Thanksgiving lessons jettison Pilgrim hats, welcome truth

A friendly feast shared by the plucky Pilgrims and their native neighbors? That’s yesterday’s Thanksgiving story.

Students in many U.S. schools are now learning a more complex lesson that includes conflict, injustice and a new focus on the people who lived on the land for hundreds of years before European settlers arrived and named it New England.

Inspired by the nation’s reckoning with systemic racism, schools are scrapping and rewriting lessons that treated Native Americans as a footnote in a story about white settlers. Instead of making Pilgrim hats, students are hearing what scholars call “hard history” — the more shameful aspects of the past.

Susannah Remillard writes on the board for her sixth-grade class at Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, in East Harwich, Mass. In a growing number of U.S. schools, students are now learning a more complex Thanksgiving story that involves conflict, injustice and a new focus on the native people who lived in New England for hundreds of years before European settlers arrived. (AP PhotoElise Amendola)

Students still learn about the 1621 feast, but many are also learning that peace between the Pilgrims and Native Americans was always uneasy and later splintered into years of conflict.

On Cape Cod, language arts teacher Susannah Remillard long found that her sixth grade students had been taught far more about the Pilgrims than the Wampanoag people, the Native Americans who attended the feast. Now she's trying to balance the narrative.

She asks students to rewrite the Thanksgiving story using historical records, and then she asks them to write a poem from the perspective of a person from that time, half settlers and half Wampanoag.

Susannah Remillard teaches her sixth-grade students at Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, in East Harwich, Mass. In a growing number of U.S. schools, students are now learning a more complex Thanksgiving story that involves conflict, injustice and a new focus on the native people who lived in New England for centuries before European settlers arrived. (AP PhotoElise Amendola)

“We carry this Colonial view of how we teach, and now we have a moment to step outside that and think about whether that is harmful for kids, and if there isn’t a better way,” said Remillard, who teaches at Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School in East Harwich, Massachusetts. “I think we are at a point where people are now ready to listen.”

In Arlington Public Schools near Boston, students until recently dressed annually in Colonial attire. Now taboo, the costumes were abolished in 2018, and the district is working to expand and correct classroom teachings on Native Americans, including debunking Thanksgiving myths.

Students as young as kindergarten are now being taught that harvest feasts have been part of Wampanoag life since long before 1621, and that thanksgiving is a daily part of life for many tribes.

FILE - In this Sept. 25, 2020, file photo, Annawon Weeden sits for a portrait outside his home in Oakdale, Conn. As schools rethink Thanksgiving lessons, many are also looking to expand lessons on native cultures throughout the year. And while schools are increasingly turning to lessons created by native educators, some are also working to bring native voices directly into the classroom. A growing number of schools around Boston have started hosting annual visits from Weeden, a performing artist and member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. (AP PhotoDavid Goldman, File)

They're also being taught that the Pilgrims and Wampanoag were not friends, and that it's important to “unlearn” false notions around the feast.

“We don’t want the coloring books of the Pilgrims and the Native Americans,” said Crystal Power, a social studies coach. “We want students to engage with what really happened, with who lived here first, and to understand that there was no such thing as the New World. It was only new from one side’s perspective.”

Advocates for Indigenous education caution there's still much to improve. Change has been slow and spotty, they say, and many schools cling to insensitive traditions, including costumed dramas and paper headdresses.

A sixth-grade student in Susannah Remillard's classroom works on her laptop at Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, in East Harwich, Mass. In a growing number of U.S. schools, students are now learning a more complex Thanksgiving story that involves conflict, injustice and a new focus on the native people who lived in New England for hundreds of years before European settlers arrived. (AP PhotoElise Amendola)

“Progress seems to be gaining momentum, but there’s still a lot of work to do,” said Ed Schupman, manager of Native Knowledge 360, the national education initiative at the National Museum of the American Indian, and a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma. “Change is still needed, and it has only been significant in some places.”

Schupman and the museum have worked with states as they create new teaching standards on Indigenous cultures. Montana in 1999 was among the first to require schools to teach tribal histories and is now joined by Washington, Oregon and others.

Even in states where it isn't mandatory, however, classrooms are becoming more inclusive.

