Indians of North America

The popular image of the North American Indian is of a wild brave, dressed in buckskin and feathers, living in a tepee and riding bareback across the plains after the buffalo. Your students can find that Indian in this primary source portfolio, but they will also find some of the hundreds of other, different tribes, each with its own language, dress and lifestyle, who at one time or another, inhabited the continent. Early settlers labeled the Indians as brutal savages, though they drove them from their lands in a way which now appears far more savage than anything perpetrated by the Indians themselves. This portfolio shows the Indians in their traditional role as fearless fighters, and brilliant hunters and trackers, able to survive in hostile forest or barren desert. It also shows the enormous variety of people who call themselves Indian and it illustrates those aspects of their lives for which they should be much better known. These aspects include their superb and spontaneous art, the legends and myths by which they explained the world about them, and the humane and sensible ways in which they were capable of organizing their societies. It shows how they retained their courage and dignity even in the confines of the reservation or at the senseless massacre of Wounded Knee. Students will enjoy craft activities, such as following instructions on how to bake beans, Indian style, and make moccasins. Each item sheds more light on the imagination and courage of a great peoples. This portfolio includes a Resource Book with reproducible student activities. 10 Primary Source Documents: * A map of North America, showing the distribution of some of the best known tribes * Famous Indian chiefs, a picture sheet * The religion of the Indians * Indian myths * Ceremonial masks, with instructions on how to make one * Hunting the buffalo, picture by modern Indian artist Blackbear Bosin * Indian houses * Indian art: a four-color picture sheet * Last page of a Hopi petition to the government in 1894, signed with totemic symbols * How to do it: a strip of Indian secrets and methods Resource Book Sections: * Teacher's notes * Words: Vocabulary List * Words: Analogies * Voices to Remember: Practice in quotation * Writing History: Myth Maker * Workout: Charting a Culture * Branching Out: Search and Research * Subjects of Interest * Roundtable Activity