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The history of Indigenous Native Americans is a story of conflict. This project aims to provide a glimpse into the conflict that the Native American people had experienced. In order to have an understanding of this history, there are three necessary requirements that need to be acknowledged. The first being the foreign powers that subjected them into conflict. We will gain an understanding of who they are and their motivations. Secondly the conflict that each of the tribes in this project had undergone. Not all the tribes had experienced the same things therefore showing the widespread conflict that each of these tribes faced in different times. Finally the exploitation that each of these tribes had experienced as a result of conflict. We go into how each of these foreign powers had exploited the people for their own gain. Although not every conflict will be highlighted in this project, there is an example of at least one conflict that highlights the exploitation that the people faced.

I chose to portray the information in this project due to the fact that I have both a personal relationship and experience with one of the tribes in this padlet. Two years ago I had the opportunity to teach at a summer program in the Sioux Lakota Tribe in the Pine Ridge Reservation. After being able to build relationships with the people there, I was able to gain a deeper understanding of the circumstances they face daily, due to the exploitations they experienced in the past.

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Spain was one of the three major powers in Europe during the time of colonization. The age of colonialism for Spain started in the year 1492, when Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. Initially landing in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, he returned to Spain with mountains of gold and a number of slaves.

Spain had three words as their motivation for colonialism and the expansion of their empire and economy: God, Gold, and Glory. They believed it was their God given right to be able to own the lands that they discovered. They found purpose and greed in the gold and riches that they were able to procure. In a period of time where any advantage over the other powers, like Britain and France were obtainable then it was a necessary expense. This move and push towards colonialism started a wave of expansion between these powers and other European nations that shaped much of the world we know today.

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France was the second of the three major powers in Europe during the age of colonialism. Their colonization of North America started in 1534 starting in Canada, then slowly expanding their way into North America.

Similar to Spain, France's motivation for colonialism and expansion was for the riches that were associated with it. For France in particular it was the fur trade. Unlike their rivals, France maintained positive relations with many of the native tribes. France was a major player in the global fur trade. They traded primarily with the Algonquian and Iriquois nations. Despite these positive relations, they were not hesitant to use the native tribes as manpower in local conflicts as well as their war with Britain during the French and Indian War.

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Britain is the final of the three major powers of Europe during the time of colonialism in the US. Britain started their first move into North America in the year 1587, with the first colony being founded in modern day North Carolina. Unfortunately this first settlement failed. Despite the first failure, Britian sent another expeditionary vessel founded Jamestown in the year 1607.

Britian being the last of the major powers to join the new wave of colonialism had slightly different motivations for expansion compared to its peers. Mostly acting out of spite, they had the belief that France and Spain needed more competition in the Americas. This decision to compete with Spain and France was an easy decision for Britain to make since they were also well aware of the economic benefits that colonialism offered.

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Despite the colonies and the now United States were not a major power during the age of colonialism, the nation grew in power as a result of colonialism. A major motivation that the newfound country had kept as a result is greed.

From sea to shining sea. This phrase became the anthem of the American people in their pursuit to control the continent. It evoked a sense of national pride and pursuit of unity in being able to expand across the continental US to reach the Pacific Ocean. As a result of this phrase many of the horrors that we see many of the Native tribes experience occurs as a result of the American people vying for power and influence. From the relocation of tribes that we will see in this project, to the near extinction of several others.

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The Powhatan were the first Native tribes to encounter the settlers. What can otherwise be known as the first invasion fo European colonizers as they founded the town of Jamestown in 1607. The Powhatan covered a modest amount of land starting from Chesapeake Bay, stretching all the way to the Potomac Rivers. The Powhatan people were generous towards the first settlers as they saved them from starvation. They taught the people of Jamestown how to grow crops, hunt, and forage. However this relationship was short lived.

John Smith, one of the leaders of this expedition routinely threatened the Powhatan people to provide more resources and crops. The beginning of the conflict between these two peoples started in 1609, and ended in the year 1622. The Powhatan were constantly subjected to raids that led to the devastation of their homes and crops. Later in the year 1636, another conflict arose with the Powhatan's being blamed for the death of an Englishman. This appears to be an excuse however as the settlers wanted to continue to expand westward and the Powhatan's were in the way of completing that goal.

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The Dakota Access Pipeline, otherwise known as the DAPL was a controversial event as the US government tried to build on top of Sioux land in 2016.

