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This year’s program features a keynote address by Dr. Elizabeth Rule (enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation). She will highlight the centrality of Native peoples to the history of the District of Columbia, showcase Indigenous contributions to the capital city, and discuss efforts under way to reaffirm D.C. as an Indigenous place. She will also explore what teaching about Indigenous peoples in the nation’s capital looks like in a modern context and how teachers can become allies with the Native community by imparting lessons, inspiration, and empowerment.

About the Keynote Speaker

Our keynote speaker, Dr. Elizabeth Rule (enrolled citizen of Chickasaw Nation), is a writer, public scholar, policymaker, and advocate for Indigenous communities. She is the author of the monograph Indigenous DC: Native Peoples and the Nation’s Capital and the creator of the Guide to DC mobile application. Rule is an assistant professor of critical race, gender, and culture studies at American University and currently holds a social practice residency at the Kennedy Center.

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Teaching Indigenous Narratives in the Nation’s Capital and Beyond

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Native Knowledge 360° | Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

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Educational resources, lesson plans, teacher training, and strategies to support positive change! Native Knowledge 360° is a national initiative to inspire and promote improved teaching and learning about Native America. #NK360

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Native Knowledge 360˚: Framework for Essential Understandings about American Indians

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Native Knowledge 360˚: Framework for Essential Understandings about American Indians

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Video: What's the Story with National Stories?

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Video: What's the Story with National Stories?

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National stories about our past can help build group identity, a sense of belonging, and pride. However, who decides how a national story is told? What is included or not included? Should national stories change over time? Think about the importance of national stories and consider how they shape your understanding of our shared history.

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Teaching for Change provides educators with tools to create schools where students learn to read, write, and change the world.

We offer professional development, develop lessons, curate resources, and host learning communities. Our programs and resources encourage students to ask questions and develop the skills to build an equitable and just society.

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The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people’s history in classrooms across the country. The Zinn Education Project is coordinated by two non-profit organizations, Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change, that have spent decades developing and providing social justice resources for teachers.

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The Zinn Education Project is my compass in a sea of corporate textbooks, packaged common core curriculum and standardized testing. My entire curriculum is based on lessons that can be found on the Zinn Education Project.

High School Social Studies Teacher, Portland, Ore.

Your support is needed to help more students learn people's history. 100% of Zinn Education Project funding comes from individuals like you. Donate today.

By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca

From voter ID laws to voter-roll purges, gerrymandering to poll closures to the deadly in-person voting conditions during a pandemic, the right to vote is under attack and the stakes are high. It is critical that students learn about the fight for voting rights, past and present.

Nov. 30, 1924: Shirley Chisholm Born...

Teaching About the Violence in Palestine and Israel...

I can UNDERSTAND pessimism, but I don't BELIEVE in it. It's not simply a matter of faith, but of historical EVIDENCE. Not overwhelming evidence, just enough to give HOPE, because for hope we don't need certainty, only POSSIBILITY.

-Howard Zinn

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Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

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The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people's history in middle and high school classrooms across the country. Based on the lens of history highlighted in Howard Zinn's best-selling book A People's History of the United States, the website offers free, downloadable lessons and articles organized by theme, time period, and reading level.

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Critically reviewed selection of multicultural and social justice books for children, young adults, and educators.

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Multicultural and Social Justice Books - Social Justice Books

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Curated Booklists Carefully selected multicultural and social justice books for children, young adults, and educators on 90+ topics. Reviews of Children's Literature Critical reviews of children's and young adult books from a variety of vetted sources, consolidated here for easy access. Articles & News Articles about selecting children's literature and news about Kid Lit.

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Dr. Elizabeth Rule is Assistant Professor of Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies at American University. She is an enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation.

