Website
The Newberry Library

Newberry Library: Art of Conflict: Portraying American Indians, 1850 to 1900

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Lesson uses digitized primary source material to examine the portrayal of American Indians in art between 1850 and 1900. Classroom activities and questions for discussion included.
Activity
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of the American Indian: A Song for the Horse Nation

For Students 9th - 10th
This exhibit from the National Museum of the American Indian explores the close relationship of Native Americans and their horses through art, pottery, textiles, artifacts, and photographs. It traces this relationship from the 15th...
eBook
OpenStax

Open Stax: The Loss of American Indian Life and Culture

For Students 11th - 12th
Read this section from a chapter on "Westward Expansion" to learn about the methods that the U.S. government used to address the "Indian threat" during the settlement of the West and explain the process of "Americanization" as it applied...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Excerpts From Thomas Jefferson's Writings on American Indians

For Students 11th - 12th Standards
A learning module that begins with the historical text "Excerpts from Thomas Jefferson's Writings on American Indians" accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a...
Handout
Other

Uintah Basin Tah Project: American Indians 101: Frequently Asked Questions

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides answers to commonly asked questions about Native Americans, e.g., how they are defined, the proper terms to use, and what a reservation is, as well as questions about their relationship with the federal and state governments,...
Website
Other

Defense: American Indian Heritage Month: Code Talkers

For Students 9th - 10th
Find out about the Native Americans who used their tribal languages as code during World War I and World War II. Includes information on Charles Chibitty, a Comanche code talker who was inducted into the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of the American Indian: Song for the Horse Nation

For Students 9th - 10th
An exhibition about horses in Native American cultures takes a sweeping look at the ways in which Native peoples, past and present, regard horses and horsemanship. Learn how the horse transformed Native approaches to the hunt, warfare,...
Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Native Americans Today

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
ReadWriteThink: Native Americans Today
Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Docsteach: Assimilation of American Indians

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this activity, students will analyze primary sources to determine the role and activities the federal government undertook in an attempt to 'Americanize' or assimilate Native Americans.
Activity
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Education: Spotlight Biography: American Indians: Black Hawk

For Students 9th - 10th
Scroll down to the portrait of Black Hawk to read a brief biography of this famous Native American chief. From the Smithsonian Institution.
Unit Plan
Other

Utah History to Go: American Indians

For Students 4th - 8th
Online course material on southwest cultures specific to the state of Utah. Lesson contains questions and concepts for students and links to corresponding information. Students can link to articles, exhibits, historical photographs and...
Primary
Curated OER

History Matters: John Collier Promises to Reform Indian Policy

For Students 9th - 10th
Find the report by John Collier, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, to the Secretary of the Interior, describing how he was trying to right many of the wrongs in the federal government's dealings with Native Americans as a result of the...
Article
Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museum

United States Indian Policy During the Late 19th Century: Change and Continuity

For Students 9th - 10th
By the 1890's, the status of Indian people seemed to validate Frederick Jackson Turner's claim that "the frontier has gone, and with its going has closed the first period of American history." Natives ceased to threaten the Republic...
Website
Curated OER

National Park Service: Five Views: A History of American Indians in California

For Students 9th - 10th
A history of five tribes in the California Native American culture area.
Website
PBS

Pbs: American Masters Edward Curtis

For Students 9th - 10th
Comprehensive site about Edward Curtis who took over 40,000 images and recorded rare ethnographic information from over eighty American Indian tribal groups, ranging from the Eskimo or Inuit people of the far north to the Hopi people of...
Article
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Now: The Pueblo Revolt

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Read an essay about the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and find out why the Southwest Native Americans rebelled against the Spanish, and were successful in keeping the Spanish out of their pueblos for only...
Lesson Plan
US National Archives

National Archives: Indian Nations vs. Settlers on the American Frontier

For Teachers 9th - 10th
When the Revolutionary War ended, there was an ongoing conflict between the Native Americans and American settler in the Northwest Territory. Students will study two documents from each side of the issue and answer questions and/or hold...
Website
Other

Arkansas Archeological Survey: Indians of Arkansas Indians in the Old South

For Students 9th - 10th
After the Louisiana Purchase, the status of the Native Americans changed from partners to a declining group whose presence conflicted with United States plans. Follow the events which changed and reshaped the lives of these Native peoples.
Handout
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Ap Us History: 1865 1898: Indian Wars and Battle of Little Bighorn

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses the series of events and conflicts in the Indian Wars that culminated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, or Custer's Last Stand. Includes questions for students at end.
Handout
Other

Monticello: President Jefferson & the Indian Nations

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource discusses how Thomas Jefferson sought to bind Native Americans to the United States through treaties for security reasons and how he tried to get the Indians to adapt to a way of life like the white settlers' way of life.
Article
Virginia Historical Society

Virginia Museum of History and Culture: Early Images of Virginia Indians

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of images of early Virginia Indians that includes information on interpreting the images and shows fanciful images that were not historically accurate.
Article
A&E Television

History.com: Native Americans Weren't Guaranteed the Right to Vote in Every State Until 1962

For Students 9th - 10th
Native people won citizenship in 1924, but the struggle for voting rights stretched on much longer. Native Americans couldn't be U.S. citizens when the country ratified its Constitution in 1788, and wouldn't win the right to be for 136...
Activity
PBS

Pbs: Chinook Indians

For Students 9th - 10th
Here is an excellent description of the encounter between Lewis and Clark and the Chinook Indians of the Northwest.
Handout
Other

Native Languages of the Americas: Native American Headdresses: Facts for Kids

For Students 9th - 10th
Describes the different types of headdresses worn by Native American groups across North, Central and South America. (Note: some links to larger images no longer work.)

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