Unit 3: Cultural Conflicts In Wisconsin
by
Dr. Ava L. McCall and Thelma Ristow
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European American-Native American Conflicts |
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This unit will focus on the cultural conflicts among the six federally recognized Native American tribes located in Wisconsin: the Oneida, Anishinabe-Ojibwa, Menominee, Potawatomi, Menominee, and the Ho-Chunk and European Americans from the early 1800s to the present. The unit will include the main themes which illustrate cultural conflicts including treaties and treaty rights; removal to reservations; allotment and assimilation; citizenship and reorganization; termination; and self-determination. It will also briefly focus on Wisconsin people's involvement in the cultural conflicts among African Americans and European Americans regarding slavery or the right of a human being to be owned by another.
This unit seeks to correct the Eurocentric bias of many accounts of Wisconsin history by including Native American perspectives on Indian-European American relationships during the past two centuries. Too often, the presence of Native Americans in Wisconsin has been viewed as a hindrance to progress rather than a struggle of cultures to co-exist in the state. It is important that students learn more about the cultural conflicts between the first people of Wisconsin and European Americans in order to develop greater sensitivity to people from different cultures as well as an awareness of national policies designed to extinguish certain cultures. Just as people from Wisconsin have resisted slavery in the past, a practice of inhumane treatment of African Americans, so can we resist unjust treatment of Native Americans.
1. Students will develop greater knowledge of and sensitivity to the cultural conflicts among European Americans and the Oneida, Ojibwa, Menominee, Ho-Chunk, Stockbridge-Munsee, and Potawatomi in Wisconsin regarding treaties and treaty rights; removal to reservations; allotment and assimilation; citizenship and reorganization; termination; and self-determination from the early 1800s to the present.
2. Students will appreciate the efforts of native people to maintain their culture despite immense pressures to assimilate into European American culture.
3. Students will develop literacy skills through reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
4. Students will develop critical literacy by analyzing resources for inclusion of diverse groups as well as different perspectives and assumptions.
5. Students will develop their ability to express ideas through drawings.
6. Students will develop cooperative learning skills by working with others.
National Social Studies Thematic Strands
This unit will include the cultural thematic strand by focusing on different ways European Americans and Native Americans view and deal with their physical environment and social conditions. This theme is significant because it provides opportunities for students to understand the cultural differences which were the basis for cultural conflicts among these groups. Through understanding these differences, perhaps students can develop more constructive ways of dealing with conflicts resulting from differences.
This unit will incorporate the time, continuity, and change thematic strand by illustrating how native people and European Americans viewed themselves and each other over time. This theme is especially significant since national policies regarding Native Americans fluctuated as did the tribes' abilities to survive during the early 1800s to the present. This theme will allow students to understand how the relationships among European Americans and Native Americans and the strength of the tribes changed over time. Students can then begin appreciating the complexity of the relationships between Wisconsin tribes and European Americans.
This unit will address the power, authority, and governance thematic strand by including the different ways the federal government dealt with Native American nations from the early 1800s until the present and whose interests the federal government represented. By analyzing national policies and the effects on the Wisconsin tribes in terms of whose power is supported and whose interests are furthered, students may become more sensitive to power differences and the fair use of power.
This unit will address the civil ideals and practices thematic strand by incorporating ways the democratic ideals of individual human dignity, liberty, justice, and equality were part of cultural conflicts among Native Americans and Europeans as well as African Americans and European Americans. By analyzing the federal policies regarding Native Americans and the practice of slavery in terms of furthering the democratic ideals, students can develop a better understanding of actions which fit our civic ideals. Students will then be able to think about ways they can participate in furthering these ideals in current relationships with native people and African Americans.
School District Social Studies Curriculum Objectives
2. 2e Students will compare characteristics of places used for farming and forestry by Wisconsin Indians with those used by European and European American immigrants and the resulting conflicts from these differences.
3. 1a Students will define resources valued by Wisconsin Native Americans and those valued by European and European American immigrants and the resulting conflicts over these resources.
3. 1b Students will show an understanding of the concept of environment as the physical surroundings of Wisconsin Native Americans and European and European American immigrants.
3. 1d Students will list ways Wisconsin tribes and European and European American immigrants depended on the natural environment.
3. 2k Students will explain changes in farming practices for certain Indian tribes (Stockbridge-Munsee and Oneida) in Wisconsin as a result of the Allotment Act.
3. 2l Students will evaluate the Wisconsin tribes' perspective on the use of land and the European and European American perspective on the use of land.
4. 3a Students will analyze U.S. and Wisconsin maps to locate patterns of movement for Wisconsin Native Americans from the early 1800s to the present due to cultural conflicts with European Americans.
4. 3b Students will trace patterns of movement for the six Wisconsin tribes due to growth in the European American population.
5. 2b Students will describe characteristics of Indian regions in Wisconsin at different times from the early 1800s to the present.
5. 2c Students will locate Wisconsin Native American reservations and communities as human regions of Wisconsin.
5. 2j Students will list the economic activities of Wisconsin Native American regions.
6. 1 Students will explain why Wisconsin Indians formed tribal governments.
6. 2 Students will distinguish between the roles of the national and state government in dealing with Wisconsin tribes.
6. 3 Students will identify ways in which Wisconsin Native Americans in the past and present have tried to keep their history and culture alive despite pressures to become assimilated into European American culture.
6. 4 Students will explain how the language and customs of Wisconsin tribes unite them and create conflicts with European American culture.
6. 5 Students will explain ways Wisconsin Indians and European American and European immigrants in Wisconsin influenced each other.
9. 1 Students will describe the influence of new European and European American immigrants into Wisconsin on the native people already living there.
9. 3 Students will explain changes and conflicts between European Americans and Wisconsin Native Americans regarding hunting and farming.
14. 2 Students will identify areas of Wisconsin where the first Indians lived, then where they were forced to move to reservations or communities.
14. 4 Students will explain how the lives of Wisconsin Native Americans changed after European American immigrants moved into Wisconsin.
14. 9 Students will explain Wisconsin's involvement in cultural conflicts over slavery by participating in the Underground Railroad.
14. 16 Students will describe the political divisions of Indian reservations in Wisconsin.
School District Literacy Curriculum Objectives
Reading Band E
Reading Strategies
Students will use a dictionary to gain information when reading.
Students will use the index, table of contents, and glossary to gain information when reading expository text.
Students will use a variety of word analysis strategies to decode words.
Students will use a variety of comprehension strategies to gain meaning from more complex text.
Reading Responses
Students will improvise in role play.
Students will prepare written responses to show meaning inferred from text.
Students will demonstrate understanding of a piece of literature.
Students will express and support an opinion on the author's purpose.
Students will analyze text to show understanding of character traits and actions.
Students will evaluate the behavior of characters from different cultural perspectives.
Students will paraphrase informational/expository text.
Students will read orally with expression.
Interest and Attitudes
Students will choose books of personal interest related to the curriculum unit.
Students will participate in SSR.
Students will independently choose books appropriate to their reading level.
Students will demonstrate effective listening and speaking habits.
Writing Band E
Writing Mechanics
Students will construct more complex sentences.
Students will write passages with clear meaning, accuracy of spelling, and appropriate punctuation and grammar.
Students will use a dictionary and/or thesaurus to check and extend vocabulary for writing.
Students will write statements, questions, commands, and exclamations.
Students will consistently use legible handwriting.
Students will use the editing mechanics of spelling, indentation, punctuation, grammar, and capitalization.
Writing Strategies
Students will link paragraphs into a cohesive structure.
Students will write for different purposes.
Students will write from different perspectives.
Students will use the writing process to prepare for publication.
Students will incorporate feedback from adults and peers through revising and editing.
Writing Responses
Students will write a summary of expository texts including the main topic, main ideas, and supporting details.
Students will respond to text through logs or journals.
This unit will include some of the experiences and perspectives of the Oneida, Ojibwa, Menominee, Ho-Chunk, Stockbridge-Munsee, and Potawatomi of Wisconsin regarding treaties and treaty rights; removal to reservations; allotment and assimilation; citizenship and reorganization; termination; and self-determination. It will address the racism inherent in federal policies related to Wisconsin tribes and encourage students to participate in the interruption of this racism through supporting policies which respect the rights of native people. The unit will integrate critical thinking skills and the analysis of diverse viewpoints.
Cultural Conflicts In Wisconsin: Background Knowledge
People in Wisconsin took actions to support the abolishment of slavery. They did not believe in the right of European Americans to own African Americans for life. Wisconsin's Supreme Court declared the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 null and void within state lines since it enabled slave owners to travel into free states like Wisconsin to capture runaway slaves. An example of the state's action on this law was seen in the case of Joshua Glover, an escaped African American slave who was working in a Racine mill. Glover's owner, B. S. Garland, traveled to Milwaukee and applied for a warrant to capture and return Glover to Missouri. Garland took federal marshals with him to have Glover arrested, beaten, and taken to the Milwaukee County Jail. Sherman Booth, Milwaukee newspaper editor, encouraged citizens to free Glover. A mob stormed the jail and smuggled Glover to freedom in Canada and Booth was arrested and eventually pardoned in 1861. This incident stirred the antislavery sentiment in the state and became the most famous anti-slavery incident in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin's immigrants were empathetic toward slaves in the South in the period prior to and during the Civil War. People in Wisconsin helped escaping slaves by developing the last stations as slaves traveled to Canada along the Underground Railroad. Some fugitive slaves took the Fox and Rock Rivers from Illinois to Wisconsin and beyond. Lake Geneva and Winnebago served as landmarks along the trail. Others traveled along the Mississippi River along the western boundary of the state. Many fugitive slaves were helped by sympathetic captains of sailing vessels on Lake Michigan and ports on the eastern border of Wisconsin. Many escaping slaves traveled north through Wisconsin on foot under cover of darkness aided by abolitionists operating stations on the Underground Railroad. The first passenger to travel the Underground Railroad in Wisconsin was Carolyn Quarelles.
Several homes in Kenosha were part of the Underground Railroad including the Qualis barn, the Deming attic, the Smith barn, and the Bullen music room. Racine's participation in this movement included the Racine Grain Warehouse, located where the Root River enters Lake Michigan, which served as another station on the Underground Railroad. The Janesville community was also important in the Underground Railroad with the Tallman House containing hiding places in the basement and attic and a special lookout spot on the roof. The Milton House owner built a tunnel under the stage coach inn and hotel which was used to hide escaping slaves and connected the inn to the Pioneer Cabin behind. In the Beloit area, the Carpenter Mansion (now the Steelworkers' Union Hall) was one of three stations on the Underground Railroad in Beloit.
There were also incidents of cultural conflicts among African Americans and European Americans in Wisconsin. Despite the movement of a number of African Americans in the state in the 1800s, people in Wisconsin voted down suffrage for African Americans in 1847 and petitioned for a prohibition against further African American immigration to Wisconsin in 1863. There were also incidents of conflicts between Irish workers and African Americans.
Conflicts Among European Americans And Native Americans
What were the significant treaties and treaty rights issues for the tribe?
At first the U.S. government did not consider Indian people to be citizens. The government had developed federal policies related to native people based on a system of treaty-making. At the beginning of the 1800s, the treaties recognized the tribes as foreign and independent sovereign nations. The treaties usually transferred land from tribal control to the U.S. government and promised some land to be specifically reserved for the tribe's use. Treaties identified tribal boundaries and gradually diminished Indian lands, although tribes retained certain rights. By 1830, Indian nations were recognized as domestic, dependent nations. The treaties gradually reduced land holdings to a reservation which was much smaller than the original lands. The treaties also opened up land to European American settlers while limiting Indian claims.
Later interpretations of treaties generally follow these principles: ambiguous expressions in treaties must be decided in favor of native people; treaties must be interpreted as the Indians would have understood them; and treaties must be liberally construed in favor of Indians. The Supreme Court recognized that Indian nations were at a disadvantage when treaties were signed because of the unfair conditions, language misunderstandings, and cultural differences. These disadvantages, according to the Supreme Court, should allow for giving Indian nations the benefit of the doubt regarding treaties.
Through several treaties between 1829 and 1837, the large tract of land inhabited by the Ho-Chunk was eventually ceded or signed over to the U.S. government. When the Ho-Chunk signed a treaty in 1837, the treaty was misinterpreted to the Ho-Chunk. They did not understand that the treaty was forcing them to move to a reservation in Iowa. Some Ho-Chunk moved and some did not. Later treaties were signed to move Ho-Chunk to several reservation sites in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Nebraska. When military force was used to move the Ho-Chunk in boxcars and cattle railroad cars in 1874 to Nebraska, many Ho-Chunk died, but not all left Wisconsin. When the government realized they would never move all the Ho-Chunk from Wisconsin, the government allotted each family a 40-acre plot of land for farming. Many of these plots of land were in swampy areas and difficult to farm.
How did removal to reservations affect the tribe?
The individual plots of land were not a reservation at the time and the Ho-Chunk continue to not have reservation lands. The Ho-Chunk have been viewed as homesteaders in Wisconsin. They have title today to just over six square miles in 10 different counties in the center of the state. Tribal members struggled to survive economically during this period by selling wild blueberries, furs, and baskets, and harvesting others' crops. However, the Ho-Chunk held onto cultural traditions and many tribal members still speak their native language.
How did allotment and assimilation affect the tribe?
The allotment policy did not pertain to the Ho-Chunk because they have not had reservation lands. Boarding schools provided a significant avenue of assimilating the Ho-Chunk into European American culture. Children were to learn to live in majority society. Children were hauled off to distant boarding schools first established in the late 1870s by the Bureau of Indian Affairs where they wore military-style uniforms and learned trades and household skills, but only the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. They were punished severely if caught speaking their native languages. The main goal of these schools was to teach students to become "civilized." Eventually, enough boarding schools were built so that children were not sent far from home. Religious denominations also built Indian boarding schools both on and away from reservations with several still operating into the 20th century.
What issues did the tribe face with citizenship and reorganization?