Rule's research on Indigenous issues has been featured in the Washington Post, Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien, The Atlantic, Newsy, and NPR. She is also a published author, releasing scholarly articles in the American Quarterly and in the American Indian Culture and Research Journal. Rule has two forthcoming monographs. The first, Reproducing Resistance: Gendered Violence and Indigenous Nationhood, analyzes the intersection of violence against Native women, reproductive justice, and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women; this work received the Julien Mezey Award from the Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities in 2020. Rule's second monograph, Indigenous DC: Native Peoples and the Nation's Capital (Georgetown University Press), analyzes historical and contemporary sites of Indigenous importance in Washington and compliments her Guide to Indigenous DC mobile application.

Beyond the classroom, Rule continues her work as an educator by presenting her research and delivering invited talks on Native American issues. More than 100 public speaking engagements and interviews have taken her across three continents and to seven countries. Venues for such presentations include the United Nations Association-USA, the Institut des Amériques in Paris, France, the National Congress of American Indians, the Women's and Gender Studies Intellectual Forum at MIT, the National Gallery of Art, and more.

Previously, Dr. Rule has held posts as Director of the Center for Indigenous Politics and Policy and Faculty in Residence at George Washington University, Director of the Native American Political Leadership Program and the INSPIRE PreCollege Program, MIT Indigenous Communities Fellow, Postdoctoral Fellow at American University, and Ford Foundation Fellow. Rule received her Ph.D. and M.A. in American Studies from Brown University, and her B.A. from Yale University.

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Dr. Elizabeth Rule is Assistant Professor of Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies at American University. She is an enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. Rule's research on Indigenous issues has been featured in the Washington Post, Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien, The Atlantic, Newsy, and NPR.

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Guide to Indigenous Lands: A Digital Mapping Project

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Guide to Indigenous Lands: A Digital Mapping Project

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The Guide to Indigenous Lands Project is an initiative dedicated to the creation of mobile applications that map sites of Indigenous importance. This public humanities and public history project offers affiliated apps in both iOS and Android formats, all of which are free to download.

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Book: Indigenous DC: Native Peoples and the Nation’s Capital

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Book: Indigenous DC: Native Peoples and the Nation’s Capital

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Signed Copy of Indigenous DC Book — The Guide to Indigenous Lands Project

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Indigenous DC: Native Peoples and the Nation’s Capital , signed by author, Dr. Elizabeth Rule (Chickasaw). The first and fullest account of the suppressed history and continuing presence of Native Americans in Washington, DC Washington, DC, is Indian land, but Indigenous peoples are often left o

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Americans: A Dialogue Toolkit for Educators

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Americans: A Dialogue Toolkit for Educators

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Americans: A Dialogue Toolkit for Educators provides basic grounding in the practice of dialogue and includes three 60-minute models that educators can use in connection with the Americans exhibition to facilitate dialogue with students. Use this toolkit to facilitate new conversations with and among students about the power of images and words, the challenges of memory, and the relationship between personal and national values.

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Native Knowledge 360°—Americans: A Dialogue Toolkit for Educators

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Americans: A Dialogue Toolkit for Educators provides ways to facilitate new conversations with and among students about the power of images and words, the challenges of memory, and the relationship between personal and national values. #NK360

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Scroll

U.S. Commemorates 400th Anniversary of Jamestowne Settlement, 2006
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Queen of America

Continue

Take a closer look at the story of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith in this section of the Frieze of American History.

Scroll

The Hermitage, Jackson's Tomb, and Andrew J. Donelson's Residence, 12 Miles from Nashville, Tennessee..., 1856
Francis W. Strickland
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

The Removal Act

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Take a closer look at the wording of the Indian Removal Act in this reproduction of the original document.

Scroll

"Custer's Last Stand" poster for Buffalo Bill's Wild West show (detail), 1905
Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming, U.S.A.; 1.69.2165

The Indians Win

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Americans highlights the ways in which American Indians have been part of the nation's identity since before the country began, and explores how Indians are embedded in the history, pop culture, and identity of the United States.

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Find a portrait. If you could jump into this portrait, where would you like to be? How large or small would you like to be? Draw yourself and where you jumped into in the box below.

