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Debbie Reese (tribally enrolled, Nambé Pueblo) Profile picture
Debbie Reese (tribally enrolled, Nambé Pueblo)
@debreese
Tewa Name: P'oesay P'oekwîn. Founder: American Indians in Children's Literature. PhD Education. ALA's 2019 Arbuthnot Lecturer. she/her.
3 subscribers
Mar 22, 2022 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
1) People hold stereotypical (romantic or derogatory) views of Native people. Those with the romantic stereotype think they are "honoring" us with their mascots.

Case in point is the Port Neches-Groves, who are in the news for their performance at Disney World. 2) There are studies by researchers who document the harm done by these mascots. Here's one: indianmascots.com/fryberg--web-p…

There are letters from Native organizations, asking schools to stop. In some states, Native ppl have tried to get state legislatures to pass laws abt mascots.
Nov 5, 2021 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
1) If you follow me, I assume you want to revisit what you were taught about Native peoples. That includes taking a critical look at ways we're depicted in children's books. It may include rejecting favorites and reaching for ones that actually help your child know who we are! 2) It is terrific when corporations with high visibility (and therefore power) do right by Native and non-Native children. One example: @nickjr. Take a look at this! Great books that I hope you'll buy and ask for at the library.
Apr 28, 2021 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
Just bought a copy of Dr. Leilani Sabzalian's (@leilanisabz) new book to help me analyze children/teen books about Sacagawea. It includes lesson plans that push against the ways the Lewis and Clark expedition is presented in textbooks.

It decenters Eurocentric perspectives.

It incorporates Indigenous perspectives and connects dots from history to present day issues and events.
Oct 3, 2020 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Started to watch Professor Junko Yokota's "Interpretive and Hidden Controversies in Literature for Children." She begins with "Why are there controversies?" Two of 3 items on that slide are about changes (in perceptions and in norms). Ah! Second slide is about LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE!
Oct 3, 2020 • 17 tweets • 6 min read
1) This photo is from an online page @studiesweekly created. If your district uses materials Studies Weekly creates, children are being mis-educated.

I'll do a brief analysis in this thread. This is only one item in a pages-long unit that is full of errors and bias. 2) "What was" is past tense. That's error #1.

Use of past tense verbs suggests we no longer exist.
Sep 29, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
1) Are you going to a bookstore today? Take a look at children/young adult bk covers -- of bks by Native writers! pinterest.com/dreesenambe/am…

When you tell someone abt one of the bks, say something like "Louise Erdrich is a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians." 2) When you use a sentence like that, your use of the word "is" places us in the present, which is good!

Too many ppl don't realize we're still here. As first ppls of this continent, that mistaken idea that we don't exist is especially troubling. We weren't "wiped out."
Sep 28, 2020 • 12 tweets • 6 min read
1) As you plan for Indigenous Peoples' Day, get a copy of An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, for Young People. @BeaconPressBks published it; @JeanMendoza2016 and I did the young adult adaptation of it from @rdunbaro's original text. Book cover of An Indigenous... 2) Dr. Natalie Martinez did several outstanding lesson plans for the book, including one that ties into chapter 10 (Indigenous Action, Indigenous Rights). As the screen cap shows, "History of Indigenous Peoples' Day" beacon.org/assets/clientp… is written specifically for teachers! Screen capture of the first...Image
Sep 27, 2020 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
1) October 12th is Indigenous Peoples' Day!

Start planning now, to give friends, students, and family members accurate information about who we are! 2) Did you notice I said "are" in that last tweet?

That was deliberate. I want you to make sure people know that we're still here.

So, step one is to start using present tense verbs.
Sep 15, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
In a new presentation I'm working on, I'm building in a segment about the ways that Native peoples are depicted in museum books. Most people read DANNY AND THE DINOSAUR from @HarperCollinsCh but do you remember this page? Image Page six of DANNY AND THE DINOSAUR tells us that Danny looked at Indians, bears, and Eskimos. The images are stereotypical.

Misrepresentations of Native ppl are also in a newer bk, BAILEY AT THE MUSEUM. …ansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2013/01/harry-…
Sep 14, 2020 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
1) From time to time someone writes to ask me about Conrad Richter's THE LIGHT IN THE FOREST. Usually it because a teacher is using the book in their classroom. 2) They write to ask if I've read it. It is one of the many books that I have on my shelves and mean to read/review. I won't likely tweet-review the whole thing. I don't have time for that right now.