Citizenship was granted to all Native Americans in 1924. Native Americans who are enrolled members of their tribes are now citizens of the United States, their tribal nation, their state, their county, and their local city or town. The Ho-Chunk tribe did not set up a constitution under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, but developed a constitution and became a federally recognized tribe in 1963.
How is self-determination important for the tribe?
"Indian self-determination" is a current political movement for Indian sovereignty which began in the early 1960s. In 1961 native people from 90 different tribes decided they wanted more decisions made by tribal governments and for tribal governments rather than the federal government to run their own programs for their people. Because the education of Native American children and youth was unsuccessful in European American schools with high dropout rates and low educational levels, native people drew on federal funds to develop preschool, public school, and alternative school programs for Indian children. The self-determination movement has focused on preserving tribal heritage, strengthening Indian families, and allowing tribes and urban Indian communities to determine their own destiny.
The Ho-Chunk are concerned with keeping their culture alive. They have organized the Ho-Chunk Research Center, designed to collect, preserve, and interpret photographs and documents that relate to the cultural history of the tribe. They have established programs to teach the Ho-Chunk language and culture in different communities where Ho-Chunk people live. The Ho-Chunk continue traditional dances at the Stand Rock Indian Ceremonial during the summer. Many continue to practice many of their traditional Ho-Chunk language, customs, and traditions. Their economic viability has been supported by gaming.
What were the significant treaties and treaty rights issues for the tribe?
At first the U.S. government did not consider Indian people to be citizens. The government had developed federal policies related to native people based on a system of treaty-making. At the beginning of the 1800s, the treaties recognized the tribes as foreign and independent sovereign nations. The treaties usually transferred land from tribal control to the U.S. government and promised some land to be specifically reserved for the tribe's use. Treaties identified tribal boundaries and gradually diminished Indian lands, although tribes retained certain rights. By 1830, Indian nations were recognized as domestic, dependent nations. The treaties gradually reduced landholdings to a reservation which was much smaller than the original lands. The treaties also opened up land to European American settlers while limiting Indian claims.
Later interpretations of treaties generally follow these principles: ambiguous expressions in treaties must be decided in favor of native people; treaties must be interpreted as the Indians would have understood them; and treaties must be liberally construed in favor of Indians. The Supreme Court recognized that Indian nations were at a disadvantage when treaties were signed because of the unfair conditions, language misunderstandings, and cultural differences. These disadvantages, according to the Supreme Court, should allow for giving Indian nations the benefit of the doubt regarding treaties.
The Menominee signed their first treaty with the U.S. government in 1817. This was the first of many through which the Menominee people would see their lands disappear for prices between three to fifteen cents an acre. By 1848, the Menominee had sold or lost about 9,500,000 acres of land. The U.S. government decided the Menominee should move to Minnesota, but the Menominee argued with the federal government for six years about this decision. The Menominee wanted to remain on their homeland. In 1854 the U.S. government gave the Menominee a reservation on a small piece of land along the Wolf River by Keshena Falls. The Menominee ended up with approximately 275,000 acres, but then ceded a small part of this land to the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe.
How did removal to reservations affect the tribe?
Because the Menominee reservation did not contain wild rice beds, the Menominee people have lost their wild ricing tradition. The U.S. government controlled all life on the reservation. The people were told how to dress, what religion to practice, what kind of farming to do, and where the children should attend school. A sawmill was built on the reservation as part of the payment for lands that the Menominee ceded to the government. The Menominee began cutting and selling timber to make money for the tribe. However, "Timber Barons" were also interested in the timber here and the Menominee had to be on guard against efforts from these barons to cut timber on Menominee land. The Menominee's lumber business did so well that they could pay for their own community services through the lumber they sold in the U.S. and to other countries.
How did allotment and assimilation affect the tribe?
Overall, treaties, removal to reservations, the General Allotment Act, and efforts to assimilate native people into European American culture could be considered a national policy of genocide because the ultimate goal was to eliminate the distinct cultures of Native Americans.
The Allotment Act did not pertain to Menominee lands. However, the Menominee were also subjected to pressures to assimilate into European American culture as all native people were. Children were hauled off to distant boarding schools first established in the late 1870s by the Bureau of Indian Affairs where they wore military-style uniforms and learned trades and household skills, but only the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. They were punished severely if caught speaking their native languages. The main goal of these schools was to teach students to become "civilized." Eventually, enough boarding schools were built so that children were not sent far from home. Religious denominations also built Indian boarding schools both on and away from reservations with several still operating into the 20th century.
What issues did the tribe face with citizenship and reorganization?
Citizenship was granted to all Native Americans in 1924. Native Americans who are enrolled members of their tribes are now citizens of the United States, their tribal nation, their state, their county, and their local city or town. The Menominee tribe did not set up a constitution under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, so was not influenced by this act.
What were the effects of the federal termination policy on the Menominee?
When the Menominee did so well economically with the lumber business, they were one of the tribes targeted for termination because the federal government believed the Menominee could stand on their own and make enough money to support themselves and pay state and county taxes. When the Menominee Termination Act was passed in 1954, the Menominee reservation ceased to exist. The land became Menominee County; no land belonged to the tribe. However, the amount of money needed to pay state and county taxes could not be generated by the Menominee Enterprises. The tribe began selling their land holdings to wealthy European American real estate developers to pay the government taxes. Businesses began to close. They were on their way to losing everything. The tribe did not have enough money for a school, so Menominee children continued to attend school off the reservation. Each Menominee family was on its own rather than working together for the tribe. After concerned Menominee people organized and protested termination bringing public attention to this issue, the Menominee Restoration Act was signed in 1973. This act returned the lands to reservation status.
How is self-determination important for the tribe?
"Indian self-determination" is a current political movement for Indian sovereignty which began in the early 1960s. In 1961 native people from 90 different tribes decided they wanted more decisions made by tribal governments and for tribal governments rather than the federal government to run their own programs for their people. Because the education of Native American children and youth was unsuccessful in European American schools with high dropout rates and low educational levels, native people drew on federal funds to develop preschool, public school, and alternative school programs for Indian children. The self-determination movement has focused on preserving tribal heritage, strengthening Indian families, and allowing tribes and urban Indian communities to determine their own destiny.
The Menominee have worked hard to make their reservation a good place to live. The 233,000 acres of reservation land are covered with 130 lakes, numerous streams, and forests. The sawmill in Neopit is run by the tribe and employs many Menominee. They use sustained yield forestry management practices which mean that the trees are not cut down at once, but little by little to maintain all species of trees for the future and to ensure continual economic gain for the tribe. Gaming has become another source of income, but less so than the lumber industry. Schooling and good education are important to the tribe. The Menominee have built tribal schools and include Menominee history and culture in the schools' curriculum.
What were the significant treaties and treaty rights issues for the tribe?
At first the U.S. government did not consider Indian people to be citizens. The government had developed federal policies related to native people based on a system of treaty-making. At the beginning of the 1800s, the treaties recognized the tribes as foreign and independent sovereign nations. The treaties usually transferred land from tribal control to the U.S. government and promised some land to be specifically reserved for the tribe's use. Treaties identified tribal boundaries and gradually diminished Indian lands, although tribes retained certain rights. By 1830, Indian nations were recognized as domestic, dependent nations. The treaties gradually reduced landholdings to a reservation which was much smaller than the original lands. The treaties also opened up land to European American settlers while limiting Indian claims.
Later interpretations of treaties generally follow these principles: ambiguous expressions in treaties must be decided in favor of native people; treaties must be interpreted as the Indians would have understood them; and treaties must be liberally construed in favor of Indians. The Supreme Court recognized that Indian nations were at a disadvantage when treaties were signed because of the unfair conditions, language misunderstandings, and cultural differences. These disadvantages, according to the Supreme Court, should allow for giving Indian nations the benefit of the doubt regarding treaties.
To avoid moving west of the Mississippi River and giving up their lands after the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the Ojibwa negotiated with the federal government for lands they wanted to live on. At the Treaty of 1854, the Ojibwa people were assigned two reservations in Michigan, two in Minnesota, and five in Wisconsin; the Bad River, the Lac Courte Oreilles, the Lac du Flambeau, the Red Cliff, and the Mole Lake. The Ojibwa were not to be removed from these reservations and retained the rights to fish and hunt "as long as the rivers will flow and the grass will grow." The St. Croix Ojibwa did not attend the 1854 treaty meeting and did not receive any land allotment or reservation area at that time. The Ojibwa were forced to cede large amounts of their land.
Court decisions, specifically the 1983 Voigt decision, have confirmed certain fishing and hunting rights reserved under specific treaties. Non-Indian groups have organized in opposition to the Ojibwa and against treaty rights. Protests at boat landings when Ojibwa exercised their right to fish on the ceded lands became violent during the 1980s.
How did removal to reservations affect the tribe?
By 1890 almost every tribe in the U.S. had been assigned to a reservation. All tribes were under the direct control of the federal government and native people had no choice in deciding where and how they should live. There was much resistance from Native Americans to the reservation policy, but this was quickly squelched. The Indian agent was considered superior and totally controlled native people's lives on reservations. Subsistence on reservations was extremely difficult. The Indian agent had total control over any incoming goods. Food and clothing were scarce and supplies were of poor quality. Often the standard of living declined because tribal members could not meet their basic needs in traditional ways on the limited lands. The reservation era led to a decline in hope and self-esteem and the creation of a culture of poverty.
How did allotment and assimilation affect the tribe?
Overall, treaties, removal to reservations, the General Allotment Act, and efforts to assimilate native people into European American culture could be considered a national policy of genocide because the ultimate goal was to eliminate the distinct cultures of Native Americans.
At the time of forcing native people onto reservations, other policies aimed at assimilating the tribes into European American culture were begun. Churches were given free reign to convert the Indians, and government boarding schools were established in several locations in the U.S. Children were forcibly removed from their families and sent away to be "enculturated." Native children's hair was cut, religious ceremonies were forbidden, traditional music and dances were prohibited, and those caught speaking their native language were severely punished. Sometimes older students would run away from these schools and return home, but eventually they were sent far enough away that returning home was impossible. Native American children attended boarding schools in Kansas, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania. When the children returned to their reservations, they had lost their Indian identities. They could not speak the language, did not honor Mother Earth, did not remember the songs, stories, and legends which told of the tribal history.
The Allotment Act of 1887 which divided reservation lands into parcels for each family head or single person and aimed at making native people into farmers affected the Ojibwa. However, the intent of the law was to encourage native people to adopt the European American style of farming. The northern location of the Ojibwa reservations made the Ojibwa poor prospects for farming. Commercial fishing was a more feasible source of support. When Ojibwa lands were reduced through allotment, European Americans were interested in obtaining lands for lumbering and resort development.
What issues did the tribe face with citizenship and reorganization?
Citizenship was granted to all Native Americans in 1924. Native Americans who are enrolled members of their tribes are now citizens of the United States, their tribal nation, their state, their county, and their local city or town.
The Ojibwa set up constitutions under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Under this act, the Mole Lake and St. Croix Ojibwa received reservation lands.
How is self-determination important for the tribe?
"Indian self-determination" is a current political movement for Indian sovereignty which began in the early 1960s. In 1961 native people from 90 different tribes decided they wanted more decisions made by tribal governments and for tribal governments rather than the federal government to run their own programs for their people. Because the education of Native American children and youth was unsuccessful in European American schools with high dropout rates and low educational levels, native people drew on federal funds to develop preschool, public school, and alternative school programs for Indian children. The self-determination movement has focused on preserving tribal heritage, strengthening Indian families, and allowing tribes and urban Indian communities to determine their own destiny.
The Ojibwa today are concerned about providing a good education for their children while teaching the young about Ojibwa history and culture. Some of the bands have developed tribal schools to teach the culture and history of the Ojibwa. Two of the bands have developed museums to teach interested people about Ojibwa history and culture. Economic development has also been a concern and the gaming enterprises have helped to provide needed income. Some of the other economic activities of the bands include fish hatcheries, lumber mill, and a wholesale fish market.
What were the significant treaties and treaty rights issues for the tribe?
At first the U.S. government did not consider Indian people to be citizens. The government had developed federal policies related to native people based on a system of treaty-making. At the beginning of the 1800s, the treaties recognized the tribes as foreign and independent sovereign nations. The treaties usually transferred land from tribal control to the U.S. government and promised some land to be specifically reserved for the tribe's use. Treaties identified tribal boundaries and gradually diminished Indian lands, although tribes retained certain rights. By 1830, Indian nations were recognized as domestic, dependent nations. The treaties gradually reduced land holdings to a reservation which was much smaller than the original lands. The treaties also opened up land to European American settlers while limiting Indian claims.
Later interpretations of treaties generally follow these principles: ambiguous expressions in treaties must be decided in favor of native people; treaties must be interpreted as the Indians would have understood them; and treaties must be liberally construed in favor of Indians. The Supreme Court recognized that Indian nations were at a disadvantage when treaties were signed because of the unfair conditions, language misunderstandings, and cultural differences. These disadvantages, according to the Supreme Court, should allow for giving Indian nations the benefit of the doubt regarding treaties.
When the U.S. government tried to move all native people west of the Mississippi River during the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the Potawatomi fought being taken away from their homelands. However, the chiefs could see that their tribes would be destroyed if they did not agree to move. In the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, the Potawatomi ceded all of their lands, about five million acres, to the U.S. government. The government in return promised payments, many of which were never received. In 1836 most of the Potawatomi were moved onto two reservations; one in Kansas, the other in Iowa. Some of the families refused to move and fled north into Wisconsin where a group settled in Forest County in 1894.
How did removal to reservations affect the tribe?
The U.S. government tried to force all Potawatomi onto two reservations in Kansas and Iowa. Some refused to move and hid in the woods in Wisconsin and eventually settled in Forest County. However, this land was not a reservation until the Potawatomi began asking for the payments that the government owed them because of the Treaty of Chicago in 1833 and other treaties. Most of the payment was in the form of land. The Potawatomi used their promised payments to buy their own reservation. The land the Potawatomi purchased was scattered so the people could not live together as a tribe. They were not allowed to make their own laws and had no way of making money so the tribe could buy more land.