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Digital Storybook: Life Along the River: The Pamunkey Indian Tribe of Virginia

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Digital Storybook: Life Along the River: The Pamunkey Indian Tribe of Virginia

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Life Along the River: The Pamunkey Indian Tribe of Virginia is a digital storybook that explores the history and contemporary lives of the Pamunkey peoples. The content of the storybook is organized into four chapters. Each chapter explores a particular theme that is important to the Pamunkey Indian Tribe: place, community and culture, history, and the future.

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Native Knowledge 360°—Life Along the River: The Pamunkey Indian Tribe of Virginia

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Life Along the River: The Pamunkey Indian Tribe of Virginia is a digital storybook that explores the history and contemporary lives of the Pamunkey peoples.

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Native American Literature in Your Classroom

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Native American Literature in Your Classroom

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Native Knowledge 360° Resource | Native American Literature in your Classroom

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Native American Literature in your Classroom: Use the Helpful Handout Native American Literature in your Classroom to choose high-quality materials to promote deeper and more critical thinking about Native American representation in literature. #NK360

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Worksheet for Selecting Native American Children's Literature

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Worksheet for Selecting Native American Children's Literature

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To help educators and parents choose high-quality materials, NMAI developed a rubric that outlines five criteria groups (Authority, Accurate Representation, Tribal Specificity, Language, and Contemporary Life) to consider when selecting texts. The goal of this rubric is to promote deeper and more critical thinking about Native American literature.

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The “First Thanksgiving”: How Can We Tell a Better Story?

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The “First Thanksgiving”: How Can We Tell a Better Story?

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This inquiry resource provides evidence to help teachers and students dispel misconceptions and misunderstandings of the “First Thanksgiving.” For a more complete history, examine details, circumstances, choices, and events through sources that include Wampanoag perspectives, which have been largely absent from this national story.

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The "First Thanksgiving": How Can We Tell a Better Story?

This inquiry resource provides evidence to help teachers and students dispel misconceptions and misunderstandings of the "First Thanksgiving." For a more complete history, examine details, circumstances, choices, and events through sources that include Wampanoag perspectives, which have been largely absent from this national story.

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Native Knowledge 360- The "First Thanksgiving": How Can We Tell a Better Story?

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This NK360° inquiry resource provides evidence in multiple formats to help teachers and students dispel misconceptions and misunderstandings of the "First Thanksgiving," especially in regard to the Wampanoag who have been largely absent from this national story. #NK360

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Lesson: Activator: Shan Goshorn’s Baskets

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Lesson: Activator: Shan Goshorn’s Baskets

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Goshorn - Resisting the Mission & Filling the Silence: Carlisle Baskets

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Life Story: Zitkala-Sa, aka Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (1876-1938) Fighting for the Rights of Native People The story of an activist and composer who fought tirelessly for Native American rights and citizenship.

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Nation to Nation | Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations

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Nation to Nation | Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations

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Treaties-solemn agreements between sovereign nations-lie at the heart of the relationship between Indian Nations and the United States. Native Nations made treaties with one another long before Europeans came to the Western Hemisphere. The United States began making treaties with Native Peoples because they were independent nations. Often broken, sometimes coerced, treaties still define mutual obligations between the United States and Indian Nations. The treaties featured in Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations, on loan from the National Archives and Records Administration, are representative of the approximately 374 that were ratified between the United States and Native Nations.

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Nation to Nation | Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations

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Nation to Nation: Treaties between the United States and American Indian Nations exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. Treaties-solemn agreements between sovereign nations-lie at the heart of the relationship between Indian Nations and the United States.

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September 21, 2014-2021
Washington, DC

From a young age, most Americans learn about the Founding Fathers, but are told very little about equally important and influential Native diplomats and leaders of Indian Nations. Treaties lie at the heart of the relationship between Indian Nations and the United States, and Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations is the story of that relationship, including the history and legacy of U.S.-American Indian diplomacy from the colonial period through the present.