Sixth-grade students listen to instruction in Susannah Remillard's class at Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, in East Harwich, Mass. In a growing number of U.S. schools, students are now learning a more complex Thanksgiving story that involves conflict, injustice and a new focus on the native people who lived in New England for hundreds of years before European settlers arrived. (AP PhotoElise Amendola)

After national protests over killings of Black people by police, Arlington's history department created a committee to examine race, which led to discussions about expanding and correcting teachings about African Americans, Native Americans and other groups too often left out.

In recent guidance, the nearby Brookline school district urged teachers to incorporate native perspectives even on topics not necessarily specific to Indigenous people. It encourages lessons, for example, on the coronavirus' impact on Native Americans, and on Neilson Powless, who recently became the first Native American in the Tour de France.

Although schools say parents have mostly embraced the changes, they acknowledge it can be polarizing. Prominent lawmakers have resisted efforts to rethink Thanksgiving, including Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a Republican who last week blasted “revisionist charlatans of the radical left."

Susannah Remillard, right, works with one of her sixth-grade students at Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, in East Harwich, Mass. In a growing number of U.S. schools, students are now learning a more complex Thanksgiving story that involves conflict, injustice and a new focus on the native people who lived in New England for hundreds of years before European settlers arrived. (AP PhotoElise Amendola)

“Too many may have lost the civilizational self-confidence needed to celebrate the Pilgrims,” Cotton said.

School officials say they aren't changing history, but adding parts that have been left out. Standard social studies textbooks have included little about Native Americans, and alternatives were long elusive. Teachers say that's changing, thanks to native scholars who have authored children's books, lesson plans and other materials.

In Massachusetts this year, every public school is getting copies of a new state history book co-written by a Wampanoag author and historian. The book was published to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s arrival, but it notably begins thousands of years earlier, with the history of the Wampanoag people.

Susannah Remillard, background standing, walks among her sixth-grade students at Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, in East Harwich, Mass. In a growing number of U.S. schools, students are now learning a more complex Thanksgiving story that involves conflict, injustice and a new focus on the native people who lived in New England for hundreds of years before European settlers arrived. (AP PhotoElise Amendola)

Many schools are also adding lessons on native cultures through the year, including around Columbus Day, which some districts now mark as Indigenous Peoples Day. More are also looking for ways to bring Indigenous voices directly into the classroom.

Before the pandemic, schools around Boston hosted annual visits from Annawon Weeden, a performing artist and member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.

Weeden makes a point of arriving in modern clothes to dispel faulty notions about Indigenous people. Only after taking questions and debunking myths does he change into traditional regalia and demonstrate tribal dances.

Susannah Remillard speaks in her sixth-grade classroom at Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, in East Harwich, Mass. In a growing number of U.S. schools, students are now learning a more complex Thanksgiving story that involves conflict, injustice and a new focus on the native people who lived in New England for hundreds of years before European settlers arrived. (AP PhotoElise Amendola)

“A lot of the kids think we’re only in the past. A lot of the kids think we live in a longhouse or a teepee or whatever,” Weeden said. “Stereotypes like those are very hard to defeat.”

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Almost from the moment that Glenn Youngkin became Virginia's governor four years ago, the political world has wondered what's next for a Republican who seemed to keep one foot in the MAGA movement and the other in the party's traditional country club establishment.

He's still not ready to say.

Does he want to be president? “I’m focused on Virginia,” he said.

Does he want to lead the Department of Homeland Security? “I don’t play that game.”

What about another role in President Donald Trump's administration? “I have been incredibly focused every day on what we need to do to transform Virginia.”

During an interview with The Associated Press, Youngkin insisted that he's not looking ahead to after he's replaced by Democrat Abigail Spanberger next month. But there's little doubt that he's been preparing for a post-Trump future that has not yet arrived, leaving someone long considered to be a potential Republican star without a clear next move.

This past summer, Youngkin headlined annual party dinners in Iowa and South Carolina, early primary states that would be natural launchpads for a presidential campaign. The ex-Carlyle Group executive has a personal fortune that could fuel a candidacy, if he chose to pursue one.

“If Glenn Youngkin runs for president, I’m 100% in,” said Republican Delegate Israel O’Quinn, a longtime Virginia lawmaker. “I think he would make a fantastic president — if that’s what he wants to do.”

Others say he missed his opportunity.

“You can probably find some red sweater vests” — a sartorial signature of Youngkin — “on sale down at the thrift store for $1, and that’s on the record,” Democratic Virginia Sen. Scott Surovell said.

Youngkin quickly became a Republican to watch after defeating Democratic stalwart Terry McAuliffe in 2021. Trump was still lying low after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters, and some party leaders were eager to find another standard-bearer.

