Week 14: The Road to Self Determination

This week we will conclude our exploration of Native American history with a discussion about self-determination and contemporary reservation life.

Points of Entry:

Self-Determination:
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2010/12/report-questions-congressional-commitment-to-self-determination/

Sherman Alexie:
http://www.fallsapart.com/biography.html

Indian Gaming:
http://www.indiangaming.com/home/

List and analyze 2 quotes from the reading.  What are some of the arguments? How are they related to the larger themes of the week discussed in class?


What are your final thoughts for the class?  

Week 13: The Indian New Deal and Termination

The Indian New Deal (1920s -196)

This week we'll explore the ways that new political and legal identities shaped Indian country and its interactions with state and federal governments.  We will discuss the Indian Reorganization Act, World War II, and the termination period.

Indian Reorganization Act

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=483

Navajo Code Talkers

http://www.navajocodetalkers.org/

Ira Hayes 

http://www.jango.com/music/Johnny+Cash?l=0

Termination Act

http://www.smokersinfo.net/seneca-cigarette-tax-bill-is-a-throwback-to-‘termination-era’/

List and analyze 2 quotes from the reading.  What are some of the arguments? How are they related to the larger themes of the week discussed in class?

Week 12: The Nadir in Indian Country

This week we will explore the "post-frontier" years in Indian Country.  As we'll see, this period was both one of great tragedy but also one of filled with the seeds of hope and change within Native America.

Points of Entry:

The Dawes Act

http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/native09.htm

Indian Boarding Schools

http://www.english.illinois.edu/Maps/poets/a_f/erdrich/boarding/gallery.htm

American Indians and the Great War

http://www.army.mil/americanindians/soldiershonored/a_codetalkers.html

Indian Citizenship

http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0700/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0700/stories/0701_0146.html

Questions for Discussion:

List and analyze 2 quotes from the reading.  

What are some of the arguments?

How are they related to the larger themes of the week discussed in class?

The Dawes Act dramatically reduced Native land holdings over the course of 30 years.  Would Native America be different if the Act wasn't passed?

Similarly, if Indian boarding schools didn't exist, how would Native America look today?

Week 11: Indian Resistance and the Closing of the Frontier

This week will look at the disastrous consequences of the clashes between American settlers and Indian country in the decades after the Civil War through the massacre at Wounded Knee.

Points of Entry:

Geronimo website:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/the_films/episode_4_trailer

Wounded Knee:

http://www.woundedkneemuseum.org/index.htm

Questions:

List and analyze 2 quotes from the reading.  

What are some of the arguments?

How are they related to the larger themes of the week discussed in class?

Why were almost all encounters after 1865 so violent?  Was this the only inevitable outcome?