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The People…Native Americans

The People…Native Americans
[Detail] Hosteen Yellow's Grandbaby, 1991.
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"These lands are ours. No one has a right to remove us because we were the first owners. The Great Spirit above has appointed the place for us, on which to light our fires, and here we will remain." ~ Tecumseh, Native American chief, in a message to Pres. James Madison, 1810

primary source set

This Primary Source Set includes images, documents, maps, sound files, motion pictures, political cartoons and analysis tools to help teach about attempts to "assimilate" Native Americans by replacing their traditional ways with those sanctioned by the U.S. government.

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online resources
Especially for Teachers...

American Indians - (Learning Page Pathfinder) Explore these collections for materials related to Indians of North America.

American Indians of the Pacific Northwest: Ten Essays - (Special Presentation) These essays on specific tribal groups and cross-cultural topics were written by anthropologists, historians and teachers.

American Indians/Native Americans - (Special Presentation) Explore images of Native Americans in the Photographs from the Chicago Daily News collection.

American Memory Timeline: Colonial Settlement, 1600s – 1763 - (Feature) This timeline segment links to resources documenting Virginia’s early relations with Native Americans.

American Memory Timeline: The New Nation 1783-1815 - (Feature) This timeline segment links to documents related to government policy toward Native Americans during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Edward S. Curtis in Context - (Special Presentation) Learn about Edward Curtis, photographer and publisher of the twenty volume set – The North American Indian.

Elections the American Way: Native Americans and the Vote - (Feature) Learn how traditional decision making among Native Americans differed from our current method of self-government.

Geographic Guide to the Edward S. Curtis’s North American Indian Collection - (Special Presentation) Use this guide to locate images by tribe or culture area.

Guide to the Law Online: United States Native American Peoples - (Internet Resources) This annotated guide from the Law Library of Congress links to primary documents, legal commentary and general information on the topic.

Images of Indians of North America - (Prints and Photographs) This essay provides an overview of the more than 17,000 pictorial images of native peoples available in the Prints and Photographs Division.

Immigration: Native American - (Feature)This segment of the Learning Page Immigration feature focuses on the history of the treatment of Native Americans in the United States.

In the Beginning Was the Word: The Russian Church and Native Alaskan Cultures - (Exhibition) This exhibit documents the exchanges that took place between the priests of the Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska and Native Alaskans, during the years 1794 to about 1915.

Indian Affairs 1789-1827 - (Document) Browse Volume 1(1789-1814) and Volume 2(1815-1827) in the American State Papers for Congressional documents and legislation concerning Native Americans.

Indian Land Cessions in the United States, 1784-1894 - (Special Presentation) Locate maps and tables by date, tribe and state/territory in this Century of Lawmaking presentation of United States Serial Set, Number 4015.

Indian Removal Act - (Library of Congress Bibliography) Read about this 1830 act authorizing the president to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders.

Indian Treaty Signed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire - (Exhibition) This 1713 treaty featured in the Words and Deeds collection includes Native American pictograph signatures.

Indians of North America - (Internet Resources) A collection of annotated Web sites selected by Humanities and Social Sciences Division subject specialists of the Library of Congress.

Indians of North America: Selected Resources - (Library of Congress Bibliography) This guide is a compilation of many of the resources on the Indians of North America available at the Library of Congress as well as selected resources outside the Library.

List of the Treaties Between the United States and the Indian Tribes - (Document) This list and detailed information from Statutes at Large documents Indian Treaties dating from 1778-1842.

Native American Women - (Special Presentation) This gallery presents images depicting daily life for late-19th-century Native American women of the plains and the desert southwest.

Native American Women Writers Discuss New Book, Sister Nations - (Cybercast) View the March, 2003 cybercast of editors and writers discussing this anthology of fiction, prose and poetry celebrating Native American women.

Native Peoples of Alaska, The - (International) This chapter of the Meeting of Frontiers collaborative digital library provides information on the indigenous peoples of Alaska.

North American Indian - (Internet Resources) Link to the full text of the twenty volumes of narrative text and photogravure images of Edward Sheriff Curtis's The North American Indian.

Omaha Indian Music Album Booklet - (Special Presentation) Read essays, acknowledgments, technical notes and a bibliography in this booklet that accompanied the 1985 Omaha Indian Music: Historical Recordings from the Fletcher/La Flesche Collection album.

Stereograph Cards - (Prints and Photographs) Search this collection using the term "Indians of North America" to locate more than 70 stereographic images of Native Americans.

Western Life and Indian Fighting - (Prints and Photographs) View a selection of images depicting Native Americans from the online version of Pictorial Americana.


  Especially for your Students...

Alaska Native Heritage Center - (Local Legacies) This Anchorage center highlights traditional ways of Alaska Native cultures. Explore Local Legacies for featured celebrations from your own state.

American Treasures: An American Pastime - (Exhibition) Native Americans at the Carlisle Indian School were encouraged to play games like football.

American Treasures: Cherokee Newspaper - (Exhibition) Cherokee Phoenix was the first Native American tribal newspaper to be published in North America.

American Treasures: Courting Flutes - (Exhibition) Flutes played special roles in Native American music.

American Treasures: Indian Map of Ohio River Country - (Exhibition) This map was drawn by a Native American.

