Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making: Contested Territories
This site highlights the westward expansion of settlers in North America and the effects this expansion had on Native Americans between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Freedom: A History of Us: Whose Land Is This? Webisode 8
From Joy Hakim's marvelous set of books, A History of US, this webisode offers narrative, pictures, and teaching guides for the settling of the West after the Civil War.
Other
A Gathering of Nations: Images of History of the Indian Tribes of North America
A selection of twenty-four images from The History of the Indian Tribes of North America, each representing a different Native American Nation. Each image is accompanied by a brief description.
Other
Victoriana Magazine: Native American Tribes and u.s Government
The U.S. government's policies towards Native Americans in the second half of the nineteenth century were influenced by the desire to expand westward into territories occupied by these Native American tribes. By the 1850s nearly all...
Art Cyclopedia
Artcyclopedia: John James Audubon: American Illustrator, 1785 1851
Collection of several links related to John James and his famous bird paintings.
PBS
The West: Documents on the Sand Creek Massacre
Contains the text of documents on the Sand Creek Massacre, including two editorials from the Rocky Mountain News, Congressional testimony by John S. Smith, and a deposition by John M. Chivington
Other
Images of the American West: Oklahoma
This is a photo gallery of white homeseekers known as Boomers and other homesteaders settling the Oklahoma Territory in the late 1800's.
PBS
Pbs the West: Gen. Nelson A. Miles on the "Sioux Outbreak"
Statements and reports forwarded up the chain of command in 1891 about the failure of the government to provide either food or other promised support to Sioux Indians after the destruction of buffalo herds.
PBS
Pbs the West: The Battle of the Little Bighorn
This site from PBS is an excerpt from an 1893 book "Picture Writing of the American Indians" by Garrick Mallery which offers an eyewitness account of the Battle of Little Bighorn by the Lakota Chief Red Horse.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Native Resistance in the Trans Appalachian West
This site gives a brief look at the Indian alliance built by Tecumseh to confront the U.S. military which wanted to protect the settlers moving west into Indian territory.
Country Studies US
Country Studies: The Plight of the Indians
This site explains how as westward expansion grew, more and more Indians encountered settlers, ranchers and miners who sought life, land, and riches out West. Conflicts between settlers and Indians soon involved the federal government...
PBS
Pbs the West: The Pursuit and Capture of Chief Joseph
Provides detailed information on the Nez Perce campaign and the capture of Chief Joseph in an eyewitness account by Charles Erskine Scott Wood, aide to General Howard.
CommonLit
Common Lit: Text Sets: Westward Expansion
Throughout the 1800s, Americans pushed ever westward in the search of prosperity and the American dream. It was a time of growth and adventure for settlers, and loss for most American Indians. This collection includes 7 Grade-Leveled...
American University
American University: Ted Case Studies: Hudson Bay Company Fur Trading in 1800s
This site gives an overview of the fur trade with Northwest Coast native peoples in the 1800s, and the impact the fur trade and contact with outsiders had on the natives' way of life.
Curated OER
Etc: West Indians Trading Posts & Routes of Travel, 1820 1835
Western Indians trading posts and routes of travel 1820-1835, based on Chittenden's American Fur Trade.
C-SPAN
American Writers: Black Elk
An informational site on Black Elk. Includes general information about his life, works, and writings, including Black Elk Speaks. Also includes links to other sites.
Other
Trail of Tears Assoc: The Story Trail of Tears National Historic Trail
Follow the early history of Native American and European contact in America. As more settlers moved west, a law was passed to relocate the Cherokee from Arkansas. The routes they followed and the cruelties they suffered came to be known...
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Southwest Literacy Unit
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart is a literacy unit based around a Southwest / Westward Expansion Theme. Native Americans, pioneers, and the old west is covered. 8 different literacy strategies are taught with FULL...
Curated OER
Educational Technology Clearinghouse: Maps Etc: The New West, 1889 1912
A map of the western United States showing the rapid growth of the New West between 1885 and 1912 during the presidencies from Benjamin Harrison to Howard Taft. The map is color-coded to show the States admitted to the Union before the...
Curated OER
Etc: Native American Delimitations, 1763 1770
A map of the American colonies and territories west to the Mississippi River between the end of the French and Indian War of 1763 and the beginnings of westward expansion of the trans-Appalachian colony proposed in the Vandalia Project...
National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art: George Catlin
Gives background on the life and works of George Catlin. Links to several examples of his paintings.
Other
Lopez Books: Joseph Bruchac Essay
Joseph Bruchac gives a detailed description of his life and also discusses his involvement as a writer of Native American literature. Bruchac discusses his time as a volunteer teacher in West Africa, his memories of growing up with his...
Other
Cypress Hills Massacre
The Cypress Hills Massacre occurred in the wake of the absence of legal authority in Western Canada after the Hudson's Bay Company presence declined. The murder of thirty Assiniboine Indians by American wolf hunters helped establish the...
A&E Television
History.com: Why This Pioneering Hopi Soldier Has a Mountain Named After Her
Lori Ann Piestewa was the first woman to die on the front lines in Iraq and the first American Indian woman to die serving the U.S. Armed Forces. Piestewa has became synonymous with patriotic Native American sacrifice. In 2008, a...