THE LIGHT IN THE FOREST was published in 1953. Richter is not Native.
Sep 11, 2020 • 17 tweets • 4 min read
Curious about how Messner and Rex did THE NEXT PRESIDENT... I opened the book. That end page doesn’t bode well. How bad will the erasure of Native ppl and history be? Illustration of US map on a... From some library journals, the book is getting starred reviews. You can read some of them at Barnes and Noble's website. barnesandnoble.com/w/the-next-pre…

Given my interactions with the author and illustrator, I'm disappointed with what I see.
Sep 5, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
As I read the Sept 4, 2020 "Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies" characterizing Critical Race Theory as propaganda, I remember the AZ govt's move against the Mexican American Studies Dept at TUSD, in 2012. Remember that? The fragile white legislators said kids were being taught to overthrow the government. They passed that bogus law, abolished classes, and removed excellent critical thinkings materials, including books by Native and Latinx writers.
Sep 2, 2020 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
I'm watching Marcie Rendon read from her Cash Blackbear books. marcierendon.com She's doing a Facebook event about tuna sandwiches. Cash eats a lot of them in the books. This is delightful! Marcie is fixing up tuna for a sandwich, pausing to read from GIRL GONE MISSING. If you haven't read her books about Cash, do it! If you like crime fiction, this is way better than all those dreadful ones white people write about Native people! Image
Aug 31, 2020 • 13 tweets • 4 min read
Thread:

1) I agree with @BishopNaomi's assessment of @nprbooks list. 2) The list came out today, August 31, 2020. To create it, NPR asked ppl to tell them about favorite bks for kids.

Then, their "expert panel of judges" used the info provided to them and their own expertise (I guess), to make the list.
Aug 18, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I didn't watch DNC2020 last night; am watching now. When national anthem was sung, screens showed people and state names. I am wondering what audience thought when they saw "Cherokee." Screen cap of video of youn... Here's where I am watching:
Aug 10, 2020 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Here's the link! Tune in now (1:00 PM Mountain Time on August 10, 2010): facebook.com/poehculturalce… During his lecture, Dr. Martinez is sharing art by Pueblo artists that depict the revolt. This is a mural inside the Poeh Center: Painting that shows Pueblo ...
Aug 10, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
August 10: 1680

The Pueblo Revolt "In 1675, Po'pay and 46 other Pueblo leaders were convicted of sorcery; he was among those flogged, while others were executed.

In 1680 Po’pay organized the Pueblo Revolt against the Spanish."

aoc.gov/explore-capito…
Aug 3, 2020 • 24 tweets • 5 min read
1) So... a tweet about a Native woman prof at ASU who got COVID and died came into my timeline a few days ago.

Yesterday I started seeing tweets that the person wasn't real. 2) That person was made up by a white woman who, it seems, ran that account, too. Lot of science ppl followed it and "learned" from it.

What did they learn, I wonder?
Jul 25, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Cool! @noblemaillard's FRY BREAD is #1 in Native American books (at Amazon). Our book (@JeanMendoza2016 @rdunbaro), AN INDIGENOUS PEOPLES HISTORY OF THE US FOR YOUNG PEOPLE is #3. (Book in #2 slot is full of problems, hence my red X.) Screen cap of books in best... Of FRY BREAD, one person wrote:

"As I read the author's note--I realized how much I missed in Martinez-Neal's illustrations and in the meaning of Maillard's carefully chose words--the Indigenous people's art (placed carefully in the illustrations at various points)...
Jul 21, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
In 1969, Ann McGovern's IF YOU SAILED ON THE MAYFLOWER IN 1620 was published. Is it on your library shelves? If yes, take a look inside. What do you see? Image Is it tribally specific (name a specific tribal nation)? Or does it use "Indians" instead, thereby mis-educating readers about the diversity across the hundreds of unique tribal nations?
Jul 20, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
1) The Washington Examiner did a story on a new poll that says half of ppl polled want the DC football team to keep its name. They embedded their tweet w/bar graph that shows results. 2) Here's a screen capture of the bar graph and the last line in the article (click on screen cap to see last line of article), which says the poll did not have a category for Native people to respond: Bar graph that shows data f...