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1. With Thanksgiving around the corner, I think it’s prime time to break down—decolonize—the history of why & how the holiday has been used to form a national identity. All while creating hurtful misconceptions of Native Americans. #phstmu
2. I found this article from @TIME which breaks down how Thanksgiving became a nationally recognized holiday, becoming further reinforced through public edu, & how public edu can reverse damaging narratives https://time.com/5725168/thanksgiving-history-lesson/
3. The history: a primary source from the “first encounter” was rediscovered the 1850s, just before the Civil War. Abe Lincoln leveraged this discovery to settle a deeply divided country.
4. Towards the late 19th century, as the advertising industry grew, thanksgiving was used to create national memory by way of the public education curriculum. Becoming the "official history" thanksgiving
5. This was also when the U.S. experienced an influx of immigrants. Put it all together & we have the foundation for national myth and reinforcement of an EXCLUSIVE “American identity.”
6. throughout the Cold War era, thanksgiving celebrations really revved up serving as a reminder of American values. Opposition to thanksgiving was a threat to American life. *eye roll*
7. Throughout this evolving nativism, Native Americans were exociticized as ancient supporting characters to the birth of U.S. wholesomeness. False perceptions were introduced to us early on in formal learning environments. We grow up looking @ natives as passive, extinct beings
8. & we water down their culture. Who else remembers making paper headdresses? We learned that this was the start of the American “melting pot.” That pilgrims & natives cohabitated in peace, then the natives disappeared. But we’re thankful for the land/food they “gave” us.
9. We dismiss that after the 1st thanksgiving represents the calm before decades of tension & war between the Wampanoag tribe & pilgrims, deadly diseases, decades of violence, looting, erasure of culture, denial of rights, & ongoing injustice & threat to Native Am. tribes today
10. Contributors in this article express the need to decolonize thanksgiving lesson plans. one idea, which is common throughout public hist., is to broaden the historical perspective—giving native Americans their voice in the story.
11. I think pub. Institutions should take the lead & be transparent about first encounters between natives & pilgrims. Linked in this article is the Smithsonian’s American Indian museum’s guides to rethink how teachers create thanksgiving lesson plans. https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/professional-development/upcoming-webinars
12. Another interesting read is this article from @VICE on how to decolonize your thanksgiving meal https://www.vice.com/en/article/9a8axe/how-to-decolonize-your-thanksgiving-dinner
