Dear Parents and educators,

As Thanksgiving is quickly approaching, we are asking that you broaden your understanding of Thanksgiving. Please, be mindful of what you are teaching and what crafts you will be doing with the students. Please make sure you teach accurate history and take time to talk about Thanksgiving from the perspective of Native Americans. One tweet we have seen going around can summarize our ideas:

#Teachers, repeat after me: I will not have my students make “Indian” feathers or clothes. I will not culturally appropriate an entire people for “cute” activities. I will tell my students the truth about this country’s relationship with Indigenous people #pinteresisnotpedagogy –Lauryn Mascarenez

Here are a few articles we found helpful for teaching Thanksgiving accurately:

Thanksgiving from the American Indian Perspective: https://americanindian.si.edu/sites/1/files/pdf/education/thanksgiving_poster.pdf

Timeline of how Thanksgiving became an American Holiday: https://www.surfnetkids.com/thanksgiving/52/history-of-thanksgiving-a-timeline/

Teaching Tolerance article: https://www.tolerance.org/the-moment/november-13-2018-thanksgiving-2018