A politician who could energize the MAGA base and court swing voters in a purple state seemed like a promising possibility.

But by the time 2024 rolled around, Youngkin passed on jumping into the race. Trump steamrolled the competition on the way to the Republican nomination, then won a second term.

With Trump back in the White House, Youngkin has been a stalwart supporter. He embraced the administration's cuts to the federal workforce and other programs, despite its unpopularity among many Virginians who rely on neighboring Washington for their livelihoods.

Richmond-based political strategist Bob Holsworth described Youngkin as someone who went from “MAGA lite to full MAGA” in four years.

“He’s made this calculation: That’s where the Republican Party is, and that’s where it’s going,” Holsworth said. He added, “But at the same time, whether he can actually connect to the MAGA base, I think, is an open question.”

Alex Conant, a Republican strategist, was more confident about Youngkin's ability to straddle party factions in the future.

“If Trump’s political stock falls, the MAGA movement will still be important,” he said. “Youngkin has shown an ability to appeal to both Trump supporters and Republicans who are the first to fall away from Trump.”

Virginia governors aren't allowed to serve consecutive terms, giving them only four years to make their mark before it's time to decide what's next.

Youngkin tried to demonstrate political finesse as governor. He charmed donors with his private equity background and suburban-dad polish. In his office at a Virginia government building, Youngkin had Legos on the coffee table and a basketball prominently on display. Shovels from business groundbreakings lined the wall.

“Virginia is as strong as she’s ever been,” Youngkin said in the interview, nearly identically repeating what he had said to lawmakers this year. “Financially, she’s stronger than she’s ever been. Economically, there’s more opportunity than we’ve ever had, and we’re growing.”

But there were challenges along the way, including legislative stalemate with Democrats who expanded their control of the state legislature during Youngkin's term. The governor vetoed roughly 400 bills passed by the legislature, and Democratic lawmakers doomed many of his initiatives, such as building a new arena for the Washington Wizards and Capitals in Virginia.

Youngkin's relationship with Trump ebbed and flowed, too. In 2022, Trump mocked the governor's name on social media by saying it “sounds Chinese” and accused Youngkin of not appreciating MAGA support. They later appeared to reconcile, and this year the president described Youngkin as “a great governor, one of the great governors in our country.”

Youngkin returned the favor, saying Trump was “making America great again, and along with that, making Virginia great as well.”

But the embrace did not pay off politically. Youngkin's chosen successor, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, lost by 15 points to Spanberger last month. Republicans also lost 13 seats in the House of Delegates.

Democrats notched similar victories in New Jersey, demonstrating momentum they hope will carry them to a blue wave in the midterms.

Youngkin pushed back on the idea that Trump's agenda — and his support of it — contributed to the losses, arguing that the 43-day federal government shutdown “became a cacophony around everything” for voters.

He also rebuffed the idea that Trump's absence on the campaign trail contributed to Virginia Republicans' defeat. The president did not campaign in the state and didn't endorse Earle-Sears by name.

“He described her as an excellent candidate,” Youngkin said of Trump's endorsement. “He described her opponent as a bad candidate. He did two tele-town halls, which is one more than he did for me when I was running.”

Youngkin may not blame Trump for Virginia's losses, but some of Trump's most loyal allies have faulted the governor.

“Glenn Youngkin, you just ended your political career last night,” Steve Bannon's WarRoom posted on X following the November election. “You destroyed the Republican Party in Virginia for a GENERATION.”

He said Youngkin shouldn't have backed Earle-Sears, who once described Trump as a liability to the party.

Meanwhile, Virginia Democrats also credit Youngkin for their November victories, arguing he leaned too hard to the right while leading a purple state.

“I think he’s gonna look in the mirror and, and regret his embrace of all the MAGA nonsense,” said Surovell, the state Senate majority leader.

Follow the AP's coverage of Glenn Youngkin at https://apnews.com/hub/glenn-youngkin.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin gestures during an interview in his office at the Capitol Wednesday Dec. 10, 2025, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin gestures during an interview in his office at the Capitol Wednesday Dec. 10, 2025, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin gestures during an interview in his office at the Capitol Wednesday Dec. 10, 2025, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin gestures during an interview in his office at the Capitol Wednesday Dec. 10, 2025, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin gestures during an interview in his office at the Capitol Wednesday Dec. 10, 2025, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)