How did allotment and assimilation affect the tribe?
Overall, treaties, removal to reservations, the General Allotment Act, and efforts to assimilate native people into European American culture could be considered a national policy of genocide because the ultimate goal was to eliminate the distinct cultures of Native Americans.
Since the Potawatomi did not have reservation lands given to them by the U.S. government, they were not affected by the Allotment Act. However, they were subjected to pressures to assimilate into European American culture as all native people were. Children were hauled off to distant boarding schools first established in the late 1870s by the Bureau of Indian Affairs where they wore military-style uniforms and learned trades and household skills, but only the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. They were punished severely if caught speaking their native languages. The main goal of these schools was to teach students to become "civilized." Eventually, enough boarding schools were built so that children were not sent far from home. Religious denominations also built Indian boarding schools both on and away from reservations with several still operating into the 20th century.
What issues did the tribe face with citizenship and reorganization?
Citizenship was granted to all Native Americans in 1924. Native Americans who are enrolled members of their tribes are now citizens of the United States, their tribal nation, their state, their county, and their local city or town. After the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the Potawatomi elected their own government to make decisions. Now a tribal council makes laws for the tribe.
A criticism of the Indian Reorganization Act was that it imposed the European American form of government on native people. European Americans believed majority rule, representative bodies, and secret ballots were characteristics of good government. In many tribes, people used a consensus decision-making process in which important discussion took place in many groups until everyone agreed to a plan or compromise. It was also customary to have any interested tribal member take part in decision making rather than having representative bodies do most of the work. Voting might have been done openly or through secret ballot. These traditional, democratic forms of government among native people were ignored by the federal government.
How is self-determination important for the tribe?
"Indian self-determination" is a current political movement for Indian sovereignty which began in the early 1960s. In 1961 native people from 90 different tribes decided they wanted more decisions made by tribal governments and for tribal governments rather than the federal government to run their own programs for their people. Because the education of Native American children and youth was unsuccessful in European American schools with high dropout rates and low educational levels, native people drew on federal funds to develop preschool, public school, and alternative school programs for Indian children. The self-determination movement has focused on preserving tribal heritage, strengthening Indian families, and allowing tribes and urban Indian communities to determine their own destiny.
While the federal government has at times limited the power of Native American tribes to exercise their sovereignty, tribes have also retained most of the rights of sovereign nations. Tribes have the power to determine the form of government; define citizenship; administer justice and enforce laws; regulate economic activities; control and regulate use of tribal lands; provide social services; and engage in relationships with other governments. Tribes have a higher status than the state of Wisconsin. The state of Wisconsin must have Congressional approval to control the tribes.
Today the Potawatomi live in two communities in Forest County, Wabeno and Lake Lucerne, covering about 11,000 acres. The Potawatomi have purchased and own the land they are living on. This land is not a reservation like other tribes were forced to live on by the government because the land was purchased by the Potawatomi themselves. The two communities operate as one tribe. The tribal council is made up of members from both communities.
During the early 1900s the Forest County Potawatomi depended on gardening and hunting for food. Lumbering and tourism have been sources of income, but these have declined. Most jobs today are in tribal government. These include providing social services for tribal members and gaming.
Many Forest County Potawatomi have kept their traditions alive through practicing their original religion and speaking Potawatomi language. Elders continue to instruct younger tribal members in tribal history, language, and religious beliefs. Education is a concern today. Many Potawatomi drop out of the local public schools, and many are sent to government schools in Utah or South Dakota which teach Indian culture and encourage students to be proud of their heritage.
What were the significant treaties and treaty rights issues for the tribe?
At first the U.S. government did not consider Indian people to be citizens. The government had developed federal policies related to native people based on a system of treaty-making. At the beginning of the 1800s, the treaties recognized the tribes as foreign and independent sovereign nations. The treaties usually transferred land from tribal control to the U.S. government and promised some land to be specifically reserved for the tribe's use. Treaties identified tribal boundaries and gradually diminished Indian lands, although tribes retained certain rights. By 1830, Indian nations were recognized as domestic, dependent nations. The treaties gradually reduced land holdings to a reservation which was much smaller than the original lands. The treaties also opened up land to European American settlers while limiting Indian claims.
Later interpretations of treaties generally follow these principles: ambiguous expressions in treaties must be decided in favor of native people; treaties must be interpreted as the Indians would have understood them; and treaties must be liberally construed in favor of Indians. The Supreme Court recognized that Indian nations were at a disadvantage when treaties were signed because of the unfair conditions, language misunderstandings, and cultural differences. These disadvantages, according to the Supreme Court, should allow for giving Indian nations the benefit of the doubt regarding treaties.
The federal government reinstated Oneida ownership of their New York lands through the Treaty of Stanwix in 1784. Then, the state of New York attempted to repurchase the land the federal government had just returned to the Oneidas. Between 1784-1846, many treaties were signed. The land began to fall into the hands of the New York land commissioners. The Oneidas were paid cash for some of their land and promised future payments for the remainder. These circumstances led to a group of Oneida relocating in Wisconsin, which was occurring at the same time as the federal government was trying to remove tribes from Wisconsin further west. The Oneida began negotiating for some land near Green Bay. They were finally able to buy an area of four million acres along the Fox River now known as the city of Oneida. During the years between 1837-1887 the Oneida land was once again sold. The lumber companies were gradually buying or taking the timber rights from the Oneidas.
How did removal to reservations affect the tribe?
The movement of the Oneida to Wisconsin was somewhat precipitated by the Indian Removal Act of 1830 which forced native people from the east coast to move west of the Mississippi River. Although the Oneida did not move that far west, some tribes in Wisconsin did move west.
How did allotment and assimilation affect the tribe?
Overall, treaties, removal to reservations, the General Allotment Act, and efforts to assimilate native people into European American culture could be considered a national policy of genocide because the ultimate goal was to eliminate the distinct cultures of Native Americans.
The Allotment Act of 1887 led to the loss of much tribally-held land. The act allowed people who wanted the land to deal with individual Oneidas rather than the entire tribe. The Oneida were also subjected to pressures to assimilate into European American culture as all native people were. Children were hauled off to distant boarding schools first established in the late 1870s by the Bureau of Indian Affairs where they wore military-style uniforms and learned trades and household skills, but only the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. They were punished severely if caught speaking their native languages. The main goal of these schools was to teach students to become "civilized." Eventually, enough boarding schools were built so that children were not sent far from home. Religious denominations also built Indian boarding schools both on and away from reservations with several still operating into the 20th century.
What issues did the tribe face with citizenship and reorganization?
Citizenship was granted to all Native Americans in 1924. Native Americans who are enrolled members of their tribes are now citizens of the United States, their tribal nation, their state, their county, and their local city or town. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 was passed to help Native American tribes. This law allowed Indian tribes to borrow money from the government and begin reorganizing their tribes. The Oneidas took advantage of this act and began buying land and organizing a reservation for their people to live on.
A criticism of the Indian Reorganization Act was that it imposed the European American form of government on native people. European Americans believed majority rule, representative bodies, and secret ballots were characteristics of good government. In many tribes, people used a consensus decision-making process in which important discussion took place in many groups until everyone agreed to a plan or compromise. It was also customary to have any interested tribal member take part in decision making rather than having representative bodies do most of the work. Voting might have been done openly or through secret ballot. These traditional, democratic forms of government among native people were ignored by the federal government.
How is self-determination important for the tribe?
"Indian self-determination" is a current political movement for Indian sovereignty which began in the early 1960s. In 1961 native people from 90 different tribes decided they wanted more decisions made by tribal governments and for tribal governments rather than the federal government to run their own programs for their people. Because the education of Native American children and youth was unsuccessful in European American schools with high dropout rates and low educational levels, native people drew on federal funds to develop preschool, public school, and alternative school programs for Indian children. The self-determination movement has focused on preserving tribal heritage, strengthening Indian families, and allowing tribes and urban Indian communities to determine their own destiny.
Today the Oneida tribe does not own all of the land on their reservation, but the people are working toward purchasing it. The Oneidas have their own school which teaches Oneida language and culture, thus maintaining Oneida culture. Many social services have been created to help Oneida people, including a health care center, day care, and a community center. The Oneida Nation Museum also helps teach the history and culture of the Oneida Nation for anyone who wants to visit. Gaming has supported the development of many social services and helped the tribe to prosper economically. The goal is for every Oneida to become a self-sufficient, proud member of the community.
What were the significant treaties and treaty rights issues for the tribe?
At first the U.S. government did not consider Indian people to be citizens. The government had developed federal policies related to native people based on a system of treaty-making. At the beginning of the 1800s, the treaties recognized the tribes as foreign and independent sovereign nations. The treaties usually transferred land from tribal control to the U.S. government and promised some land to be specifically reserved for the tribe's use. Treaties identified tribal boundaries and gradually diminished Indian lands, although tribes retained certain rights. By 1830, Indian nations were recognized as domestic, dependent nations. The treaties gradually reduced land holdings to a reservation which was much smaller than the original lands. The treaties also opened up land to European American settlers while limiting Indian claims.
Later interpretations of treaties generally follow these principles: ambiguous expressions in treaties must be decided in favor of native people; treaties must be interpreted as the Indians would have understood them; and treaties must be liberally construed in favor of Indians. The Supreme Court recognized that Indian nations were at a disadvantage when treaties were signed because of the unfair conditions, language misunderstandings, and cultural differences. These disadvantages, according to the Supreme Court, should allow for giving Indian nations the benefit of the doubt regarding treaties.
When the Stockbridge-Munsee first moved to Wisconsin, they settled in the area now known as Kaukauna. Some claimed they did not own this land, so the Stockbridge-Munsee moved to Calumet County east of Lake Winnebago. After the 1830 Indian Removal Act, many Stockbridge wanted to move west to get away from European Americans in Wisconsin. Some left for the Missouri River, Kansas, or Oklahoma. Many died en route and some returned to Wisconsin. John Quinney led the Stockbridge in retaining land in Wisconsin. In 1856, the Stockbridge-Munsee were granted a piece of land from east of Lake Winnebago to Red Spring in Shawano County.
How did removal to reservations affect the tribe?
By 1890 almost every Indian tribe in the U.S. had been assigned to a reservation. Life on the reservation was totally controlled by the U.S. government through an Indian agent. Incoming goods were often of very poor quality, and food was scarce. This was an era of declining self-esteem and poverty which continues today.
The Stockbridge-Munsee reservation land was sandy and swampy, covered with a pine forest. Farming was unsuccessfully tried. Forestry became the economic backbone for the tribe.
How did allotment and assimilation affect the tribe?
Overall, treaties, removal to reservations, the General Allotment Act, and efforts to assimilate native people into European American culture could be considered a national policy of genocide because the ultimate goal was to eliminate the distinct cultures of Native Americans.
The General Allotment Act meant that some of the reservation land was no longer going to be owned by the tribe. It imposed the European American concept of individual ownership on the native people's practice of collective use of land. Land was then divided and owned by individual people. Individuals began selling their land to business dealers who wanted to use the land for lumbering. The tribe began to see their reservation land disappear. More and more land was lost. Lumber companies took the lumber they wanted, then moved out of the area, leaving behind few trees. The Stockbridge-Munsee were unable to make money and pay taxes.
Over time, the Stockbridge-Munsee have lost much of their Indian culture. Traditional Indian dress, the original language, and traditional basket-making and silver smithing crafts were nearly lost in the late 1800s. For those children and youth attending Bureau of Indian Affairs Schools and mission schools, students were punished for speaking their languages or participating in their cultures. The main goal of these schools was to teach students to become "civilized." Children now living on the reservation no longer go to their own school, which closed in 1952. They must travel to Bowler or Gresham to attend school.
What issues did the tribe face with citizenship and reorganization?
Under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the Stockbridge-Munsee obtained money from the government to strengthen their tribe and govern themselves again. The tribe developed their own constitution and bylaws. The U.S. government then granted 2,250 acres of land to them in Bartelme Township near Bowler. The Stockbridge-Munsee were given back a portion of their original land to begin rebuilding the tribe. New programs to build homes were begun and new timber lands planted.
The Stockbridge-Munsee tribe could now be governed by their own people. They elected their own tribal council and, through council leaders, rights were won back for the Stockbridge-Munsee. A criticism of the Indian Reorganization Act was that it imposed the European American form of government on native people. European Americans believed majority rule, representative bodies, and secret ballots were characteristics of good government. In many tribes, people used a consensus decision-making process in which important discussion took place in many groups until everyone agreed to a plan or compromise. It was also customary to have any interested tribal member take part in decision making rather than having representative bodies do most of the work. Voting might have been done openly or through secret ballot. These traditional, democratic forms of government among native people were ignored by the federal government.
Citizenship was granted to all Native Americans in 1924. Native Americans who are enrolled members of their tribes are now citizens of the United States, their tribal nation, their state, their county, and their local city or town.
How is self-determination important for the tribe?
"Indian self-determination" is a current political movement for Indian sovereignty which began in the early 1960s. In 1961 native people from 90 different tribes decided they wanted more decisions made by tribal governments and for tribal governments rather than the federal government to run their own programs for their people. Because the education of Native American children and youth was unsuccessful in European American schools with high dropout rates and low educational levels, native people drew on federal funds to develop preschool, public school, and alternative school programs for Indian children. The self-determination movement has focused on preserving tribal heritage, strengthening Indian families, and allowing tribes and urban Indian communities to determine their own destiny.
While the federal government has at times limited the power of Native American tribes to exercise their sovereignty, tribes have also retained most of the rights of sovereign nations. Tribes have the power to determine the form of government; define citizenship; administer justice and enforce laws; regulate economic activities; control and regulate use of tribal lands; provide social services; and engage in relationships with other governments. Tribes have a higher status than the state of Wisconsin. The state of Wisconsin must have Congressional approval to control the tribes.
