Celebrating Thanksgiving means being thankful for the things we have. I remember teachers asking us to take turns explaining everything we’re thankful for. But, they failed to mention the truth behind Thanksgiving.
We grew up learning about the pilgrims and the Native Americans taking part in a huge feast we now called Thanksgiving. But, there’s a lot more to the story that what was taught in school. Sadly, schools continue to gloss over the real story behind these groups of people and I can’t understand why.
The First Thanksgiving
I was going through my daughter’s school folder when I came across one of her class assignments entitled, “The First Thanksgiving.” It told the story about pilgrams and Native Americans, and how the holiday came to be.
“The pilgrims came from Plymouth, England in 1621 to America. They came on a ship called the Mayflower. The winter was hard. They did not have much and it was hard to live. The pilgrams met a Native American name Squanto,” the story read.
It went to describe how Scaunto taught all the pilgrims how to grow crops and hunt for food. The pilgrims later held a feast for the Native Americans to thank them for their hospitality, which we now know as Thanksgiving.
But what the story failed to mention was that the pilgrims killed the natives and stole their land from them. This is a fact that’s never mentioned in school. Some may say that first graders are too young to learn about the truth behind Thanksgiving. But, I beg to differ.
After reading my daughter’s assignment, my husband and I told her about the events that took place and how many natives still live on reservations, as a result.
Truth Behind Thanksgiving
Unfortunately, children are kept from learning the truth throughout their childhood. As a child moving here from Jamaica, I struggled with assimilating into modern day American culture. So I was totally oblivious to many historical events. My husband also had no clue regarding the truth behind Thanksgiving and other traditions.
If it wasn’t for books like “The Invasion of America,” by Francis Jennings, conscious hip hop artists like Nas and The Roots, who knows if we’d ever learn the truth.
Even though we can’t change the past, we can change the way we teach our kids about history. I just can’t understand why schools refuse to talk about the truth behind Thanksgiving. Is it because it makes America look bad? Are they afraid that kids may be too young to understand? Do they want to ignore what really happened? Are they ashamed?
Whatever the reason, I hope that parents consider being honest with their children. Teach them the importance of giving thanks for their many blessings. Get together with love ones and enjoy a big feast. But, let’s also be honest with ourselves.
I get that teachers may feel obligated to teach a distorted version of Thanksgiving filled with myths and arts and crafts. But the watered down version of the truth only keeps children ignorant.