Generous support for the exhibition is provided by:

Additional support has been provided by Cindy and Alan Horn; Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker, LLP; and the National Museum of the American Indian's Lawyers Council.

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Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations

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NMAI is committed to advancing knowledge and understanding of the Native cultures of the Western Hemisphere through partnership with Native people and others. The museum works to support the continuance of culture, traditional values, and transitions in contemporary Native life.

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During World War I and World War II, hundreds of American Indians joined the United States armed forces and used words from their traditional Native languages as weapons. The United States military asked them to develop and use secret battle communications based on their languages. Native Words, Native Warriors tells the stories of these military heroes, also known as code talkers.

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Common Core State Standards

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.9
Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.3
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.6
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.7
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1
Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2
Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.4
Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies (High School)-National Council for the Social Studies

I. Culture.
Knowledge-That culture is an integrated whole that explains the functions and interactions of language, literature, the arts, traditions, beliefs, values, and behavior patterns.

II. Time, Continuity, and Change.
Products-Interviewing people who have participated in a recent historical event, and developing an exhibition based on those oral histories to contribute to a history museum.

III. People, Places, and Environments.
Knowledge-Factors that contribute to cooperation and conflict among peoples of the nation and world, including language, religion, and political beliefs.

V. Individuals, Groups, and Institutions.
Knowledge-The influence of individuals, groups, and institutions on people and events in historical and contemporary settings.

College, Career, & Civic Life-C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards

D2.His.1.9-12
Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.

D2.His.3.9-12
Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.

D2.His.12.9-12
Use questions generated about multiple historical sources to pursue further inquiry and investigate additional sources.

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During WW I and WW II, hundreds of American Indians joined the US armed forces and developed and used secret battle communications based on their Native languages. Native Words, Native Warriors tells the stories of these military heroes, also known as code talkers. #NK360

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NECESSITY: A Two-Part Documentary Series on Climate Resistance

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NECESSITY: A Two-Part Documentary Series on Climate Resistance

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Necessity: Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance takes up gripping questions at the heart of the fight to save the planet. As activists increasingly call for acts of civil disobedience and federal and state laws impose criminal penalties for pipeline activism, how do concerned citizens decide whether to join the resisters? What are the legal considerations and consequences of engaging in direct actions to stop the pipelines and oil trains? And how do regional activists form alliances across potential divisions, including race, gender, nationality, and class, in responding to the climate emergency?

Grounded in people and places at the heart of the climate crisis, Necessity traces the fight in Minnesota against the expansion of pipelines carrying toxic tar sands oil through North America. The film is structured around two stories of indigenous and non-indigenous activists engaged in civil disobedience and using the necessity defense, making a moral case for acts of civil disobedience.

One case centers on activists locking down a local Wells Fargo, a major investor in the pipelines. The other centers on climate activists as they prepare for a landmark jury trial after temporarily shutting down the flow of tar sands oil as part of a multi-state coordinated action. Movement lawyers defending activists in court must prove that the threat of the climate emergency justified acts of civil disobedience and that there were no legal alternatives.

Water Protector Debra Topping guides us through areas where pipelines cross tribal lands and where native resistance is mounting. Tribal attorney Tara Houska shows how the destructive path of these pipelines endanger indigenous communities most directly. Necessity brings climate struggles and their legal consequences down to a personal and practical level while attending to the larger contexts and meanings of climate action.

Watch the trailer

Necessity is still a work in progress, but is available for classroom use by request and with the agreement that you will send feedback. A list of feedback questions will be provided to you when you request the film.

If you would like to stream the film in a class or other educational setting, please fill out the form linked below.

We offer a free lesson, Teaching Climate Disobedience: Using the Film Necessity in the Classroom, for grades 7+ by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. Students are introduced to the central figures profiled in Necessity: Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance through a mixer role play. The lesson includes multiple cohorts of climate activists: Indigenous leaders in the Climate Justice Movement, valve turners using civil disobedience to stop the flow of oil, and the legal team that uses the "necessity defense" in the courts.

