The days are getting shorter, and the sun is shining at a lower angle in the sky.
Leaves have turned colors and the wind is pulling them off the trees.
There is a chill in the air, especially in the morning and at night.
Welcome to Fall and welcome to Native American Heritage Month!
Are you ready to play “Are you smarter than a 5th grader?” If the answer is “yes,” let’s test your knowledge…
We shall start with the things most of us learned in school. Remember learning that heartwarming story about how the “Indians” shared their harvest with the “Pilgrims,” thus representing the nation’s 1st Thanksgiving? You may have even made and worn paper Pilgrim hats and Indian head dresses and felt great about honoring American traditions. I know I did.
What if I told you that what we learned in school was not exactly the way things went down? In fact, research has proven that the story of Squanto, who was a member of the Wampanoag Tribe, had an ulterior motive for teaching the pilgrims how to grow crops and thrive in North America.
Six years prior to the arrival of the Mayflower Squanto — Tisquantum — and a group of Native Americans were captured and taken as slaves. Tisquantum eventually escaped and went to England to learn English before returning to North America in 1619.
While Tisquantum was abroad, diseases brought over by the colonists decimated the Indigenous tribes, with some communities losing nearly every tribal member. (It should be noted that prior to the arrival of colonists, American natives had not exerienced these kinds of diseases. However, the Europeans of the time did not believe in bathing. Poor hygiene and overcrowding led to the spread of killer dieseases.)
James Loewen, author of Lies My Teacher Told Me wrote:
“Within three years the plague wiped out between 90 to 96 percent of the inhabitants of coastal New England. Native societies were devastated. Only ‘the twentieth person is scarce left alive,’ wrote Robert Cushman, an English eyewitness, recording a death rate unknown in all previous human experience.” Citation here.
But back to Squanto…why did he help the pilgrims? Well, upon his return home, he sadly discovered that there were no survivors from his tribe, and the pilgrims had built Plymouth Plantation on his tribe’s former land. Squanto and Massasoit’s Wampanoag tribe, which had lost about 75% of its people, needed protection against their enemy, the Narragansatt. Squanto, with his english skills, forged a trust with the pilgrims who agreed to join in a peace treaty. They each agreed to protect the other against the Narragansatt and other enemies.
There was, in fact, a feast shared in 1621. The pilgrims celebrated a successful harvest by firing guns into the air. The gunfire led to Massasoit bringing the Wampanoag warriors together for battle. However, instead of fighting, the warriors and pilgrims prepared the feast together.
What other facts about Native American Heritage have been misrepresented in tradional textbooks? Certainly, the answer is many. From the online literature guide, LitCharts:
In Lies My Teacher Told Me, James Loewen makes the provocative argument that most American high school history textbooks are not, contrary to what they claim, objective accounts of the past. Rather, history textbooks distort history—omitting certain details, exaggerating others, and occasionally offering factually incorrect information—in order to present a biased view of history. Citation.
It is up to us to do our research and find the bias in our history. It is not our fault we may have been misinformed. However, it is our fault if we don’t use the tools we have to learn the truth now, and to share the truth.
Wait! So does this mean I should no longer enjoy Thanksgiving? That is definitely NOT my point. My point IS: while we are gathering with friends and family to show gratitude on the forth Thursday of November, we should also acknowledge some truths:
1. Colonialism was not so great for those who have been historically colonized, specifically Native Americans and members of the First Nations.
2. Our European and American ancestors did terribly hurtful things to Native Americans and First Nations peoples over the course of colonialism.
3. We should perhaps incorporate traditional ingredients and recipes, along with teaching factual history, into our family’s celebration.
For other ways to heal and restore the Native narrative into American culture, try out these recipes.
For more information about Native American Heritage, check out some of these books from the library:
by Phillips, Katrina M.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is about celebrating! The second Monday in October is a day to honor Native American people, their histories, and cultures. People mark the day with food, dancing, and songs. Readers will discover how a shared holiday can have multiple traditions and be celebrated in all sorts of ways.
by Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne
In All the Real Indians Died Off, scholars and activists Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker tackle a wide range of myths about Native American culture and history that have misinformed generations. Tracing how these ideas evolved, and drawing from history, the authors disrupt long-held and enduring myths
by Sorell, Traci
We Are Still Here. Too often, Native American history is treated as a finished chapter instead of relevant and ongoing. This companion book to the award-winning We Are Grateful- Otsaliheliga offers readers everything they never learned in school about Native American people’s past, present, and future.
by Bitsoie, Freddie
New Native Kitchen. From Freddie Bitsoie, the executive chef at Mitsitam Native Foods Café at the Smithsonian’s Natural Museum of the American Indian, and James Beard Award-winning author James O. Fraioli, New Native Kitchen is a celebration of Indigenous cuisine. Offering delicious dishes like Cherrystone Clam Soup from the Northeastern Wampanoag and Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin from the Pueblo peoples
by Ostler, Jeffrey
In Surviving Genocide, the first part of a sweeping two-volume history, Jeffrey Ostler investigates how American democracy relied on Indian dispossession and the federally sanctioned use of force to remove or slaughter Indians in the way of U.S. expansion. He charts the losses that Indians suffered from relentless violence and upheaval and the attendant effects of disease, deprivation, and exposure. This volume centers on the eastern United States from the 1750s to the start of the Civil War.