Few good job opportunities exist on the Stockbridge-Munsee reservation, so most people travel to work in larger cities. In the early 1980s, most men on the reservation were employed in construction, logging, or government programs. Only one farm was operating. Unemployment was high and little wealth existed in the community. In the 1990s, tribal members work for the tribe in community services, recreational activities, and gaming.
However, the Stockbridge-Munsee people have survived over the years because of their persistence and determination. They finally have a place to call home and want the reservation to become a place where their people want to live. Tribal members are working to improve their lives and recognize the importance of unity to their survival.
Activities
1. Provide opportunities for students to illustrate what they know about the topic of cultural conflicts regarding slavery and the Underground Railroad prior to beginning the study in order to understand students' prior knowledge and questions they may have. Students may prepare concept maps to show what they already know about slavery and the Underground Railroad. Each concept (slavery and the Underground Railroad) would be placed in the middle of a piece of paper with students adding words or phrases which come to mind placed in a web design around the main concept. Encourage students to speculate how people in Wisconsin viewed slavery and the Underground Railroad and how they might have been involved in slavery and the Underground Railroad.
2. Students may complete another concept map to illustrate their new understandings of slavery and the Underground Railroad at the end of the unit.
3. Provide opportunities for students to illustrate what they know about the topic of cultural conflicts between European Americans and Native Americans prior to beginning the study in order to understand students' prior knowledge and questions they may have. You might have students explain through words and illustrations their conception of these ideas related to native people in Wisconsin: treaties and treaty rights; Indian reservations; assimilation of Native Americans; native people as citizens; the termination of Wisconsin tribes; and self-determination for Wisconsin Indians. Follow up questions to provoke more thinking might be: What are treaties? With whom did Wisconsin tribes develop treaties? How did treaties change the tribes? What are treaty rights? How did Wisconsin tribes gain these rights? What does an Indian reservation look like? What do native people do there? What does assimilate mean? If we say Native Americans were encouraged to assimilate, what does this mean? How does this change native people? What does it mean to be a citizen of a country or tribe? What rights do citizens have? What does termination mean? If a Wisconsin tribe is terminated, what happens to the tribe? What does self-determination mean? If Wisconsin Native Americans want to have self-determination, what do they want?
4. At intervals during the unit, students can explain through words and illustrations their changing conceptions of these ideas.
Slavery And The Underground Railroad
1. Invite students to write quickly their thoughts regarding these questions, then share their ideas with a partner or small group, and finally discuss as a class: What is slavery? What does it mean to be a slave? Why did people have slaves? Then read Nettie's Trip South which describes a young girl's shock to see the harshness of slave life in the South before the Civil War.
2. Encourage students to speculate about how most people in Wisconsin responded to slavery during the period immediately prior to and during the Civil War. Why might Wisconsin immigrants or longer-term residents support or disapprove of slavery? How might they communicate this support or disapproval?
3. Encourage students to learn more about Wisconsin's views and actions regarding slavery. Ask students to read Freedom Train North: Stories of the Underground Railroad in Wisconsin to find out different perspectives in Wisconsin regarding slavery, how Wisconsin abolitionists helped slaves escape, and the dangers for abolitionists and escaping slaves. Another strategy for exploring Wisconsin residents’ views on slavery can be found in the play “Caroline Quarles: Passenger on Wisconsin’s Underground Railroad” in the text Wisconsin History on Stage: Scripts for Grades 4 Through 8. Ask students to read the parts aloud and discuss possible reasons for people’s support for or their condemnation of slavery. For additional background, see Black Settlers in Rural Wisconsin, Heritage Wisconsin: Open a Treasure of African American Culture in America's Heartland, pages 48-49 in Wisconsin: The Way We Were, and page 13 of Uncommon Lives of Common Women: The Missing Half of Wisconsin History.
4. Ask students to identify the communities of Kenosha, Racine, Janesville, and Beloit in Wisconsin which housed Underground Railroad stations on a Wisconsin map. Discuss these questions in small groups and then as a class: What do these communities have in common? Why might these communities help escaping slaves? Why were no communities further north involved in helping fugitive slaves?
5. Ask students to work in small groups and draw possible routes slaves might use to escape through Wisconsin to Canada on the Underground Railroad on a Wisconsin map. Encourage students to consider: What landmarks would help slaves who were escaping on foot? How might slaves travel on water? Invite students to review the text Freedom Train North: Stories of the Underground Railroad in Wisconsin for descriptions of different routes and a map of the route steamships took through Lake Michigan and Lake Huron to transport fleeing slaves to Canada. Other routes include: traveling along the Fox and Rock Rivers from Illinois to Wisconsin and beyond watching for the landmarks of Lake Geneva and Winnebago; traveling along the Mississippi River along the western boundary of the state; and traveling on Lake Michigan and ports on the eastern border of Wisconsin.
6. Show the video Stand the Storm (approximately 30 minutes) which illustrates the stand Wisconsin took against slavery in 1854. Wisconsin citizens refused to obey the Fugitive Slave Law and allow Joshua Glover, an escaped slave, to be taken by his owner back to Missouri. Encourage students to watch the video and decide if it was right for people in Wisconsin to disobey the Fugitive Slave Law and provide compelling reasons for their response.
7. Read aloud Follow the Drinking Gourd which describes the experiences of slaves escaping on the Underground Railroad and the physical landmarks and people who help them along the way. Excerpts of If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad also might be read aloud. This text offers considerable information about the Underground Railroad, including the slaves' use of disguises, hiding places, and different people involved with the Underground Railroad. Invite students to summarize verbally and in writing what they learned about the Underground Railroad from these texts.
8. Sing "Follow the Drinking Gourd," a song which describes the route slaves might travel as they escaped slavery in the South and traveled north. The lyrics and music are printed in Follow the Drinking Gourd. Also sing "Many Thousand Gone" which describes some of the hardships slaves will no longer face once they're free and "Clear the Track" which encourages the abolishment of slavery. The lyrics, piano accompaniment, and guitar chords for both songs are printed in Ballads & Songs of the Civil War.
1. Encourage students to compare Wisconsin maps showing areas where the tribes lived prior to negotiating any treaties, lands they were forced to give up through treaties, and current reservation areas (see maps in Classroom Activities on Wisconsin Indian Treaties and Tribal Sovereignty, Chapter 2: Native Americans from Mapping Wisconsin History: Teacher’s Guide and Student Materials, and visit “As Long as the River Flows” through the Menominee reservation in the central sand plain region of Wisconsin on the Cultural Horizons of Wisconsin CD-Rom. Also visit “The Journey” from the western upland region of Wisconsin on the CD-Rom for a description of treaties and loss of land for the Ho-Chunk). Discuss: What changes do you notice in the areas in which the tribes lived? What happened to the land as the tribes developed treaties with the federal government? Ask students to summarize in writing and verbally what the treaties did to the land Wisconsin tribes lived on.
2. Invite students to explain why the U.S. Government wanted to acquire Native people’s land. Show maps illustrating minerals and vegetation along with maps showing where the Menominee, Ho-Chunk, Potawatomi, and Ojibwa lived. For background information, see Chapter 2: Native Americans from Mapping Wisconsin History: Teacher’s Guide and Student Materials.
3. Divide students into groups to investigate how Wisconsin Native nations lost land to European and European American settlers and the U.S. Government from the text Native People of Wisconsin. One group reads the “giving up land” section of “Chapter 3: The Menominee Nation,” a second group reads “giving up land” from “Chapter 4: The Ho-Chunk Nation,” a third group reads “giving up land” from “Chapter 5: The Ojibwe Nation,” and a fourth group reads the “giving up land” section from “Chapter 6: The Potawatomi Nation.” Encourage students to summarize what they learned from the reading and note similarities and differences among the experiences of these four Native nations.
4. Ask students to speculate how Native people felt about Europeans moving into their homelands and how they might have reacted to this invasion. Read “Our Stock of Food and Clothes” (pages 85-87) from Native American Testimony and solicit students’ ideas on why Native people needed the land and the game on the land. Encourage them to consider ways Native people might have resisted the European encroachment onto their lands. Introduce students to Black Hawk, a Sauk leader, who resisted the changes among his people due to European immigration. Ask students to read aloud the play “Whose Land? A Story of Black Hawk from the text Wisconsin History on Stage: Scripts for Grades 4 Through 8, then show the video “The Battle at Bad Axe” (30 minutes) to review the main events in this conflict and how it might have been resolved more fairly. Another video which reviews the conflicts among Europeans and Native people, including the Sauk and Fox, over land is “Program 3: Cultures in Conflict” (approximately 15 minutes) from the Investigating Wisconsin History series. Additional background on U.S. Government’s efforts to take Native people’s lands is found on pages 51-57 “Black Hawk’s War and the Ceding of Indian Lands” in Wisconsin: The Story of the Badger State.
5. Introduce another example of Native people’s resistance to losing land to European Americans through the story of Chief Ninham, who fought to keep land for the Mohicans. Read aloud or ask students to read Chief Ninham, Forgotten Hero to find out how Chief Ninham tried to keep the land for the Mohicans. Ask students to suggest a solution to the conflict over land between Native people and the growing number of European Americans who wanted to live on the same land.
6. Read aloud or invite stronger readers to read Night Flying Woman: An Ojibway Narrative which describes changes among the Ojibwa in Minnesota due to the contact with Europeans, including the signing of treaties between the Ojibwa and U.S. Government and the Ojibwa people’s removal to reservations. Ask students to listen for whose perspective or who is speaking in the text and to evaluate the different influences of the U.S. Government and Europeans on the Ojibwa people. A fictional text which provides an Ojibwa perspective on their traditional lifestyle on Madeline Island in Lake Superior in 1850 and how it was interrupted due to pressure from Europeans to move west is The Game of Silence. Invite students to question why the Ojibwa chose to leave their homeland rather than fight to stay. The Porcupine Year is the sequel to The Game of Silence and illustrates the hardships of an Ojibwa extended family after they left their homeland in search of a new home in northern Minnesota in 1852. Ask students to discuss possible reasons for the family’s perseverance when their furs, hides, guns, traps, blankets, and food were stolen and they nearly starved. The migration of this same Ojibwa extended family from the northern woods of Minnesota to the great plains in 1866 is described in Chickadee, the sequel to The Porcupine Year. Encourage students to question if the family made the right decision to move to the plains where they had to change their lifestyle and adjust to living in a cabin rather than a wigwam, live without plentiful birchbark, acquire horses, learn to hunt buffalo, build carts instead of canoes, and learn the ways of the Metis.
7. Have half the class read in small groups "Oshkosh and Menominee Lands," pages 56-60 in the March, 1976 issue of Badger History focusing on the theme Wisconsin Indians Since 1634, which portrays the treaty negotiations between the Menominee and the federal government. Encourage students to discuss first in small groups, then prepare a way to share what they learned with the rest of the class. They should consider: What did the European Americans want from the Menominee? What did the Menominee want? What is your reaction to Governor Cass naming Oshkosh chief of the Menominee? Why do you think he did this? What was fair and unfair about the treaty of 1836 for the Menominee? What is your reaction to the Menominee refusing to move to Minnesota? Why might they be justified in refusing to move? The original text of the treaty and a paraphrased version are included in the lesson plan “The Treaty of Lake Poygan in 1848" from the curriculum guide Wisconsin Indians: A Curriculum for 2nd - 6th Grades. The treaty describes what the Menominee and U.S. Government each gave up and what each gained. Students could decide if both the Menominee and the U.S. Government had a “fair” exchange.
8. Have half the class read in small groups "Wa Kun Cha Koo Kah, Yellow Thunder," pages 61-64 in the March, 1976 issue of Badger History focusing on the theme Wisconsin Indians Since 1634 which portrays the treaty negotiations between the Winnebago (now called the Ho-Chunk) and the federal government. Part of the video Thunder in the Dells (29 minutes) portrays Ho-Chunk men telling the story of the treaty negotiations, government efforts to remove the Ho-Chunk, and the Ho-Chunk’s resistance to removal. Mountain Wolf Woman: A Ho-Chunk Girlhood also describes one woman’s perspective on the treaties the Ho-Chunk were forced to sign and their removal to a reservation in Nebraska. Invite students to discuss first in small groups, then prepare a strategy of sharing what they learned with the rest of the class. They should consider: What did the federal government want from the Ho-Chunk? How did governmental officials force the Ho-Chunk to sign the treaty? What did you think was unfair about the treaty negotiations? What did the federal government gain from the treaty? What did the Ho-Chunk gain? Do you think the Ho-Chunk should have been forced to leave Wisconsin? How did the Ho-Chunk resist moving?
As a class, compare and contrast how the federal government negotiated treaties with the Menominee and the Ho-Chunk based on these two readings. Discuss: How did the government treat the tribes alike? What was different? What was fair for the tribes? What was unfair? For additional background information on the unfairness of treaty negotiations for Native people, see pages 35-36 in Native American FAQs Handbook.
9. Encourage students to create original dramatic scenes of treaty negotiations between the Menominee and the federal government and the Ho-Chunk and the federal government which would have been fair to both sides. Ask students to correct the unfair ways the tribes were treated in the treaty negotiations they read and discussed in the previous activity.
10. Read excerpts about Ho-Chunk perspectives on treaties negotiated with the federal government and effects of these treaties on the Ho-Chunk on pages 38-46 in Visions and Voices: Winnebago Elders Speak to the Children. This text portrays the injustice the Winnebago felt regarding the government's efforts to take Ho-Chunk land and the Ho-Chunk's efforts to keep their land.
11. Read aloud the speech made by Little Elk, a Ho-Chunk, in 1829 at Prairie du Chien in response to the U.S. Government’s efforts to buy their land. Ask students to explain why Little Elk and other Ho-Chunk did not want to sell their land and move west. This speech is available from http://www.shsw.wisc.edu/wisconsinstories/documents/little.elk/little.htm.
