Website
Other

Trail of Tears Assoc: The Story Trail of Tears National Historic Trail

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Living the Revolution: Expansion

For Students 9th - 10th
Primary source documents on westward expansion convey the impact expanison had on national unity and provides a sense of interactions with Native Americans. Includes reading guide, links to supplemental material, and questions for...
Handout
American University

American University: Ted Case Studies: Hudson Bay Company Fur Trading in 1800s

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Activity
Other

New York Public Library: Heading West: Mining the West

For Students 3rd - 8th
A short page on the discovery of gold at Sutter's Fort as well as the impact of mining in the west on relations with Native Americans.
Article
Other

Indigenous History: Indigenous Slavery in the American Southeast

For Students 9th - 10th
It is fairly well-accepted that American slavery of the 19th century developed from three distinct traditions of slavery that were mutated into a new, racialized, institutionalized form: European indentured servitude, West African...
Interactive
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Westward Expansion, 1790 1850

For Students 9th - 10th
This interactive map explores the territorial and population changes in the United States between 1790 and 1850. It also covers the beginning of the transportation revolution and the Native American land cessions and forced removals.
Website
PBS

Pbs the West: Fight No More Forever (1874 1877)

For Students 9th - 10th
From the PBS critically acclaimed series, "The West" comes this introduction to the Indian Wars that were waged in the course of settling the frontier.
Handout
CommonLit

Common Lit: Text Sets: Westward Expansion

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
Handout
Other

Colorado Historical Society: Kit Carson: A Hero in Fact and Fiction [Pdf]

For Students 3rd - 8th
A short biography of the legend of the West, Kit Carson. PDF (requires Adobe Reader).
Handout
Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Carnegie Museum: North South East West: American Indians and the Natural World

For Students 9th - 10th
Web companion site to the Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. It focuses on American Indians' relationships with the natural world and explores four different visions: the Tlingit...
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Colonial Indian Relations

For Students 9th - 10th
By 1640 the British had solid colonies established along the New England coast and the Chesapeake Bay. In between were the Dutch and the tiny Swedish community. To the west were the original Americans, the Indians.
Handout
Other

A Gathering of Nations: Images of History of the Indian Tribes of North America

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Website
Ducksters

Ducksters: West Virginia State History for Kids

For Students 1st - 9th
Kids learn about the history and timeline of the state of West Virginia including early explorers, Native Americans, pioneers, splitting from Virginia, and the Civil War.
Graphic
Curated OER

Etc: Native American Delimitations, 1763 1770

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
Primary
PBS

Pbs: Archives of the West: Selections From "With the Nez Perces"

For Students 9th - 10th
Contains selections from "With the Nez Perces: Alice Fletcher in the Field, 1889-92" by E. Jane Gay, which provided an anthropological look at the Nez Perce Indians and their bewilderment at the Dawes Act.
Article
A&E Television

History.com: Why This Pioneering Hopi Soldier Has a Mountain Named After Her

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
Website
Other

Lopez Books: Joseph Bruchac Essay

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
Handout
Other

The Great Plains in Midwestern Culture

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses the history of the people on the Great Plains, both the Native Americans and early settlers.
Primary
PBS

The West: Documents on the Sand Creek Massacre

For Students 9th - 10th
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
Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Catlin, the White Cloud, Head Chief of the Iowas

For Students 9th - 10th
George Catlin's paintings and illustrations show Native-Americans as real people as opposed to noble savages as Europeans often viewed them. View examples of his paintings and read their backstory in this essay.
Website
Other

Museum of Western Colorado

For Students 9th - 10th
This site contains information/links to artifacts, photographs, Native Americans, the Old West, facts about the 20th century, and dinosaur-rich geography.
Primary
PBS

Pbs the West: The Pursuit and Capture of Chief Joseph

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: Native Resistance in the Trans Appalachian West

For Students 5th - 8th
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.
Website
Legends of America

Legends of America

For Students 9th - 10th
"A Travel Site for the Nostalgic and History Minded". If you love history, you'll love this site. Featured is much detailed information on history, people, legends, ghost towns, outlaws, and so much more.