanksgiving. All three of them had similarities and they each explained in a bit more detail other pieces of the history. The First was more traditional, the second reading was told in more of a religious tone and the third went into more detail about the couple years after the first Thanksgiving.
• The first article comes closest to my current understanding of the events that took place. The reason is because it doesn’t seem to go into as much detail as the other two and is more traditional.
• I don’t think my understanding of the events have changes as after elementary school I don’t remember learning much more about any of the events. The way I celebrate it has changed as I now celebrate it with my husband and his family. They have many traditions and are a bigger extended family than I had growing up. I also have come to enjoy family get-together’s and now that I have children of my own we have started our own traditions and I try and teach and learn with them and make memories.

Part 2

• I find these interpretations very interesting. The reason I find these interpretations interesting is because it is a different spin on the actual meaning of the first Thanksgiving. I have come to understand as an adult that as children we are sheltered from a lot of harsh realities of life and never told the “truth”. We become adults and are unprepared for how “hard” life really is, and we have to find out on our own that life is not a fairytale.
• As with anything else if you read or hear about something from multiple sources or multiple times you are bound to be influenced or believe some part of the content. I think this information did change my understanding of the post first thanksgiving time and let us know that initially the Pilgrims were contracted to try and make socialism work and they came to realize that it didn’t, so they changed to a free market and this (along with knowledge from the Native Americans) is the reason for their long term success.
• The first author was a high school professor but couldn’t find any title that would give a clear explanation of his views so he came up with his own titles and wrote his own books. He encompassed bits and pieces from other titles and names to come up with his way of looking at things. He has a libertarian perspective and writes in epistolary form. The second author is a radio talk show host who is a conservative political commentator. The third seems to be a business man, religious, served under President Bush, a professor and has written a couple of books. Looks like he is trying to bring the Christian worldview to the body of Crist. Lastly, this one doesn’t seem to have a specific author but more the website is the America Institute for Economic research and the founder was E.C Harwood. He was a military man and intensively studied economics.
• My views did not change with the research of the authors and the website but I do have reservations when it comes to reading anything anyone writes as I know their bias and agendas are part of their writings and they want you to believe what they have come to understand as their truths.

Part 3

• I found these readings to be just as interesting as the readings in step two because they looked more at the Native American aspects. It did go over some of the same information the step two presented, which was the pilgrims starting out with a socialist society and converting to capitalism because socialism wasn’t working. Then in started to bring up a new side that the pilgrims did not change to the free market because they were staving and having other problems or else they would have never had the “first thanksgiving” feast. They changed because they wanted to try something new. Also, interesting was looking at different ways to teach about the origins of Thanksgiving in the classroom.
• I do find these reading to be compelling as they bring up alternate views from the reading in step two and brought up the Native American side. I think that it makes you think how a simple story can have many different meanings, sides and versions depending on what and who you are talking about or to. These readings have changed my understanding, as now I know that the event wasn’t as simple as it seemed to be and there are different things to consider based on who is writing this information.
• The first readings author is a National correspondent at the New York Times and has done extensive coverage of the Tea Party Movement. The second audio was done by NPR’s Bob Edwards who was with NPR for 24 years before going over to Sirius XM radio to host a show. The third article was by Gary Hopkins who is the Founder, Editor in Chief at education world his responsibilities include planning the content of student and teacher editions and managing the teams that produce them. The fourth reading looks to be from Russell M. Peters who is Wampanoag and sits on several councils in the state, local and national level. Lastly, is the suppressed speech written by Frank James, who was a Wampanoag.
• Researching the authors didn’t necessarily change how I viewed the interpretations but it solidified which ones I think are factual versus political views.

Part 4

• I think that a historian would have to do a lot of reading from both first hand and second hand sources, complete fact checking with other known accounts from around that time period, have multiple discussions with other historians that are looking at the same event. Another aspect is to have many proofreaders so that it is considered from many different points of view. I do believe as with anything else that it is very hard to be objective and accurate because everyone interprets events different depending on their our own life experiences. This applies to the Governor of New Plymouth’s account, others interpretations of his account and the historians interpretations of sources.
• The average person would do a lot of Internet research and would most likely come to a conclusion based on the views that they have adapted over the years. I think for the most part these articles where all providing similar accounts of the information provided but interpreting it in a different way based on the views of the author or company they are working for.
• I think you could get a primary source about the first Thanksgiving from a historical museum, library, or from an Internet search from a reliable source.
• I feel like I would look at the library or an Internet search from a reliable source.

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

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.