12. Read excerpts about treaty negotiations between the Ojibway and U.S. Government on pages 32-35 in Paths of the People: The Ojibwe in the Chippewa Valley. This text shows that the interpreters during the treaty negotiations worked for the government or for fur companies who supported land sales as a way of gaining back the debts the Ojibway had incurred during the fur trade. The concept of land ownership as negotiated during the treaties was the European concept, not the Native people's concept of the land. Ask students to analyze the negotiations for advantages and disadvantages for the U.S. Government and the Ojibway people. Another version of the treaty negotiations and understandings of land ownership, see the chapter “The Council” in Ojibway Ceremonies. Encourage students to compare negotiations between the Ojibwa and the U.S. Government to the negotiations between the U.S. Government and the Menominee and Ho-Chunk.
13. Ask students to read chapter 4 “Treaty Making and Land Taking” and pages 37-38 from chapter 5 “Surveying, selling, and Settling the Land” from Learning from the Land: Wisconsin Land Use for the different views Native people and the U.S. Government had regarding owning and using land and the fairness of the treaties. Encourage students to discuss how these conflicting views might have been resolved during the treaty negotiations. For background reading on the U.S. Government’s efforts to take land from Native people in Wisconsin because of the minerals and timber and European immigrants’ desire for land, see chapters 5 and 6 in Native American Communities in Wisconsin 1600-1960: A Study of Tradition and Change. For additional background information on treaties between each Wisconsin Native nation and the U.S. Government, see Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Renewal.
14. Read excerpts about treaty negotiations between the Potawatomi and the U.S. Government from chapter 5 in The Potawatomi. The excerpt illustrates how Potawatomi’s dependence on fur trade goods and their debts to fur traders contributed significantly to their willingness to sell their land to the U.S. Government through treaties and the benefits the U.S. Government derived from such treaties. Another version of the treaty negotiations between the Potawatomi and the U.S. Government is portrayed in the video Indians of North America: Potawatomi (30 minutes in length). The video emphasizes the government’s manipulative practices of assigning their own Potawatomi chiefs to negotiate treaties rather than those chosen by the Potawatomi people. These newly chosen chiefs were then given large tracts of land and barrels of whiskey prior to signing the treaties. Ask students to analyze the treaties for fairness to the Potawatomi and the U.S. Government and to compare these treaties to the treaties negotiated between the Menominee, Ho-Chunk, and Ojibway. Encourage students to develop new treaty agreements which might be more fair to both the Potawatomi and the U.S. Government.
15. Ask students if the U.S. Congress kept their promise in how they planned to treat Native people when they set up the Northwest Territory (of which Wisconsin was a part) through the Ordinance of 1787. Congress promised not to take lands from Indians without their consent and not to invade or disturb their property unless war was declared. See pages 36-37 in Indian Treaties for the quotation regarding the treatment of Native Americans in the Northwest Territory. Review chapters 3-5 of the text for an overview of treaties negotiated between tribes in the Midwest and the U.S. Government and the encroachment of European American settlers onto lands reserved for Native people following treaties. Show the map “Native American Removals” in Chapter 2: Native Americans from Mapping Wisconsin History: Teacher’s Guide and Student Materials which illustrate the U.S. Government’s attempted and sometimes successful removal of the Ojibwa, Ho-Chunk, and Potawatomi from Wisconsin during the 19th century.
16. Role play the removal of Native people from Wisconsin as more and more European immigrants move into the area. Half the students role play the Menominee, Ho-Chunk, Potawatomi, and Ojibwa who already live in Wisconsin. They first spread their desks out all over the classroom (representing the state of Wisconsin). Next half the class role playing European immigrants move into the classroom and occupy one-half the classroom area. The European settlers continue to demand more and more area until the Native Americans are squeezed into a tiny portion of the classroom. Ask students to describe what happened and their reactions in terms of fairness for both groups of people. For additional background on this role play, see pages 21-22 in Mapping Wisconsin History: Teacher’s Guide and Student Materials.
17. Encourage students to write what comes to mind when they hear the phrase "Ojibwa or Chippewa spear fishing and treaty rights." Follow up questions to promote thinking might be: What is spear fishing? Which tribes have treaty rights to engage in spear fishing? Why have people been upset about spear fishing and treaty rights? In order to help students understand the Ojibwa’s rights to spear fish off their reservations and the opposition to treaty fishing, lead students in the activity “Indian Spear Fishing” from Working with Water: Wisconsin Waterways Teacher’s Guide and Student Materials. After completing the activity, encourage students to respond to critics of treaty fishing.
18. Invite students to read Chippewa Treaties: Understanding and Impact (3rd edition) to learn more about the Ojibwa lifestyle, treaties, and treaty rights. Ask students to discuss these questions in small groups, then as a class: What did the federal government want from the Ojibwa? What did the Ojibwa want? What did each get in the treaties? Do you think the treaties were fair to each side? What are treaty rights? At the close of the discussion have students summarize important ideas about the treaties and treaty rights verbally and in writing. Show the DVD Ojibwe Treaty Rights: Connections to Land & Water (18 minutes) produced by the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission which reviews the main ideas of treaty rights, the meanings of these rights, and how the Ojibwe exercise these rights today. Ask students to add to what they said or wrote earlier about the meaning and importance of treaty rights. Another source for a description of treaty rights and the controversy surrounding the Ojibwa's efforts to exercise their treaty rights is pages 79-81 in Paths of the People: The Ojibwe in the Chippewa Valley, A Guide to Understanding Ojibwe Treaty Rights (2000 edition), and chapter 8 “Chippewa Treaty Rights Controversy” in Wisconsin Indians, Revised and Expanded Edition.
19. Lead students through a simulation of treaty negotiations between a larger group of students (European Americans) who want to purchase the entire playground from a smaller group of students (Native Americans) who are recognized as the owner of the playground. The smaller group will not sell the entire playground, but will allow the larger group to use the playground equipment. See page 9 of Classroom Activities on Wisconsin Indian Treaties and Tribal Sovereignty for a more complete description of the simulation.
Another example of a treaty negotiations role playing activity is described in Activity 1: Treaties and Territory (pages 49-54) in Learning from the Land: Wisconsin Land Use Teacher’s Guide and Student Materials. Divide students into two groups, one representing European Americans and one representing tribal members. Give the groups a map of an imaginary place showing physical resources and Native settlements. Assign a role to each student: tribal elder, youth, or warrior; U.S. Government official, non-Native settler, or U.S. military officer. Remind Native people they want to retain their lands while the European Americans want to gain Native people’s lands. Encourage each group to plan their negotiations before the role playing activity begins and remind them the two groups do not share a language. Following the activity, ask students to summarize their feelings about and observations of the role play and who gained the most from the treaty negotiations.
20. Invite a guest speaker from the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission to speak to students about spear fishing and treaty rights. Additional information on the current exercise of treaty rights in hunting, fishing, and gathering is available from the organization’s web site: http://www.glifwc.org/seasons/seasons.htm.
21. Show the first portion of the video H.O.N.O.R.: The Eighth Fire (approximately 30 minutes) which deals with the Ojibwa treaty rights. The video explains the importance of spear fishing to the Ojibwa; what the Ojibwa gave up during treaties and what the U.S. Government gained; and why treaty rights to fish and hunt were reserved during treaty negotiations. The video also describes how the Ojibwa were kept from exercising their treaty rights from the turn of the century until the 1970s; the federal court ruling which affirmed Ojibwa treaty rights; the amount of fish taken through spear fishing and sports fishing; and the activities and arguments of treaty rights protestors. Encourage students to summarize reasons why the Ojibwa should have treaty rights and arguments against the exercise of these rights. Invite students to speculate as to why protestors called the Ojibwa derogatory names at the boat landings.
22. Invite students to listen to the song "Honor the Treaties" on the cassette tape Native Realities. Encourage students to share their views on the music: What is your reaction to the music? How does the music make you feel? What is the singer/composer trying to say with the music? What does it mean to honor the treaties? Why should treaties be honored?
23. Lead a field trip to the State Historical Museum in Madison to participate in the guided program "Trade and Treaties" which deals with how the fur trade affected Wisconsin tribes and some of the treaties between the Wisconsin tribes and the federal government.
24. Show some examples of wampum belts representing treaties and treaty rights from the text Wampum Belts of the Iroquois. One example of a treaty rights wampum belt is the Delaware Land Belt which preserves the Lenni-Lenape’s right to travel, hunt, and fish on the lands sold. The George Washington Belt and the Fort Stanwix Treaty Belt are examples of belts which represent a promise that the U.S. will not take Native people’s land. Encourage students to speculate why the U. S. Government did not honor those promises.
25. Read aloud The Death of the Iron Horse which provides a Cheyenne perspective on the transcontinental railroad and its disruption of native life during the period when the U.S. government was negotiating treaties with different Indian tribes. This incident describes one of the few times native people were able to disrupt the westward encroachment of European Americans onto native lands.
26. Lead students in singing "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain" from Gonna Sing My Head Off! American Folk Songs for Children which provides a European American perspective on railroads. European Americans in the Midwest were happy to see railroads because trains transported supplies, mail, and perhaps family and friends. Discuss with students: What did you learn about railroads from the song? What seems to be the mood of the song? How did the composer seem to feel about railroads? How does this song compare to how native people viewed railroads?
1. Show students the American Indian History U.S. map (1998 version). Encourage students to look at the inserts at the top which show where Native people were living at different times in the U.S. Ask students to explain what they observe about the changes in the map from 1492 to 1890 (Native people were gradually moved west and no longer lived all over the U.S., but were confined to small areas in the U.S. Additional information about this map is contained within the text American Indian Facts of Life: A Profile of Today's Tribes and Reservations. Consult tribal web sites for the Wisconsin Native nations in order to develop greater insight into the removal of the Ho-Chunk (www.ho-chunk.com), the Menominee (www.menominee.nsn.us/), the Oneida (www.oneidanation.org), and the Stockbridge-Munsee (www.mohican.com/) from their homelands.
2. Ask students to observe carefully the Native American Reservations U.S. map (2001 version) to notice where current reservations are located for Native people within the United States. Ask students to explain why certain states have more reservations than others and the number of reservations located in Wisconsin in comparison to other states in the midwest.
3. Encourage students to work in small groups to investigate what life on reservations was like for some of the Wisconsin tribes. Each group must prepare a method of sharing what they learned with the rest of the class.
One group could research the Ho-Chunk life on homesteads after losing all their original lands to the federal government by reading pages 46-49 in Visions and Voices: Winnebago Elders Speak to the Children. Discuss: How did the Ho-Chunk survive on their homesteads? What cultural traditions did they continue? What cultural traditions did they give up?
Another group could research life for the Menominee after they moved to their present reservation in Keshena by reading chapter 5 in The Menominee (by Ourada), pages 17-19 in The Menominee (by Fowler), and pages 33-35 in A New True Book: The Menominee (by Kalbacken).
A third group could research life for the Ojibwa after moving to reservations by reading pages 41-43 in The Ojibwas (by Lucas), pages 36-40 in Paths of the People: The Ojibwe in the Chippewa Valley, pages 13-17 in The Ojibwa (by McCarthy), and chapter 6 in The Ojibwa (by Tanner). Students may view photographs of the Lac du Flambeau reservation from the late 19th century and later in the text Reflections of Lac du Flambeau: An illustrated history of Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin, 1745-1995.
A fourth group could learn more about the Potawatomi’s removal to reservations by viewing a portion of the video Indians of North America: Potawatomi (30 minutes total). The video describes some Potawatomi’s “trail of death” as the U.S. Government forced them to move to Kansas after the Indian Removal Act was passed and the Forest County Potawatomi’s forced movement to an abandoned logging camp on Devils Lake in Wisconsin.
4. Invite students to study photographs of Native Americans' homes on reservations. How do these compare to traditional homes? Sources of photographs include Woodland Indians of Wisconsin (folder of reproduced photographs).
5. Lead a simulation of the experience of Wisconsin Indians being forced to move to reservations. Explain to the class that the school needs much of the classroom space for other students who are moving to the school, and they must move their desks to a corner of the classroom. They must stay in this limited space and may get what they need from other parts of the classroom or hall only at the times you will allow. Continue the activity until you observe some frustration among the students with being confined to this limited area, then lead a discussion on the students' reaction to this activity by asking: How did you feel about being moved to a corner of the classroom? What was it like not to be able to go to the bubbler, pencil sharpener, sink, or your locker whenever you wanted to? How might Native Americans have felt about being moved from their original lands to another place to make room for European Americans? How might Native Americans have felt about having much less land to fish, hunt, gather wild rice, make maple sugar, and garden? Encourage students to write about their experience in the simulation and how Native Americans might have felt about being removed to reservations.
6. Ask students how they would feel about living in a country in which they could not vote, practice their religion, travel to another city without permission, dance with their friends, or live with their families while they attended school. After students share their reactions to these restrictions, explain that for Native people living in the United States in 1900, they did not have these rights. Introduce the power agents had on reservations to govern Native people’s lives. For background information, see pages 10-13 in the Roots periodical dealing with “On the Reservation” and the chapter “Reservations” in Our Stories Remember: American Indian History, Culture, and Values through Storytelling.
1. Read aloud Cheyenne Again which describes the painful experiences of a young Cheyenne boy being taken away from his family and tribe to a boarding school where he must give up much of his native culture and learn European American culture. Discuss what we learned about boarding schools from this text and how boarding schools encouraged native children to assimilate into European American culture. What were the benefits and problems for native children to assimilate into European American culture?
2. Read aloud The Ledgerbook of Thomas Blue Eagle, another text which deals with the traumatic experiences of a boy being taken away from his family to attend a boarding school. Blue Eagle is a Sioux whose lifestyle is described prior to contact with European Americans and being sent to Carlisle Indian School in the 19th century. Encourage students to notice the breath-taking illustrations in ledger art, an art form created by some of the Plains tribes. Ask students to look for similarities and differences between this text and Cheyenne Again.
