Native Perspectives on Philbrick's MAYFLOWER: A STORY OF COURAGE, COMMUNITY AND WAR

Editor's note on July 1, 2022: Broken links are now fixed. We are grateful to readers who let us know about typos and broken links. --Debbie

Native Perspectives on Philbrick's Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War

Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War Recently, someone asked if I had read Nathaniel Philbrick's book, Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War. I have not, but there is an article about it in Indian Country Today. The article, "Correcting history: Telling 'our' story" is by Paula Peters, who is Mashpee Wampanoag. For those of you interested in a Native perspective on Philbrick's book, take a look. It was posted November 3rd, 2006 in the Front Page section on the on line paper.

Also in Indian Country Today is an article about a forum, "Forum examines colonization mythology" that took place at U of Massachusetts, Boston, on October 10th. Philbrick was one of the participants. The moderator, Joan Lester, posed these questions: "Are historians obliged to represent all participants? Lester asked. Where does an author go when there are no written sources? Does the reader have a responsibility to develop the critical thinking skills needed to recognize bias? And how do authors and readers move beyond longstanding stereotypes and misconceptions to a fuller, more accurate and respectful telling of the American story?" Both articles are helpful as we think about the ways children are taught about Thanksgiving, and the ways that story is told in children's books.