American Treasures: Portfolio of the North American Indian - (Exhibition) From the 1890s to the 1930s, Edward S. Curtis photographed approximately eighty different Native American groups and published a twenty-eight volume work called the The North American Indian.

American Treasures: The Voices of America - (Exhibition) The first field recordings of Native American music contain Passamaquoddy songs, tales and vocabulary.

American Treasures: The Winter Count - (Exhibition) Native Americans used a winter count to record noteworthy events in tribal life over a period of years.

Artist's Depiction of Navaho Children, Ray Swanson - (Local Legacies) Hosteen Yellow's Grandbaby, the work featured in the Native American community center, was painted in 1991 by Arizona artist Ray Swanson.

Edward S. Curtis's the North American Indian: Photographic Images - (Special Presentation) Use this thematic subject index to locate images of Native Americans in the Curtis collection.

Jump Back in Time: Jackson Signed the Treaty of Fort Jackson - (America’s Library)How did Andrew Jackson earn the nickname Long Knife?

Jump Back in Time: June 2, 1924 - (America's Library) On this date, Congress granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the U.S.

Jump Back in Time: June 25, 1876 - (America's Library) Read about the Battle of Little Big Horn, often referred to as Custer's Last Stand.

Jump Back in Time: May 28, 1888 - (America's Library) World class athlete Jim Thorpe was born on this date.

Jump Back in Time: October 3, 1790 - (America’s Library) Learn about Chief Little John and the Trail of Tears.

Jump Back in Time: October 5, 1877 - (America's Library) Chief Joseph surrendered on this date.

Jump Back in Time: September 10, 1608 - (America’s Library) John Smith became a leader of Jamestown.

Meet Amazing Americans: Pocahontas - (America’s Library) Read about Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan, an important chief of the Algonquian Indians who lived in the Virginia region.

Native American Vocabulary - (Learning Page Activity) Challenge students to match Native American place names with their map locations.

Navajo Code Talkers - (Cybercast) View an interview with Sam Billison, Keith Little, and Sam Smith who served as Navajo Code Talkers during World War II. (scroll down page)

Poetry 180: The Last Wolf - (Poetry and Literature) Read a poem by Native American author Mary Tallmountain.

Today in History (August 9, 1814) Creek Indians Surrender - (Today in History) On this date, Major General Andrew Jackson signed the Treaty of Fort Jackson ending the Creek War.

Today in History (June 2, 1924) Citizenship Granted - (Today in History) On this date, Congress granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the U.S.

Today in History (June 25, 1876) Custer’s Last Stand - (Today in History) George Armstrong Custer and the 265 men under his command lost their lives in the Battle of Little Big Horn

Today in History (October 14, 1891) Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins - (Today in History) Read about the first Native American woman known to secure a copyright and publish in the English language.

Today in History (October 3, 1790) John Ross Was Born - (Today in History) Little John John Ross, Chief of the United Cherokee Nation from 1839 to 1866, was born on this date.(scroll down the page to find Little John)

Today in History (October 5, 1877) Chief Joseph Surrenders - (Today in History) Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians surrendered in the Bear Paw Mountains of Montana.


lesson plans

Use these lesson plans (created by educators for educators) to explore topics about Native Americans with your students in your classroom:

Indian Boarding Schools: Civilizing the Native Spirit - (Grades 6-9) Students explore the forced acculturation of American Indians through government-run boarding schools.

Reservation Controversies - (Grades 6-8) Students are confronted with two real world problems regarding Native Americans, which have no preconceived right or wrong answers.


bibliography

Is there a title (or two) that you always read to (or with) your students when teaching about this theme? Are there invaluable reference books that you use? Staff from The Library of Congress have begun a collection of titles for the "The People…Native Americans" theme. We hope you will contribute your favorites to our growing bibliography!

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collection connections

Create your own collaborative lesson plans using material related to this month's theme assembled from The Learning Page Collection Connections:

American Indians of the Pacific Northwest - (Summary and Teaching Resources) The documents and photographs in this collection tell the story of Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest, from their first contact with European explorers in the 18th century to life on reservations in the 20th century.

History of the American West: 1860-1920: Photographs from the Collection of the Denver Public Library - (Summary and Teaching Resources) This collection of over 30,000 photographs documenting the history of the American West includes images that depict the lives of Native Americans from more than forty tribes living west of the Mississippi River.

Edward S. Curtis - (Summary and Teaching Resources) This collection presents the 2226 photographs taken by Edward S. Curtis for his work The North American Indian .Included are images of tribes from Great Plains, Great Basin, Plateau Region, Southwest, California, Pacific Northwest, and Alaska.

Omaha Indian Music - (Summary Only) This collection features a hundred years of traditional Omaha music ranging from 1890s wax cylinders to 1980s powwows, speeches and interviews.

search terms

These terms may be useful when searching for items related to this theme in the American Memory collections.

Bison hunting Indians of North America economics Names of individuals
Indian agents Indians of North America folklore Names of tribes
Indian dance Indians of North America government relations Peace pipes or Calumets
Indian encampments Indians of North America hunting Pow-wow
Indian reservations Indians of North America maps Teepees
Indians of North America Indians of North America spiritual life  
Indians of North America agriculture Indians of North America treaties  
Indians of North America arts and crafts Indigenous peoples  
Indians of North America census Native Americans  

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Last updated 10/09/2003