- Students will find on their desk a letter from the Secretary
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In this letter they will find what
the scenario entails. They will role play a Quaker who is applying for
a job as the Indian Agent for the Comanche Reservation in Oklahoma, and
must prepare for an interview for the position. They learn as they read
the letter that they can use online
primary sources to find information.
- Students will then try to define exactly what it is that they are to do.
- They will answer the three main PBL questions:
- What do we know?
- What do we need to know?
- How do we find needed information.
- Students then assign information retrieval to selected students who will then share
what they find with the group.
- On the second day, class starts with sharing of found information. Other students then
ask follow-up questions to gain a better idea of what is there.
- This continues for three or four days until students are ready for the interview. On the
day of the interview, an actor who plays the interviewer comes into class
and role plays the official. Students take turns interviewing and answering
questions. An alternative is to have students write a letter to the official,
foregoing the interview.
Daniel J. Boorstin.
The Americans: the colonial experience. (New York: Random House
1958)
(See: "How the Quakers misjudged the Indians," Chapter 9.
A chapter on the Quakers, Indians and Scotch-Irish in Pennsylvania in
the 1700s.)
Lyman Hardeman.
Texas Timeline: Key Events
in early Texas. (Lone Star Junction, college Station, TX, 1998.) 1998.
Note: Includes accounts of the Council
House Massacre and Buffalo Hump's Great Raid through Texas in retaliation
would be helpful to review. This is covered somewhat online in story of the Battle
of Plum Creek and Comanche
History (see Part Two), which also discusses the story of Cynthia Ann Parker
(mother of the great Comanche Chief, Quanah
Parker).
Thomas James.
Three
Years Among the Indians and Mexicans (Waterloo, IL: Printed at the
office of the "War Eagle," 1846). Dean Rudy, Mountain Men and the Fur Trade:
Library of Fur Trade Historical Source Documents, Diaries, Narratives,
and Letters of the Mountain Men.
"Thomas James (1782-1847) published this book in 1846. It tells about
his adventures on the Upper Missouri in 1809 with the Missouri Fur Company,
and his later adventures as one of the first American traders in Santa
Fe and with the Comanche Indians. His book is an important historical source
for both of these events."
Note: If you use a keyword search of the pages,
his spelling of Comanche is "camanche"
Alan LeMay.
The Searchers. (New York: Harper, 1954) See especially The
Searchers, the John Ford (dir.) film classic starring John Wayne. Based
on the novel by Alan LeMay.
Larry McMurtry.
Dead man's walk : a novel by Larry McMurtry. (New York: Simon & Schuster,
c1995).
Note: See either film or book. Shows the impotence of Texans with
regard to the Comanche before the Civil War. Rather depressing story, but
shows the impact of the Texas Rangers.
Charles Cornelius Coffin Painter.
The condition of affairs in Indian Territory and California.
A report by Prof. C.C. Painter, agent of the Indian rights association.
(Philadelphia, Indian rights association, 1888.) Online. Library of Congress
American Memory. 1998.
Note: Although Painter's report was written after the period of our
scenario for Reservation Controversies, the author's observations are helpful
in establishing historical context and continuity. Painter was an agent
of the Indian Rights Association, headquartered in Philadelphia. The document
(1888) reports his findings at the Seger Colony and Cheyenne, Arapahoe,
Anadarko, Iowa, Comanche, Wichita, and Ponca agencies and reservations
in the Indian Territory, and also visits some Indian settlements and reservations
in California. (See pages 34-41 for his observations of the Comanches.)
Noah Smithwick.
The
Evolution of a State, or Recollections of Old Texas Days, (Austin: Gammel
Book Company, 1900).
Online. Lone Star Junction, Southwestern Classics
On-line. 1998.
Note: See
- Chapter XIII (Camping with Comanches; Comanche language; Social
and domestic customs; Indian song;)
- Chapter XIV, which includes some excellent observations on the potential
for peaceful coexistence with the Comanches
- Chapter XV (Stone House Fight;
Second attempt to treat with Comanches; Narrow escapes)
- Chapter XV, which
contains stories of conflicts with the Comanches
- Chapter XIX has some
graphic accounts of battles and hostages, and reflections on failed treaties;
- Chapter XXVI describes episodes of a wagon train's contacts with hostile
Comanches as it headed toward New Mexico and Arizona. Collectively, these
accounts give a broad view of the settlers toward the Comanches, over a
period of time. “From the time he first arrived in Texas in 1827 at the
age of nineteen, Noah Smithwick was involved in many of the events in the
evolution of Texas. For the next thirty-four years before leaving for California
just prior to the Civil War, he became closely acquainted with many well-known
Texans, several Comanche chiefs, and a large and varied assortment of early
Texas pioneers.”
Needed is a primary source document of Indian accounts of dealing with Texans,
which would be helpful. Probably something surrounding the Comanche Chief Quanah
Parker.
Needed is the account of a kidnapped woman, Sarah Plummer (?) who was kidnapped
along with the famous Cynthia Ann Parker (mother of the great Comanche Chief,
Quanah
Parker). Very powerful stories that shaped many Texan's views of Comanches.
Students will be tested on their grasp
of the problem during a mock interview for the position of Indian Agent,
for which they are applying. The interview will be conducted by a volunteer
who is coached for the role by the teacher, ahead of time. The teacher
observes the interview from the sidelines. Students also observe as each
student rotates into the applicant's chair, facing the interviewer across
the desk. They are at the front of the classroom. Each student has a minimum
of 1.5 minutes in the interview.
Students are graded according to how
well they can answer a series of verbal questions related to the predicament
(balancing the needs of Comanches and settlers, who are mostly of Scotch-Irish
descent), as outlined in their letter notifying them of their scheduled
interview.
Their degree of preparation will clearly demonstrated
in the interview, as the interviewer will be allowed follow up questions.
Seeing the many sides of the issue is critical:
students who are well prepared will not become very partisan or blaming
of one side or the other.
Students will demonstrate that they are
familiar with the history and nature of the difficult relations of the
Comanches with the Texans, based on their readings of primary sources.
Students will demonstrate an understanding of
the differences between the "Quaker" approach, and that of "other popular
approaches," as mentioned "by Dr. Eleazar Thomas (by way of Pastor
Oscar Penn Fitzgerald)" in the prompt.
Students will show they understand all sides of
the issues, and in doing so demonstrate they would make a good Indian agent
who will protect the rights of both Comanches and settlers.
Students will be able to respond to with solutions
to problems which are based on their readings of primary source documents
linked to the resources pages.
Their responses will demonstrate that they can
offer suggestions that could make the reservation idea work for both sides,
based on approaches described in the resources.
An adequate performance will answer the questions with basic facts, and perhaps have some difficulty
with some follow up questions.
A good performance will offer responses with reasonable
ease, and reply to follow up questions with moderate elaboration.
A superior performance will offer responses with
ease and demonstrate an ability to elaborate on follow up questions.
