Reteaching Thanksgiving

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How can we teach and celebrate Thanksgiving in a multicultural society?

For many people in the U.S., Thanksgiving is a time to visit family, eat large amounts of food, and reflect on things we are thankful for in our lives. Many others are celebrating their first Thanksgivings as youth or recent immigrants to the country. What do we teach them about what this holiday means? In addition to being a day of gratitude, Thanksgiving also carries a deep, complex history.

We learn the story of Thanksgiving though school, television, and media. Some art projects ask young students to don feathers and dress up as “Indians and Pilgrims” to enact the story of the first Thanksgiving as it has been told. This story, often one of the first stories in which some youth are introduced to Native American culture, portrays Native American people in a way that promotes stereotypes and historical inaccuracies.

As Chuck Larsen, a Tacoma teacher, writes, “Every year I have been faced with the professional and moral dilemma of just how to be honest and informative with my children at Thanksgiving without passing on historical distortions, and racial and cultural stereotypes. The problem is that part of what you and I learned in our own childhood about the “Pilgrims” and “Squanto” and the “First Thanksgiving” is a mixture of both history and myth.”

Many Native Americans do not celebrate Thanksgiving for this reason. In addition, the widespread deaths of native people are often glossed over or misrepresented, especially when teaching to young children.

So how can we teach Thanksgiving to our youth in a way that is historically accurate, culturally aware, and that broadens rather than narrows their understanding of the world? A teachers’ guide published right here in Puget Sound offers some answers. Teaching About Thanksgiving, published by the Fourth World Documentation Project, offers helpful information for teachers, including an accurate telling of the Thanksgiving story, historical information about Native tribes of the northeast, discussion questions, and tips for avoiding stereotypes.

Through education, we aim to spark thoughts and conversations that expand our knowledge and give voice to many perspectives. There are many ways that people in the U.S. observe this holiday. Whether by spending time with loved ones or making a point to talk about its history, we hope that Thanksgiving can be a day of reflection, honesty, and gratitude.