English · Lycée général (C1 to C2), Bac pro (B1 to B2)
Session 6: Other voices: a National Day of Mourning
Recap check
What is the only eyewitness account of 1621?
Who proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving in 1863?
Use is said to have in a sentence about 1621.
Answer key
Edward Winslow's letter of December 1621.
Abraham Lincoln.
For example: The Pilgrims are said to have eaten turkey.
Question: Why do some Native Americans mourn on Thanksgiving Day?
Objectives
Read a Wampanoag voice: Wamsutta Frank James, 1970
Understand what a contested memory is
Express a nuanced opinion
Documents
Key document
In 1970, for the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrims' landing, Wamsutta Frank James, an Aquinnah Wampanoag man, was invited to speak. When the organisers read his speech in advance, he was not allowed to deliver it as written. He spoke instead on Cole's Hill in Plymouth on Thanksgiving Day, and the first National Day of Mourning was held. It has taken place every year since.
"I speak to you as a man, a Wampanoag Man." Wamsutta Frank James, 1970
"Although time has drained our culture, and our language is almost extinct, we the Wampanoags still walk the lands of Massachusetts." Wamsutta Frank James, 1970
Another viewpoint
Today the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) are federally recognised nations. The National Museum of the American Indian offers teachers resources that include Wampanoag perspectives on the story.
Activities
Read the extracts: who is speaking, to whom, and why?
List the arguments to keep celebrating and the arguments to rethink the holiday.
Compare with France: are there commemorations that are contested?
Summary: a national memory can be questioned by the people it leaves out.
Exercise
Complete with a linking word (admittedly, however, on balance): 1. ______, Thanksgiving is a family holiday. 2. ______, its story hides dispossession. 3. ______, memory can include several voices.
Answer key1. Admittedly. 2. However. 3. On balance.
Gap-fill worksheet
Word bank: mourning, 1970, Wampanoag, contested, Cole's Hill
The National Day of ______ is held on Thanksgiving Day.
It began in ______.
Wamsutta Frank James was ______.
He spoke on ______ in Plymouth.
A memory that some people question is a ______ memory.
Answer key
mourning
1970
Wampanoag
Cole's Hill
contested
Homework
Write a 120-word paragraph: “Thanksgiving means different things to different Americans.” Use admittedly, however and on balance.
Answer keyModel answer: Admittedly, for many families Thanksgiving is a day of gratitude and sharing. However, for some Native Americans it recalls the loss of land and lives, which is why a National Day of Mourning has been held in Plymouth since 1970. On balance, the holiday can be celebrated while its history is told more fully.