Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/20186
dayS lives and the lives of their children rather than submit to the conqueror. Steinruck belongs to the Absentee Shawnee tribe, which received the name nearly a century ago because tribal elders were absent during the federal government’s census count in Oklaho- ma. For many years he was chair of CTA’s American Indian/Alaska Native Caucus. “When I was a boy growing up in Cali- fornia, we got Columbus Day off from school, and I never knew why until I got in- to high school,” says Steinruck, a member of the Del Norte Teachers Association. “But as I delved into history, I saw it as much more than taking a day off. It was really a day to cry and a day for mourning.” The behavior of Columbus toward Native Americans set the stage for mistreatment that continued until fairly recent times, notes Steinruck, including the forced sterilization of Native American women and mandatory boarding school for children, which contin- ued through the 1970s. Steinruck asks his students to compare the 1948 United Nations convention on genocide with how Native Americans were treated. “I am one of very few Native American teachers in California, and I want you to know the truth,” Steinruck says to students. “We must know the whole story, not just bits and pieces. We must know the facts so we can educate others.” While Thanksgiving is a less controversial holiday, some teachers are rethinking how it should be taught, with more emphasis on Na- tive American culture and the spirit of giving. Many schools hold multicultural “harvest celebrations” and ask students to bring a dish reflecting their own nationality. Loewen maintains that during the first Thanksgiving, the Wampanoag Indians and the Pilgrims did get along peacefully. How- ever, the feast was a precursor of terrible things to come for Native Americans, in- cluding wars and the Indian Removal Act. CTA Board member Marty Meeden, a member of the Paiute tribe from Mono Lake, resents the “paper bag” Indian cos- tume worn by students in Thanksgiving re-enactments, since it implies that Indian culture is disposable and can be wadded up and thrown away. Youngsters wear feathers in school Thanks- giving celebrations, without realizing the religious significance feathers play in the lives of Native Americans, Meeden observes. Other regalia mimicked in paper have religious sig- ABOVE: Matthew De Lucia-Zeltzer reads from Encounter by Jane Yolen to his students at Cesar Chavez Elementary in San Francisco. nificance for Native Americans and can only be worn after undergoing a “rite of passage,” such as surviving for several days in the wil- derness without food or water. “Could you imagine students re-enacting the Last Supper of Christ and having all of his disciplines wearing paper bags?” asks Meeden. “People would not tolerate this. But somehow it’s okay when it happens to other cultures.” Continued on page 36 Resources for teaching about Columbus Day and Thanksgiving > Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, by James W. Loewen, critically examines 12 popular American history textbooks and concludes that textbook authors propagate false, mythologized views of history. > Encounter, by Jane Yolen, is an account of the arrival of Columbus on the island of San Salvador, as viewed through the eyes of a Taino boy. > 500 Nations, an eight-part television documentary hosted by Kevin Costner, surveys the history of Native Americans of North and Central America from pre- Columbian times to the end of the 19th century. LEFT: Don Steinruck teaches his students at Smith River Elementary School about Columbus’ cruel treat- ment of Native Americans. > http://indigenouscaribbean.wordpress.com/ directory/tainos-greater-caribbean-usa provides information about the Tainos and other indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. NOVEMBER 2010 | www.cta.org 21