HIST 100: Engineering The Past

Competing interpretations of the first Thanksgiving

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Part 1.

I personally feel that the first reading, “The Pilgrims and America’s First Thanksgiving” accurately represents how I was originally taught about thanksgiving in elementary school. We were taught that everything that happened between the two different groups were peaceful and that the Indians and the white men shared among each other.  “First  Thanksgiving” has the closest resemblance to how think of what Thanksgiving is. My parents explained to me, long before school ever did, that the way we were taught about Thanksgiving doesn’t mean it’s the truth. They also taught me though was that the peace didn’t last very long and soon after it became an incredibly down hill slippery slope for the Native Americans and it cost them their land and lives.  In school they teach it a lot more happy and that everything was fine between both groups of people, though that wasn’t the case. My understanding of Thanksgiving has changed because the public education system sometimes feeds the masses corrupt information that doesn’t necessarily include the whole truth. I think about the age of thirteen I realized that a lot of what I’m being taught in school has another side of the story, not just what I’m being told.

Part 2.

I do think that the different approaches to Thanksgiving are a little intriguing. I could tell from some of the “part 1” articles that some people might focus on the idea that everyone was lazy and didn’t want to work. I’m not saying that isn’t how it went, I’m just saying that people like to focus on what they want to see rather than what might have caused that to happen. I don’t find any of them that make a compelling case enough for me to change my opinions on Thanksgiving all together. Everything has a bias, and it’s really hard to find a reliable source that doesn’t have a hand in it, no matter if it’s a conscious decision or not. I think Rush Limbaugh is an idiot, who right along side trump, should close their mouths for the sake of the Republican party. I have not read the books he did, so I can’t argue with his statements in his article, but I personally do have the belief that Native Americans have been constantly taken advantage of and run out of their land. I do not believe that they have been given a fair shake, as he claims. I don’t think that even knowing who the authors were influenced how I viewed the articles, I think that since it’s easy to see the author’s voice in the articles they write, it’s fairly easy to make a judgement on who they are. I think once you are able to see the biased in an article it already makes it unreliable, even if it’s the truth.

Part 3.

I do find these articles much more interesting than in part 2. I think that they offer many different views, not just the economic stand point, or the views that a lot of my peers have. When a party presents different information it’s a lot more interesting. I think that looking at it from a teacher’s perspective, or a Native American, or even a historian adds something to the discussion. It isn’t just focused on one sides belief system and debating that over and over. I do find them compelling, but I don’t think any one in particular changed my mind. I think that every article brings something else to the table, I can agree the most with the teacher. My Grandpa is from a reservation, and he’s told me stories about how rough it was growing up coming from a place of nothing. I’ve heard countless stories, and it amazes me that the general public doesn’t recognize the atrocities that have occurred prior, and are continuing to occur. One of the authors is obviously a teacher, I couldn’t find his name. Another author is a Native American who passed here recently, who basically was a scholar on when the English came to America. The New York times article was written by a conservative hating journalist. I do not think knowing any of these authors influences how their piece reach their audience. I think that since we were able to read them first, and evaluate what is included, it has helped us take a step away from the authors.

Part 4.

I think a historian would make sense of the “First Thanksgiving” by not adding any opinion to their conclusion. I think that in order to come to a logical conclusion they must be passionate about the work that they are doing and dive completely into their work. I think that the steps that need to be taken in order to find the answer would to look at everyone’s viewpoint and maybe write about it from different perspectives. I don’t think there is ever going to be a point where we agree that the people who came to America were horrible and doing the wrong thing, nor were the Native Americans. I think that the truth has many different meanings, and especially for different people. I think that the whole idea behind Thanksgiving needs to be evaluated, and we need to maybe focus less on doing things because it’s “Tradition” and more because it’s right or not. I think that a person 18-30 should be mature enough to have open discussions with their friends, family, loved ones, people on the internet. I don’t think they need to come to a conclusion, but I do think that they at least need to acknowledge the different information and the different places it’s coming from in the articles. I think people determine what is most compelling by what they don’t know. If something has just been introduced to them, and it makes them look at a situation in a whole different light, I think that’s how most people determine if it’s most compelling. I think the first place I would look for a reliable source would probably be in the BSU Library database, and I would do the CRAAP test to determine if it was worthy of me looking at it or not.

 

My First Thanksgiving

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I vaguely remember my first Thanksgiving  in elementary school. I remember that we made paper pilgrim hats and Indian head bands. We talked about the importance of this gathering and how the pilgrims would have never survived without the lessons learned from the Native Americans. We also put a great deal of importance towards Squanto, who was a Native American that tried to bridge the gap between the two cultures. It was because this act of kindness the celebration of Thanksgiving began.

I also remember that our teacher at the time was a Native American, and she told us of the sufferings that her people faced because of the pilgrims. This was extremely biased, but what she taught was very true (just had a few other details missing). As this was my first impression of what the meaning of Thanksgiving was, I remember that I thought for a long time that this holiday was to pay your respects to Native Americans and the cruelties that they endured. Rather than taking the time to look at your life and all that you are blessed to have.

My First Thanksgiving Experience

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As a young boy I remember going to kindergarten the week before Thanksgiving break. This was the day we go to dress up. I remember learning a variety of different lessons on who the Pilgrims were and who the Native Americans were. I remember learning about where they both came from, what they wore and what they ate. So that day my mom sent me to school wearing baggy brown clothes and a paper headband with a feather glued to the back. When I got there, there was two different tables set up followed by an area that was completely closed off. The first table had pieces of paper, markers, crayons, feathers, and other crafting materials. Here, we took a piece of paper, laid our hand down flat and traced around it. Then we were told to color our hand like a turkey so I colored the palm brown, and the fingers different colors with my thumb being the face. Then I added feather to the fingers and finished off my turkey with an orange beak. The next table I went to had big ice cream cones, the brown ones, I believe they’re called sugar cones? Anyways, the table also had frosting and different candies such as: jelly beans, skittles, sweet tarts and so on. What we did was we frosted a the bottom of a plate and stuck the ice cream cone upside down on the plate. Then we frosted the cone and decorated it like a tepee with different colors and such. After this was done we set it aside to dry and then the rest of my class went and sat in the closed off area. Here they set up a table with chairs all around with a ton of different sundae making materials. There was ice cream, candy, syrups, cones and bowls. My teacher a couple parents started three lines and asked each of us what we wanted, a bowl or a cone and then they put ice cream in them for us. Then we got to add all the different toppings we wanted and then we went and sat down. After sitting down my teacher began to talk. She said things like: “Remember this week when we talked about the big feast with the Pilgrims and the Indians? Well that’s what we’re doing right now! Some of you have dressed as Indians and some have dressed like Pilgrims. This represents the first Thanksgiving.” and “I want each of you to go around the table and tell us what you’re thankful for.” This began to spark conversation. Rather than talking our ears off about the first Thanksgiving she showed us what it was like with our ice cream. As a kid, all I think I learned from this was that the Pilgrims came over on three boats to have dinner with the Indians. Obviously I know more ab\out it now but that’s what I got from that whole experience. I think when were kids we don’t really understand things but learning back then we didn’t have the biases we have now. We just thought the Pilgrims and the Indians were friends and that they had dinner together. Now I know that the Pilgrims really came to America because of religion an that’s why the first Thanksgiving happened.