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Necessity: Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance - Zinn Education Project

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Necessity: Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance takes up gripping questions at the heart of the fight to save the planet. As activists increasingly call for acts of civil disobedience and federal and state laws impose criminal penalties for pipeline activism, how do concerned citizens decide whether to join the resisters?

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ABOUT THE FILM

NECESSITY traces the fight in Minnesota against the expansion of pipelines carrying highly toxic tar sands oil through Native lands and essential waterways in North America. Front line communities--Native Peoples and communities of color--suffer the most immediate and severe consequences of the climate crisis: impacts on physical and mental health as well as territorial desecration and displacement. Yet with painful histories have come deep insights, forms of resilience and modes of resistance. This feature-length documentary follows indigenous leaders and white allies, using direct action to protect the sacred and demand justice. Legal experts discuss the record of disparate treatment in the justice system and the legal strategy of the necessity defense, which makes a moral case for acts of civil disobedience, while medical and scientific experts address the health effects of fossil fuels and dangers of pipeline and refinery infrastructure. Capturing the natural beauty of the region as well as the vulnerability of local habitats, aesthetic and stylistic elements drive the action forward, including animated maps with illustrations. The filmmaking team builds collectively on their training in psychology and anthropology.

​

HELP US BRING THIS EXCITING PROJECT TO LIFE WITH A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION

We need your support to bring this message to audiences across the country. This film will serve as a tool for activists in promoting thoughtful public dialogue on climate change and the complex strategies needed to address the global climate emergency.

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ABOUT THE FILM NECESSITY traces the fight in Minnesota against the expansion of pipelines carrying highly toxic tar sands oil through Native lands and essential waterways in North America. Front line communities--Native Peoples and communities of color--suffer the most immediate and severe consequences of the climate crisis: impacts on physical and mental health as well as territorial desecration and displacement.

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Teaching Climate Disobedience: Using the Film "Necessity" in the Classroom

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Teaching Climate Disobedience: Using the Film "Necessity" in the Classroom

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A lesson about multiple cohorts of climate activists: Indigenous leaders in the Climate Justice Movement, valve turners using civil disobedience to stop the flow of oil, and the legal team that uses the “necessity defense” in the courts.

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Teaching Climate Disobedience: Using the Film Necessity in the Classroom - Zinn Education Project

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Teaching activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. A lesson about multiple cohorts of climate activists: Indigenous leaders in the Climate Justice Movement, valve turners using civil disobedience to stop the flow of oil, and the legal team that uses the "necessity defense" in the courts.

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Find all resources mentioned in the workshop on this Teaching Central America website.

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Indigenous Central America — Teaching Central America

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Resources for teaching and learning about Indigenous Central Americans.

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American Indians in Children's Literature

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American Indians in Children's Literature

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American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL)

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Designed to help readers develop a critical eye about representations of American Indians in children's and young adult books

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Smithsonian’s NMAI “Living Maya Time” website includes information about the Maya people and curricular resources for teachers.

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Today, more than seven million Maya live in their original homelands of Mesoamerica and in countries all over the world. Two thousand years ago, the ancient Maya developed one of the most advanced civilizations in the Americas. They developed a written language of hieroglyphs and invented the mathematical concept of zero. With their expertise in astronomy and mathematics, the Maya developed a complex and accurate calendar system. Hundreds of restored ancient cities with temple-pyramids, palaces, ball courts, and grand plazas are studied by archaeologists, and are visited by millions of tourists from all over the world each year. Contemporary Maya live and work near many of these archaeological sites. Language, tradition, and a deep sensibility toward the land and the sky continue to shape their worldview. The Maya are guardians of their culture and actively work to rediscover their own past as they look towards the future.

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Today, more than seven million Maya live in their original homelands of Mesoamerica and in countries all over the world. Two thousand years ago, the ancient Maya developed one of the most advanced civilizations in the Americas. They developed a written language of hieroglyphs and invented the mathematical concept of zero.