I saw this guide shared a lot, then I started seeing the following appended, giving major caveats and in effect retracting the recommendation:
The following are the Notes/First impressions from Nitana Hicks Greendeer, Mashpee Wampanoag educator, shared with permission* [although I’m not sure to whom and for what purposes] from a decolonizing homeschoolers education group:
"There are no names of Wampanoag people [credited] as authors
Primary objectives
Wampanoag is pronounced WAM-pa-nog [this curriculum incorrectly lists as Wah-pa-noah]
Recommended books
This list has some specifically problematic books (Squanto and the first Thanksgiving for example) but also includes many (most?) that are not about Wampanoag people which to me gives an uneducated person the impression of a single homogenous culture of native people.
Quick facts
“The Separatists/English roamed Provincetown…” missed opportunity here to talk about the theft of found food stores and grave robbery.
“Only one Patuxet survived…” this is inaccurate.
“Tisquantum was fluent in English…” missed opportunity to talk about why he knew English – he was previously kidnapped by English
“the ‘first meal’…” allows the reader to belive the Wampanoag men were invited, which they were not, but rather arrived armed after hearing gunfire. When they contributed food to the feast they were still disallowed entry to the house and eat “with” the English
“The Wampanoag gave thanks…” relegating to the past. We GIVE thanks. And cranberry day is one of many events which are a fraction of thanksgiving ceremonies and celebrations still practiced
“English were tortured and imprisoned for revolutionary puritan beliefs” makes it sound, because of the context of the rest of the facts, that they were tortured and imprisoned by Wampanoag people.
The goal “I can recognize that people from other cultures have different languages, clothing, food, homes” seems to be othering Native people from white people, as opposed to highlighting that the over 575 federally recognized tribes (and another 60+ state recognized tribes) are all different from each other.
What connection is being made to Thanksgiving when talking about these tribes (in Wyoming for example in the case of the Indian Paintbrush story) What does this have to do with Thanksgiving? They are 2000 miles apart and culturally extremely different.
Problematic craft projects:
War bonnets, dream catchers, shields maybe. I am not from tribes that use these items but I would hesitate to make crafts out of these items, ESPECIALLY the war bonnets.
And again, I do not understand how any of these, except the corn/beans/squash lesson, relate to the myth of Thanksgiving or Wampanoag people."
*https://www.facebook.com/groups/305758670459158/posts/619658322402523