3. Read aloud or encourage students to read independently Jim Thorpe Young Athlete, a third text which describes a Sac and Fox boy’s boarding school experiences. The text describes the hardships of Jim Thorpe’s family after their Sac and Fox tribe was forced to move to a reservation in Oklahoma and Jim and his twin brother went to a boarding school on the reservation and later Jim went to other boarding schools in Kansas and Pennsylvania. Encourage students to compare and contrast Jim’s experiences at these different boarding schools and what he liked and disliked at each school. Invite students to evaluate Jim’s decision to run away from his first two boarding schools in terms of what was best for him.
4. Read aloud excerpts regarding Ho-Chunk perspectives on boarding schools for native children on pages 40-41 and 49-50 in Visions and Voices: Winnebago Elders Speak to the Children. The speaker articulates the fear of Ho-Chunk children losing their Indian ways at these schools, but also the benefits of the schools. Discuss as a class: How did boarding schools help native children? How did it harm them? How might these schools have been improved?
5. Read aloud excerpts of the perspective of the U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs on boarding schools and that of an Ojibway student at one of the schools from pages 44-48 in Paths of the People: The Ojibwe in the Chippewa Valley. Ask students to contrast these two different perspectives regarding boarding schools. (This section of the text also provides a general description of boarding schools.) Another resources which describes the harmful effects of boarding schools for Ojibwa children is The Good Path: Ojibwe Learning and Activity Book for Kids, pages 104-107.
6. Encourage students to study photographs of mission schools or boarding schools for Wisconsin Native Americans. What do you notice about the clothing the students are wearing? How does this compare to traditional dress? Why might there be farming areas around the mission school? How does this compare to traditional methods of growing, gathering, and hunting food? Sources of photographs is the Woodland Indians of Wisconsin (folder of reproduced photographs), Classroom Activities on Wisconsin Indian Treaties and Tribal Sovereignty, and Reflections of Lac du Flambeau: An illustrated history of Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin, 1745-1995.
7. Invite students to read carefully the daily schedules for Native American girls and boys at boarding schools in 1916 on pages 151-154 of Classroom Activities on Wisconsin Indian Treaties and Tribal Sovereignty. After students have read the schedules, clarify unfamiliar terms such as industrial instruction, literary society, and Christian endeavor, and encourage them to discuss in small groups: What do you notice about the schedules? What seems to be emphasized? What are the students learning? For more background on the prejudiced views of Commissioners of Indian Affairs in the late 1800s and early 1900s toward educating native children and youth, see pages 142-151 of Classroom Activities on Wisconsin Indian Treaties and Tribal Sovereignty.
8. Read aloud the section on “Schools” and “Way-quah-gishig Goes to School” (pages 17-20). from the Roots periodical dealing with “On the Reservation.” Ask students to listen for the reasons for establishing special schools for Native children, the kinds of activities students engaged in, the value of these activities for the students, and how the students felt about attending these special schools.
9. Divide students into four groups with each group assigned to learn more about the boarding schools for the Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Ojibwe, or Potawatomi. Each should read the “Dealing with Non-Indian” sections of either chapter 3, 4, 5, or 6 of Native People of Wisconsin. Encourage students to summarize the purpose of the boarding schools, what Native children learned from them, and how Native youth might have felt about attending these schools. The lesson plans “Indian Boarding Schools” and “Noah White’s Story: A Ho-Chunk Indian Goes to Boarding School” from the curriculum guide Wisconsin Indians: A Curriculum for 2nd - 6th Grades also provide two different accounts of boarding schools. One is a newspaper article describing the boarding schools for Native children in Shawano County in the late 1800s and the second is an oral history interview with a Ho-Chunk describing his experiences at a boarding school in Nebraska for 11-12 years during the 1920s-1930s. Ask students to identify the differences in the descriptions of boarding schools in the two accounts.
10. Show excerpts from the beginning of the video Where the Spirit Lives to portray native children from a tribe in Canada being taken from their tribe, traveling by plane and railroad, and arriving at a Catholic residential school for native children. When children first arrive, their hair is cut, they are forced to wear uniforms, given European names, and forbidden from speaking their first language. Encourage students to watch the video for what missionary schools were like for native children. Following the video excerpts, invite students to discuss: How might the native children have felt as they left their tribe and moved to the school? How did the Indian agent and teachers at the school treat the native children? What seemed to be the purpose of the school? This video is not appropriate to show in its entirety because of the length (97 minutes) and the implied sexual abuse of one of the Native girls.
11. Introduce Pizza, Popcorn & Pow-wow: Growing up Ojibwe, a coloring book of the Lac du Flambeau tribe which deals with traditional Ojibwa lifestyle, the effect of boarding schools on the Ojibwa traditional lifestyle, and contemporary Ojibwa children and youth. Invite students to discuss what they learned about boarding schools from the coloring book and their reaction to boarding schools.
12. More advanced readers might read Indian School: Teaching the White Man’s Way and summarize for the class some of the experiences of Native children and youth who attended the Carlisle Indian School between 1879 and 1918. Encourage the students to highlight any benefits Native students gained by attending Carlisle and the many harmful effects on Native American children from the years at this first governmental school established for the purpose of “civilizing” Native American children. Share criticisms of the book by Native people as listed on the Oyate website: www.oyate.org. For additional background information on the devastating and positive consequences of the Carlisle Indian School and other boarding schools on Native children and youth, see the chapter “Indian Boarding Schools” from Our Stories Remember: American Indian History, Culture, and Values through Storytelling.
13. Summarize the boarding school experiences for all Native nations of Wisconsin from the text Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Renewal. For a description of Menominee student experiences, see pages 31-32, for Ho-Chunk experiences, see pages 50-51, for Ojibwa experiences, see pages 65-66 and 70-71, for Potawatomi experiences, see page 93, for Oneida experiences, see pages 109-110, and for Stockbridge-Munsee experiences, see pages 120-121. What was similar about these experiences? What was different?
14. Summarize for students the allotment policy and lead a discussion on how this might affect the Native people living on reservations. Encourage students to evaluate this policy in terms of its benefit or harm for Wisconsin tribes. For background information, see pages 172-176 in Classroom Activities on Wisconsin Indian Treaties and Tribal Sovereignty, pages 88-91 in The Ojibwa (by Tanner), pages 24-25 in Wisconsin Indians, pages 32-34 in A New True Book: The Oneida, pages 112-113 in The Iroquois, pages 34-48 in American Indian Facts of Life: A Profile of Today's Tribes and Reservations, pages 63-67 in Native American FAQs Handbook, pages 40-43 in Paths of the People: The Ojibwe in the Chippewa Valley, pages 33 - 39 in Reflections of Lac du Flambeau: An illustrated history of Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin, 1745-1995, and pages 5-7 in the Roots periodical focusing on “On the Reservation.”
15. Encourage students to study photographs of Wisconsin Indians trying to learn the European American way of farming after reservation lands were broken up into individual or family allotments. Describe the style of farming shown in the photographs. How does this style of farming compare to the tribes' traditional farming practices? How do the native people seem to feel about this style of farming? Sources of photographs include Woodland Indians of Wisconsin (folder of reproduced photographs).
16. Invite students to listen to the song "Side by Side" on the cassette tape Native Realities dealing with efforts of European Americans to assimilate Native Americans into European American culture, but also the need for these two cultures to live together. Encourage students to discuss: What is your reaction to the song? What is the singer/composer trying to communicate? What ways have European Americans tried to make Native Americans like European Americans? What might the singer mean by "side by side?"
17. Read excerpts from chapter 13 in The Mishomis Book: The Voice of the Ojibway which deals with predictions early Ojibwa prophets made about the coming of the Light-Skinned Race. Discuss with students: What were the predictions the prophets made regarding the Light-Skinned Race? Which ones have come true? In what ways have the Light-Skinned Race worn the face of brotherhood and sisterhood? In what ways have the Light-Skinned Race worn the face of death?
18. Read aloud excerpts from Patrick DesJarlait: Conversations with a Native American Artist in which Patrick DesJarlait, an Ojibwa, talks about life on the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota in the early 20th century. Show photographs of the paintings DesJarlait created to illustrate aspects of Ojibwa life and ask students to speculate what they think the artist is trying to show in his paintings. Although there was poverty on the reservation, DesJarlait loved and painted the Ojibwa’s seasonal activities: winter’s hunting, trapping, and fishing; spring’s harvesting maple sap; summer’s attending powwows; and fall’s harvesting wild rice. Read aloud the excerpt about DesJarlait’s experiences at different schools, including the students being forbidden to speak their first language or participate in any activities related to their cultural background. Ask students how DesJarlait might have felt when some teachers did not encourage him to develop his art.
Citizenship And Reorganization
1. Invite students to think about, then discuss in small groups: Are Wisconsin Native Americans U.S. citizens? What are the requirements for becoming citizens? Why would Native Americans want to become U.S. citizens? Why might native people be refused citizenship? Why do you think Native Americans should be granted or refused citizenship?
2. Introduce to students what led to Wisconsin Native Americans becoming U.S. citizens in 1924 and the effects of Indians serving in the military and owning land on citizenship. Explain that Wisconsin Native Americans who are enrolled members of their tribes are both U.S. citizens and citizens of their tribe. See pages 172-177 in Classroom Activities on Wisconsin Indian Treaties and Tribal Sovereignty for background information on citizenship.
3. Briefly introduce students to the reorganization of Wisconsin tribes precipitated by the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Encourage students to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of this act for native people in Wisconsin. See pages 99-100 in The Ojibwa (by Tanner), pages 35-39 in A New True Book: The Oneida, pages 26-44 in Wisconsin Indians, and pages 191-194 in Classroom Activities on Wisconsin Indian Treaties and Tribal Sovereignty.
1. Ask students to write quickly what they think of when they hear the word "termination." What might the term mean when it is connected to a Wisconsin tribe? Then show students an excerpt from the video A Week on the Reservation which deals with the termination of the Menominee tribe, the devastating effects on the tribe, and the tribe's recovery after termination was rescinded. Encourage students to summarize what they learned about termination from the video and add to their first ideas of termination.
2. Summarize the main ideas regarding the meanings of termination of Indian tribes and the effects on the Menominee. See pages 239-247 in Classroom Activities on Wisconsin Indian Treaties and Tribal Sovereignty, the Menominee curriculum unit, chapter 6 in The Menominee (By Ourada), pages 19-22 in The Menominee (by Fowler), and pages 35-36 in A New True Book: The Menominee for background information. Encourage students to write and illustrate their understanding of termination.
1. Review students’ ideas about the meanings of self-determination, especially for Native Americans after they have been moved to reservations. Summarize key ideas of tribal sovereignty and add to students’ ideas (see pages 57 - 61 in Native American FAQs Handbook). Encourage students to speculate on the challenges of self-determination for Native people.
2. Show the video A Visit to Lac du Flambeau (15 minutes) which portrays life on the Lac du Flambeau reservation today including economic activities; social services provided for tribal members; and special celebrations, programs, and facilities which continue Ojibwa culture. The video illustrates efforts of the Lac du Flambeau to meet the needs of tribal members as well as reach out to share their culture and history with diverse people. Encourage students to visit “Learning Together” and “Embracing Tradition” from the northern highland region of the Wisconsin map on the Cultural Horizons of Wisconsin CD-Rom. “Learning Together” introduces the efforts on the Lac du Flambeau reservation to teach Ojibwa children Ojibwa language and culture. “Embracing Tradition” portrays the Ojibwa School on the Lac Courte Oreilles reservation near Hayward and the unique aspects of the tribal school in maintaining cultural traditions.
3. Show the video The Official Video Guide to Native Wisconsin (45 minutes) which portrays the current location of each tribe and significant economic activities, social services provided for tribal members, and programs and facilities which preserve tribal heritage. See the booklet Native Wisconsin: Official guide to Native American communities in Wisconsin for descriptions of each nation or band’s businesses, services, special events, and distinguishing features of the reservation. For additional background information on the connections among federal recognition, sovereignty, gaming, and other economic activities to reduce poverty on reservations, see chapter 10 “Sovereignty, Recognition, Gaming, and Beyond” in Wisconsin Indians, Revised and Expanded Edition. Students may also read about “life today” for the Menominee, Ho-Chunk, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Oneida, and Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican from chapters 3-8 in Native People of Wisconsin.
4. Show excerpts or the complete video A Week on the Reservation (30 minutes) which deals with the Menominee and problems they have had in the past with high unemployment, lack of medical care, teen pregnancy, and alcoholism on the reservation. Because of the income from gaming, the tribe is developing social services for tribal members to address some of the problems.
5. Show excerpts or the complete video Pride in Progress (17 minutes) which deals with the Oneida, the services they provide for tribal members, their improving economy on the reservation, and the Oneida Nation Museum which teaches Oneida culture and history. The video is a bit dated (1989), but introduces aspects of life on the Oneida reservation. Students may also use the Cultural Horizons of Wisconsin CD-Rom to visit “Many Voices” on the Oneida reservation, eastern ridges and lowlands region on the Wisconsin map, and learn more about a summer camp designed to teach Oneida families the Oneida language. Read aloud or ask students to read pages 38-40 from The Oneida (by McLester and Torres) for a summary of economic, social services, and cultural activities which are part of Oneida’s efforts toward self-determination.
6. Show excerpts of the video Indians of North America: Potawatomi which deal with the current efforts by the Potawatomi to gain control of their own affairs through economic independence. Despite the different views on the benefits of gaming for the Potawatomi people, most agree that gaming has brought a steady income, reduced unemployment, and provided new housing programs. Ask students to list the benefits and problems of gaming for the Potawatomi people.
7. Lead a field trip to the Oneida Nation Museum to participate in a guided tour. The museum has displays which explain the history of the League of the Iroquois, Iroquois women and men, spiritual life, the Oneida move to Wisconsin, politics, and art work. Materials are available for students to handle and a recreated longhouse surrounded by a stockade is also on the museum grounds for first-hand learning. Encourage students to share summaries of and reactions to what they learned about the Oneida after the field trip. An additional resource which describes Oneida’s efforts toward self-determination is chapter 8 in The Iroquois.
