TCCL Celebrates: Thanksgiving

We recommend starting with The Invention of Thanksgiving from the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, which features an interview with the museum's curator Paul Chaat Smith (Comanche). Watch it below!

Rethinking Thanksgiving – Resources and Activities

This resource from the National Museum of the American Indian, Rethinking Thanksgiving Celebrations, provides Indigenous perspectives on and culturally sensitive activities related to Thanksgiving. We recommend using this guide to help address incomplete narratives surrounding Thanksgiving and rethink the heart of your celebrations. There is a PDF version available HERE.

The National Museum of the American Indian also offers a corn necklace activity, designed for kindergarten through fifth-grade students. The video provides step-by-step instructions on how to make the necklace. Plus, by highlighting the cultivation of corn and other agricultural contributions made Native peoples, the activity can extend or culminate a classroom lesson and connect to social studies, science, math or art. Find it HERE and below.

Whether you're a parent or teacher, you can celebrate #NativeAmericanHeritageDay by learning or teaching your kiddos about important topics regarding American Indian life, cultures and communities. Below are a few resources closest to home, but we recommend exploring everything the Native Knowledge 360 site has to offer. 

The Muscogee (Creek) Nation was one of many American Indian Nations to lose its lands to the United States. Explore this resource, The Removal of the Muscogee Nation, to increase understanding of the effects of removal on Native people and nations.

The Cherokee Nation was another Native Nation to lose its lands. The Trail of Tears: A Story of Cherokee Removal instructional resource tells how the Cherokee Nation resisted removal and persisted to renew and rebuild their nation. Explore this resource to better understand the impact of removal and how the Cherokee still celebrate and sustain important cultural values and practices.

Find more resources in our American Indian Resource Center. Visit it virtually HERE or in person at the Zarrow Regional Library.

Explore these titles for further learning:

• 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving by Catherine O’Neill Grace
• Squanto's Journey: the Story of the First Thanksgiving by Joseph Bruchac
• Native American History for Kids by Karen Bush Gibson
• Shi-shi-etko by Nicola I. Campbell
• Buffalo Bird Girl: a Hidatsa Story by S.D. Nelson
• Not My Girl by Christy Jordan-Fenton

Celebration Alternatives

• Decolonizing Thanksgiving: A Toolkit for Combatting Racism in Schools 

• What to Do When You Don’t Want to Celebrate Thanksgiving 

• Decolonizing Thanksgiving and Reviving Indigenous Relationships to Food 

• The Thanksgiving Tale We Tell Is a Harmful Lie. As a Native American, I’ve Found a Better Way to Celebrate the Holiday

• 9 Ways to Decolonize and Honor Native Peoples on Thanksgiving 

• Decolonizing “Thanksgiving”: A Toolkit for Switching the Narratives of History 

• Decolonizing Thanksgiving 

• Do American Indians Celebrate Thanksgiving? 

• For Native Peoples, Thanksgiving Isn't A Celebration. It's A National Day Of Mourning 

• 6 Things Every Non-Native Should Do On Thanksgiving 

• Should We Celebrate Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims?

• Celebrate Indigenous History This Thanksgiving