8. Lead a field trip to the Stockbridge-Munsee Historical Library Museum. A tour guide will lead students through the displays on Mohican life before contact with Europeans, the fur trade, the missionary era (when Christian missionaries tried to convert Native Americans to Christianity), the farming era, the logging era, and a display of a kitchen in an early Wisconsin home. Following the field trip, encourage students to share what they learned about the Stockbridge-Munsee from the guided tour of the museum displays.
9. Invite a guest speaker from the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohican Nation to describe current efforts toward sovereignty or self-determination, including the benefits of gaming for providing employment, reducing welfare benefits, and expanding such services as health, education, fire fighting, and roads for tribal members. Contact Theresa Puskarenko, Stockbridge-Munsee Education Director, for possible speakers. For additional information on Stockbridge-Munsee’s efforts toward self-determination, see “The Mohican Nation: An Assessment of the Impact of Gaming on Community Infrastructure Self-Determination” and “A Story of Recovery and Leadership: The Many Trails of the Mohican Nation Stockbridge-Munsee Band.”
10. For examples of some of the challenges Mohican Nation elders faced during earlier times in the 20th century, read excerpts from Stories of Our Elders By the Youth of the Mohican Nation. Many attended church schools either by boarding at the school or attending as day students, but nearly everyone spoke of economic struggles and holding different jobs. Ask students to listen for how being a Native American influenced the elders’ lives. Some elders spoke about this influence while others did not.
11. Lead a field trip to the Menominee Logging Camp Museum which has guided tours to explain old logging artifacts, the bunk house, the cook shanty, the wood butcher's shop, the blacksmith shop, the saw filer's shack, the horse barn, an old time camp office, and the scoop cedar roof shed. Following the field trip, encourage students to discuss what they learned about the Menominee lumbering enterprise in earlier times.
12. Invite a guest speaker from the Menominee Nation to describe current efforts toward sovereignty or self-determination. Contact the College of the Menominee Nation for possible speakers.
13. Summarize the Ojibwa's efforts at self-determination at Lac Court Oreilles from pages 83-86 in Paths of the People: The Ojibwe in the Chippewa Valley. General background on self-determination for Ojibwa in the U.S. and Canada is described on pages 37-39 in The Ojibwa (by McCarthy) and in chapter 9 of The Good Path: Ojibwe Learning and Activity Book for Kids.
14. For background information and instructional strategies for teaching about the positive and negative effects of gaming as a means for Native people to achieve self-determination, see “The Indian Gaming Debate,” the Middle Level Learning supplement to the September, 2003 issue of Social Education.
15. Invite students to listen to the song "Sovereignty" on Native Realities which deals with the importance of tribes to govern themselves and reclaim tribal traditions. Encourage students to share their views: What is your reaction to the song? What do you think the singer/composer was saying? What does it mean to reclaim sovereignty?
16. Introduce the short story Generation to Generation: A Short Story to encourage students to read independently about a contemporary Ojibwa man learning of his cultural heritage through his family as he and family members continue traditional Ojibwa ways.
17. Encourage students to read Dreams of looking up: How one family discovers the key to their People’s strength (in comic book format) which describes one contemporary Ojibwa family who are learning about their past through the Grandmother’s stories. As the Grandmother told the stories, her granddaughter created a three-dimensional display to document important ideas. Encourage students to explain how sovereignty is connected to the history and future of the Ojibwa. For additional background on the meaning of sovereignty, see the teacher’s guide which accompanies the comic book.
18. Introduce the two texts The People Shall Continue and One Nation, Many Tribes: How Kids Live in Milwaukee's Indian Community to the students and have them choose which text they would prefer to read. Then have half the class read one text while the other half reads the second. The first text provides an overview of the traditional lives of all Native American nations, the hardships native people endured at the hands of European Americans, and the need for Native Americans to work together for better lives and to care for the earth. One Nation, Many Tribes deals with two contemporary Ojibwa youth who attend the Milwaukee Indian Community School. They engage in many activities youth from diverse backgrounds engage in such as playing sports and video games. The two youth also practice traditional Ojibwa cultural traditions such as dancing and participating in the sweat lodge purification ceremony. Students may also visit “Gathering Our Grandfathers” from the eastern ridges and lowlands region of Wisconsin on the Cultural Horizons of Wisconsin CD-Rom. The CD-Rom portrays students from the Indian Community School gathering materials for a sweatlodge and learning about Native traditions and values. Another text which portrays Native youth in Canada learning about traditions, ceremonies, and stories of indigenous nations is SIMA7: Come Join Me. Read aloud the “Blessing of the Sacred Sage” and “The Sweat Lodge” to embellish the explanation of the sweat lodge purification ceremony described in One Nation, Many Tribes: How Kids Live in Milwaukee's Indian Community. Encourage students to discuss the significance of these purification ceremonies.
Small literature study group strategies can be used with each group to discuss the text, but keep the number of students in a group to no more than seven. At first, share the meanings each student is constructing and what they enjoy about the text. Then develop more critical interpretations of what the text is about and provide evidence for the different views. Next, review the text and mark parts with sticky notes to discuss which readers found puzzling, significant, or enjoyable. Encourage students to share different interpretations of the meanings of the text, layers of story meaning, structure, plot, characters, place, point of view, time, mood, symbols, and metaphors (see Grand Conversations: Literature Groups in Action for explanations of these elements). The teacher may label these elements as students initiate their discussion during the study group. Students may keep a reading response journal to record their interpretations and reactions to the reading which is submitted and commented on by the teacher.
Students should analyze the texts for what they contribute to our understanding of the challenges of maintaining tribal traditions today and dealing with discrimination against native people.
Students should analyze the texts for perspective or point of view. Who seems to be talking? Who is the narrator? Whose views are portrayed? What is the author's purpose in writing this text?
Each group of students should develop a strategy for sharing the important ideas of their text with the rest of the class. They might create a series of pictures, a dramatic reenactment, or an oral summary to teach the class about their book.
19. Encourage more advanced readers to read The Heart of a Chief which deals with the some of the economic problems Native people face today on reservations. Encourage students to list the benefits of casino gambling to provide needed income for reservations and also the problems which might result from introducing this new form of economic development. The text also addresses the problem of using Indian names for mascots. Encourage students to compare how the main character, Chris, feels about this issue with how Shawnee and Thirza, the characters from One Nation, Many Tribes: How Kids Live in Milwaukee's Indian Community view it. Encourage students to consider the harmful effects of using Native people as mascots.
20. Read aloud Onkwehonwe-Neha or “Our Ways” which provides a history of the Haudenosaunee people (including the Mohawk and other Iroquois nations) in Canada. It deals with the traditional beliefs in the importance of all life, the value of being thankful, and the importance of respecting different ways of living. However, all this changed with the movement of Europeans onto the North American continent and the governmental efforts to assimilate Native people to European lifestyles. Currently Native people are trying to return to their original teachings. Ask students to listen for similarities to what happened to Native people in Canada as well as the United States.
21. Read aloud or encourage students to read Two pairs of shoes which illustrates the two worlds Native children must live in today. Ask students to think about the author’s purpose in writing this text and what the two pairs of shoes may represent. On the one hand, Native children must live in majority culture, dominated by European American values, and wear clothing most people in society wear. On the other hand, Native children must live in their first culture and know and respect their cultural heritage, as represented by the beaded moccasins.
22. Show a portion of the video Winds of Change: A Matter of Choice (approximately 30 minutes) which shows urban Native people in Milwaukee who have chosen to leave their reservations and live in an urban area for economic and educational opportunities, but still try to maintain some cultural traditions. The video also shows a few activities of the Milwaukee Indian Community School. Encourage students to discuss the benefits and challenges for Native families to live in urban areas and to live on their reservations.
23. Introduce students to contemporary Native American bead and ribbon artists and their efforts to maintain their cultural traditions and identity within contemporary society. Invite guest speakers from the local community who continue to practice these arts to demonstrate their art and talk about the importance of this art. Or, if Native American bead or ribbon artists are not available as guest speakers, request permission to visit with an artist and make slides of her art to show the class.
24. Show parts of the video Thunder in the Dells (29 minutes) which portrays the split ash basket making tradition among the Ho-Chunk. Encourage students to discuss the importance of continuing such artistic traditions today.
25. Ask students to define the term “sovereignty” as it applies to Native Nations and the characteristics of sovereign nations. Then lead students in reading and discussing the readings “Sovereignty” and “Sovereignty in Indian Country,” pages 14-16, from the resource Native Americans Today: Resources and Activities for Educators Grades 4-8. Add to the definition from earlier. Clarify the differences between Native Nations as sovereign powers and the United States as a sovereign power.
1. At the beginning of the unit, teachers should introduce the unit to families, explaining the main goals, activities, and expectations for the students. Invite families to serve as resources by offering ideas for guest speakers, activities, or materials and as participants by assisting students in completing their final projects in the unit.
2. Encourage families to take their children to visit the reservation areas of any of the six Wisconsin tribes. They especially may want to visit the Oneida Nation Museum, the Stockbridge-Munsee Museum, the Menominee Logging Camp Museum, or the Wisconsin Native American exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum to learn more about Wisconsin tribes. Encourage families to discuss what they learned about native people during these visits.
3. Encourage families to read and help students revise some of the writing the students are doing throughout the unit.
1. Students' individual concept maps dealing with slavery and the Underground Railroad could be saved and compared with concept maps students completed by the end of the unit to show gains in knowledge during the unit. Students' work should be analyzed for understanding of main ideas regarding slavery and the Underground Railroad.
2. The descriptions and illustrations students completed at the beginning of the unit showing what they know about the topic of cultural conflicts between European Americans and Native Americans should be compared with descriptions and illustrations completed at the end of the unit. Students should demonstrate a basic understanding of: treaties and treaty rights; Indian reservations; assimilation of Native Americans; native people as citizens; the termination of Wisconsin tribes; and self-determination for Wisconsin Indians.
3. At the beginning of the unit, as a class, brainstorm what is important to learn from the unit, different ways students might express this knowledge, and criteria for evaluating the final product. For example, the students and teacher might agree everyone should learn at least one main idea (not small facts) about each theme (treaties and treaty rights; Indian reservations; assimilation of Native Americans; native people as citizens; the termination of Wisconsin tribes; and self-determination for Wisconsin Indians) and could express these ideas through writing a personal narrative, an informational piece, historical fiction, or a poem; drawing different scenes; creating a song; or developing a display to illustrate each theme. The students as well as the teacher evaluate the final product using the agreed-upon criteria.
4. Students should save all samples of their work from the unit and select those which illustrate significant ideas they learned for their portfolio.
Resources
Benton-Banai, E. (1988). The Mishomis book: The voice of the Ojibway. St. Paul, MN: Red School House.
Benton-Banai, E. (1991). Generation to generation: A short story. . . a native tradition. Hayward, WI: Indian Country Communications.
Bowman, E. J. (1999). Chief Ninham, forgotten hero. Gresham, WI: Muh-He-Con-Neew Press.
Broker, I. (1983). Night flying woman: An Ojibway narrative. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society.
Bruchac, J. (1998). The heart of a chief. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.
Bunting, E. (1995). Cheyenne again. New York: Clarion.
Carufel, D. (n.d.). Pizza, popcorn & pow-wow: Growing up Ojibwe. Lac du Flambeau, WI: The Chippewa Museum and Cultural Center.
Clifton, J. A. (1987). The Potawatomi. New York: Chelsea House.
Cooper, M. L. (1999). Indian school: Teaching the white man’s way. New York: Clarion.
Duvall, J. (1991). The Oneida. Chicago: Childrens Press.
Erdrich, L. (2005). The game of silence. New York: HarperCollins.
Erdrich, L. (2008). The porcupine year. New York: HarperCollins.
Erickson, S. (1994). Chippewa treaties: Understanding and impact (2nd ed.). Odanah, WI: Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission.
Fowler, V. (2001). The Menominee. Austin, TX: Raintree Steck-Vaughn.
Goble, P. (1987). Death of the iron horse. New York: Bradbury.
Goff, C. (1999). Dreams of looking up: How one family discovers the key to their People’s strength. Onamia, MN: Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.
Gold, S. D. (1997). Indian treaties. New York: Twenty-First Century Books.
Graymont, B. (1988). The Iroquois. New York: Chelsea House.
Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission. (1997). Chippewa treaties: Understanding and impact (3rd ed.). Odanah, WI: Author.
Holliday, D. Y. (2007). Mountain Wolf Woman: A Ho-Chunk girlhood. Madison, WI: Historical Society of Wisconsin.
Kalbacken, J. (1994). The Menominee. Chicago: Childrens Press.
Krull, K. (1995). One nation, many tribes: How kids live in Milwaukee’s Indian community. New York: Lodestar Books.
Levine, E. (1988). . . . If you traveled on the underground railroad. New York: Scholastic.
Loew, P. (2003). Native people of Wisconsin. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Historical Society.
Lucas, E. (1994). The Ojibwas: People of the northern forests. Brookfield, CT: Millbrook.
Malone, B. (1998). Learning from the land: Wisconsin land use. Madison, WI: State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
Maracle, S. (Skonaganleh-ra). (1994). Onkwehonwe-neha “our ways.” Toronto: Sister Vision
Matthaei, G. & Grutman, J. (1994). The ledgerbook of Thomas Blue Eagle. New York: Lickle.
McLester, L. G. & Torres, E. (2001). The Oneida. Austin, TX: Raintree Steck-Vaughn.
McCarthy, C. (2001). The Ojibwa. Austin, TX: Raintree Steck-Vaughn.
Ortiz, S. (1988). The people shall continue. San Francisco: Children’s Book Press.
Ourada, P. K. (1990). The Menominee. New York: Chelsea House.
Peacock, T. & Wisuri, M. (2002). The good path: Ojibwe learning and activity book for kids. Afton, MN: Afton Historical Society Press.
Pferdehirt, J. (1998). Freedom train north: Stories of the Underground Railroad in Wisconsin. Middleton, WI: Living History.
Sanderson, E. (1990). Two pair of shoes. Winnipeg: Pemmican.
Santrey, L. (n.d.). Jim Thorpe young athlete. Mahwah, NJ: Troll.
Tanner, H. H. (1992). The Ojibwa. New York: Chelsea House.
Tehanetorens. (1999). Wampum belts of the Iroquois. Summertown, TN: Book Publishing.
Turner, A. (1987). Nettie's trip South. New York: Macmillan.
Williams, N. (1995). Patrick DesJarlait: Conversations with a Native American artist. Minneapolis: Runestone.
Winter, J. (1988). Follow the drinking gourd. New York: Dragonfly Books.
Fridley, R. W. (1986, Spring). On the reservation. Roots, 14. (Published by the Minnesota Historical Society and available at the George W. Brown, Jr. Ojibwe Museum and Cultural Center, Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin 54538)
Kanetzke, H. W. (Ed.). (1976, March). Wisconsin Indians since 1634. Badger History, 29.
Bieder, R. E. (1995). Native American communities in Wisconsin 1600-1960: A study of tradition and change. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Blessing, M. (1999). Wisconsin history on stage: Scripts for grades 4 through 8. Madison, WI: State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
Brown, V. (1975). Uncommon lives of common women: The missing of Wisconsin history. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Feminists Project Fund.
Bruchac, J. (2003). Our stories remember: American Indian history, culture, and values through storytelling. Golden, CO: Fulcrum.
Cooper, Z. (1977). Black settlers in rural Wisconsin. Madison, WI: State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
Erickson, S. (1999). A guide to understanding Ojibwe treaty rights (2000 Edition). Odanah, WI: Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission.
Goc, M. J. (1995). Reflections of Lac du Flambeau: An illustrated history of Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin 1745 - 1995. Friendship, WI: New Past Press.
Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council. (2000). Native Wisconsin: Official guide to Native American communities in Wisconsin. Lac du Flambeau, WI: Native American Tourism of Wisconsin.
Hieb, J. A. (1994). Visions and voices: Winnebago elders speak to the children. Independence, WI: Western Dairyland Economic Opportunity Council.
Hirschfelder, A. & Beamer, Y. (2000). Native Americans today: Resources and activities for educators, grades 4-8. Englewood, CO: Teacher Ideas Press.
Johnston, B. (1982). Ojibway ceremonies. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska.
Krull, K. (1992). Gonna sing my head off! American folk songs for children. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Lowe, P. (2001). Indian nations of Wisconsin: Histories of endurance and renewal. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Historical Society.
Lurie, N. O. (1980). Wisconsin Indians. Madison, WI: State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
Mason, C. I. (1988). Introduction to Wisconsin Indians: Prehistory to statehood. Salem, WI: Sheffield.
Nabokov, P. (Ed.). (1999). Native American testimony: A chronicle of Indian-White relations from prophecy to the present, 1492-2000 (Rev. ed.). New York: Penguin Books.
Peterson, R. & Eeds, M. (1990). Grand conversations: Literature groups in action. New York: Scholastic.
Pfaff, T. (1993). Paths of the people: The Ojibwe in the Chippewa Valley. Eau Claire, WI: Chippewa Valley Museum Press.
Risjord, N. K. (1995). Wisconsin: The story of the badger state. Black Earth, WI: Trails Books.
Russell, G. (1997). American Indian facts of life: A profile of today's tribes and reservations. Phoenix, AZ: Russell Publications.
Shafer, M. A. (1993). Wisconsin: The way we were. Minocqua, WI: Heartland.
Silverman, J. (1993). Ballads & songs of the Civil War. Pacific, MO: Mel Bay.
Wisconsin Department of Tourism and State Historical Society of Wisconsin. (n.d.). Heritage Wisconsin: Open a treasure of African American culture in America's heartland. Madison, WI: Author.
Youth of the Mohican Nation (1999). Stories of our elders. Gresham, WI: Muh-he-con-neew Press. (Available from the Arvid E. Miller Memorial Museum, N8510 Moh he con nuck Road, Bowler, WI 54416)
Professional Curriculum Guides and Publications
American Indian Language and Culture Education Board. (n.d.). The history of the Hochungra people: Winnebago tribe of Wisconsin. Madison, WI: Author.
Brunette, P., Whipple, N., DesJarlait, R. & Buffalohead, P. (n.d.). Ojibway family life in Minnesota: 20th century sketches. Minneapolis: Indian Education Program, Anoka-Hennepin School District #11.
Buffalohead, P. (n.d.). A guide to Ojibway family life in Minnesota: 20th century sketches. Minneapolis: Indian Education Program, Anoka-Hennepin School District #11.
Dion, S. (1991). Current federal Indian law and its precedents. Madison, WI: American Indian Language and Culture Education Board.
Dion, S. (1991). Indian-white relations: Historical foundations. Madison, WI: American Indian Language and Culture Education Board.
Gudinas, R. (Ed.). (1983). American Indian tribal governments. Madison, WI: Madison Metropolitan School District.
Malone, B., Gray, J. J. & Fajardo, A. (2001). Working with water: Wisconsin waterways teacher’s guide and student materials. Madison, WI: State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
Malone, B. & Fajardo, A. (1998). Learning from the land: Wisconsin land use teacher’s guide and student materials. Madison, WI: State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe (1999). Dreams of looking up: How one family discovers the key to their People’s strength, a teacher’s guide. Onamia, MN: Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.
Mohican Nation (n.d.). A story of recovery and leadership: The many trails of the Mohican Nation Stockbridge-Munsee Band. Bowler, WI: Author. (Available from Mohican Nation Stockbridge-Munsee Band, N8476 Moh He Con Nuck Road, Bowler, Wisconsin 54416)
Mohican Nation (n.d.). The Mohican Nation: An assessment of the impact of gaming on community infrastructure self-determination. Bowler, WI: Author. (Available from Mohican Nation Stockbridge-Munsee Band, N8476 Moh He Con Nuck Road, Bowler, Wisconsin 54416)
Oxley, S. (1981). The Anishinabe: An overview unit of the history and background of the Wisconsin Ojibway Indian tribe. Madison, WI: American Indian Language and Culture Education Board.
Oxley, S. (1981). The history of the Menominee Indians. Madison, WI: American Indian Language and Culture Education Board.
Oxley, S. (1981). The history of the Oneida Indians. Madison, WI: American Indian Language and Culture Education Board.
Oxley, S. (1981). Keepers of the fire: The history of the Potawatomi Indians of Wisconsin. Madison, WI: American Indian Language and Culture Education Board.
Oxley, S. (1981). The Stockbridge-Munsee tribe: The history of the Mahican and Munsee Indians. Madison, WI: American Indian Language and Culture Education Board.
Satz, R. N. (1996). Classroom activities on Wisconsin Indian treaties and tribal sovereignty. Madison, WI: Department of Public Instruction.
Wisconsin Cartographers’ Guild & Malone, B. (2000). Mapping Wisconsin history: Teacher’s guide and student materials. Madison, WI: State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
Woolsey, J. (2005). Wisconsin Indians: A curriculum for 2nd-6th grades. Appleton, WI: Outagamie County Historical Society.
Professional Periodicals
Hewitt, W. L. & Beaucar, B. (2003). State v. tribe: How the Indian gaming controversy began. Middle Level Supplement to Social Education, 18, M3-M5.
Beaucar, B. (2003). From furs and wampum to slot machines and megadollars. Middle Level Supplement to Social Education, 18, M6-M9.
Beaucar, B. & Hewitt, W. L. (2003). The streets are paved with silver. Middle Level Supplement to Social Education, 18, M10-M11.
Hewitt, W. L. (2003). Does gaming hurt or help? Middle Level Supplement to Social Education, 18, M13-M15.
Boszhardt, R. (Producer). (1993). The battle at Bad Axe [Video]. (Available from Mississippi Valley Archeology Center at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI 54601, 608-785-8463)
Cardinal, C. A. (Producer). (1996). A visit to Lac du Flambeau [Video]. (Available from George W. Brown Jr. Ojibwe Museum and Cultural Center, Lac du Flambeau, WI)
Cotter, C. (Producer/Writer). (1990). Winds of change: A matter of choice [Video]. (Available from PBS Video, Public Broadcasting Service, Washington, DC)
Erickson, D. & Tallmadge, L. (Producers). (1992). Thunder in the Dells [Video]. (Available from Ootek Productions, 512229 Round River Trail, Spring Green, WI 53588)
Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (Producers). (2011). Ojibwe treaty rights: Connections to land & water [DVD]. (Available from Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, PO Box 9, Odana, WI 54861)
HVS Video Productions. (Producer). (1989). Pride in progress [Video]. (Available from HVS Video Productions, Green Bay, WI)
Jones, J. (Reporter). (1991). A week on the reservation [Video]. (Available from WLUK TV, Green Bay, WI)
Klubertanz, K. (Producer). (1998). Stand the storm [Video]. (Available from Educational Communications Board and Board of Regents of University of Wisconsin System, Madison, WI)
Osawa, S. J. & Osawa, Y. (Producers). (1990). H.O.N.O.R.: The eighth fire [Video]. (Available from Taylor Video Communications, 10838 West Wisconsin Avenue, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin 53226, 414-778-0362)
Russell, G. (1998). American Indian History (map). Phoenix, AZ: Russell Publications.
Russell, G. (2001). Native American reservations (map). Phoenix, AZ: Russell Publications. (Also available online: www.nativeamericanonline.com)
Schlessinger, A. (Executive Producer). (1995). Indians of North America: Potawatomi [Video]. (Available from Schlessinger Video Productions, Box 1110, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004)
State Historical Society of Wisconsin. (1977). Woodland Indians of Wisconsin (folder of pictures). Madison, WI: Author.
Stephens, P. (Producer), & Pittman, B. (Director). (1989). Where the Spirit lives [Video]. (Available from Studio Entertainment, 386 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016)
Thomas, D., & Young, Shelly (Producers), & Thomas, D (Director). (1998). Investigating Wisconsin History [Video]. (Available from Wisconsin Public Television, Green Bay, WI or the Education Communication Board, Madison, WI)
Thunderchief. (Vocalist). (1994). Native realities [Cassette Recording]. Madison, WI: MisTree.
Wisconsin Native American Heritage Tourism Initiative (Producer). (n.d.). The official video guide to native Wisconsin [Video]. (Available from HVS Productions, Green Bay, WI)
Alan Caldwell, Dean of Students, College of the Menominee Nation, P. O. Box 1179, Keshena, WI 54135, (715) 799-5602, FAX (715) 799-1326, acaldwell@menominee.com. (Contact Mr. Caldwell for names of possible guest speakers about Menominee self-determination or sovereignty.)
Dorothy Davids and Ruth Gudinas, Full Circle Consulting Partnership, N9136 Big Lake Road, Gresham, WI 54128, (715) 787-4427. (Dorothy Davids is a Mohican elder, Stockbridge-Munsee Band, and a retired educator. Ruth Gudinas is also a retired educator and both are knowledgeable of Native American history and multicultural education. They know of good resources for teaching about Native Americans as well as biases in existing materials.)
Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission Guest Speakers on Chippewa Treaties and Treaty Rights. P. O. Box 9 Odanah, WI 54861, (715) 682-6619, FAX (715) 682-9294. (Call to arrange guest speakers two months in advance, travel costs must be paid.)
Menominee Nation Public Relations Department. (715) 799-5217, Keshena, WI. (Call to ask for suggestions for bead artists or ribbon artists who might serve as guest speakers and amount of fees for guest speakers.)
Oneida Nation Communications Department. P. O. 365 Oneida, WI 54155, (800) 236-2214, FAX (920) 869-1587. (Call to ask for suggestions for bead artists or ribbon artists who might serve as guest speakers and amount of fees for guest speakers.)
Theresa Puskarenko, Education Director, Stockbridge-Munsee Education, N8476 Mohheconnuck Road, Bowler, WI 54416, (800) 720-2790, FAX (715) 793-4985, mned@frontiernet.net. (Contact Ms. Puskarenko for suggestions on guest speakers about Stockbridge-Munsee self-determination.)
Menominee Logging Camp Museum, Keshena, Wisconsin, (715) 799-3757. (Call to arrange tour and ask for group rate.)
Oneida Nation Museum, P. O. Box 365, Oneida, Wisconsin, (920) 869-2768. (Call to arrange tour. Fee for tour is $2 per adult and $1 per child.)
State Historical Museum, 30 North Carroll Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53703-2707, (608) 264-6555. (Museum guided programs must be scheduled one month in advance, available between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., each program lasts one hour, free admission to museum.)
Stockbridge-Munsee Historical Library Museum, R. R. 1 Box 300, Muh-he-con-nuck Road, Bowler, Wisconsin, (715) 793-4270. (Call to request a tour two weeks in advance. Admission fee is a donation.)
Atwater, C. (1831). Remarks made on a tour to Prairie du Chien; thence to Washington city in 1829, speech by Ho-Chunk orator Little Elk. State Historical Society of Wisconsin Library. Wisconsin Stories: Documents & Teaching Tools. Available: http://www.shsw.wisc.edu/wisconsinstories/documents/little.elk/little.htm.
Ho-Chunk Nation (n.d.). Ho-Chunk nation: A brief history, personal narrative, Ho-Chunk chronology, Ho-Chunk stubbornness, they survived because of it. Available: http://www.ho-chunk.com
Menominee Nation. (n.d.). Tribal history guide. Available: http://www.menominee.nsn.us/
Mohican Nation Stockbridge-Munsee Band (1997). People of the waters that are never still. Available: http://www.mohican.com/
Oberle, K. (Director). (2001). Cultural horizons of Wisconsin [CD-ROM]. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Educational Communications Board (Available from Educational Communications Board, 3319 West Beltline Highway, Madison, WI 53713-4296)
Oneida Nation. (2001). Oneida nation: Historical perspective. Available: http://www.oneidanation.org
Seasons of the Chippewa: Bimatiziwin (Living life in a spiritual way). (n.d.). Available: http://www.glifwc.org/seasons/seasons.htm.