The DAPL is an underground oil pipeline funded by the US government in order to transport crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois. The pipeline is responsible for transporting approximately 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day. This oil can cost anywhere from $40-$80 per barrel. Meaning that the pipeline has a net income of roughly, $20M-$40M per day.

The DAPL has many benefits to the US as a whole, but these benefits rarely benefit the Sioux people. The DAPL has allowed the US to rely less on foreign oil, therefore lowering the cost of oil within the US. Something that benefits the nation as a whole rather the people. The DAPL also boasts to creating jobs, boosting local economy, and providing energy security.

For the Sioux people, the distaste and conflict of the DAPL started for several reason. First and foremost, it was a violation of treaties and rights that the US government had promised to the people. The Sioux felt slighted as the federal government had not adequately consulted them, infringing on their soveriegnty as a nation. Another major aspect were the potential dangers and harms the pipeline could cause not only to thge local environment but to their sacred sites. To the Sioux people their sacred lands and spiritual practices are a vital part of their culture. For the land to be destroyed would be similar to destroying their culture.

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The Iriquois was a confederacy of six different Native American tribes in the northeastern US. They lived in modern day New York, Pennsylvania, and Quebec. The Iriquois had a belief in a belief called the Great Law of Peace. Ironically, many key parts of the US Constitution was inspired by this Great Law. The Great Law of Peace was a constitution that united the five Iriquois tribes together with an emphasis on mutual respect, consensus decision making, and maintaining the balance of justice within the community.

The Iriquois were a part of many major conflicts as the French, British, and the now United States vied for power in North America. The first of these conflicts being the French and Indian War. The Iriquois had allied themselves with the British as they were in conflict in France as well as other native tribes like the; Algonquian, Shawnee, and the Ottawa. Despite the Iriquois being an important ally to the British and its colonies during the war this appreciation would not be long lived. George Washington ordered a preemptive strike against the Iriquois in 1779 in order to push the Iriquois out of the region. This conflict was nothing more than a genocide of the Iriquois people, as the Colonial armies razed towns and crops. Scalping the heads of the people for individual profit, and stealing their ancestral lands. All because of their pursuit of land, power, and resources.

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The Cherokee nation covered a vast amount of land that spread over today's Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. The conflict between the Cherokee and the first settlers started as early as the 1500s. Not only were the Cherokee extorted and exploited for the resources that were on their sacred lands, they were also subject to political manipulations and used as tools in multiple wars and conflicts.

Initial conflicts with the settlers have forced many captured Cherokee people to be sold into slavery for the economic gains of the settlers and those that captured them. Scalping was also a horrendous practice being conducted at the time. Scalpers were paid bounties based on the number of scalps they were able to produce, rewarding the man who hunted the people for his own economic gain. Under President Jackson's presidency, a massive network of gold mines were discovered on Cherokee land. This prompted Jackson to forego the treaties and rights that the Cherokee had in order to force them across the Mississippi river so that they could mine those lands. These actions would eventually lead to the trail of tears, where the Cherokee were forced from their ancestral homes into new lands as their land was being torn apart in the quest to find more resources that would only benefit the US government and its citizens, not the Cherokee.

In our text we see that the Cherokee nation were involved in three different wars, these being; the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, and the American Civil War. In each of these conflicts the people of the Cherokee were exploited as political tools and weapons to be used on the battlefield. They were pawns in a conflict that would not advocate for their success. As we've seen with this tribe and many others, they were exploited because they have always been seen as less than by the American people. Regardless of who won each of the conflicts, the result would be the same as they had to endure hardship and racism from the US government.

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After receiving funding to explore from the Spanish government, Christopher Columbus began his expedition towards the Americas. The peoples that he first encountered were the Taino. The Taino was a culture that existed in modern day Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.

Columbus was the founder of the Columbian exchange. The exchange was responsible for creating a highway over the Atlantic ocean that connected the new and old worlds. As a result, the Columbian Exchange brought in commodities such as; sugar, tobacco, chocolate, and potatoes back to Europe. Another part of the Columbian Exchange that was the catalyst for major economic gain for the Old World was slavery.

When Columbus entered the New World, he not only encountered the new commodities, listed above, he also encountered the Taino people. With that he began a widespread subjucation of the people, subjecting them to torture, slaughter, and slavery. He committed a level of genocide of the people that saw their population dwindle to near extiction because he only saw them as merchandise to be sold or used for profit. He used the land of the native people to expand the influence of his nation. He also used the people to grow and cultivate the goods that would help make him and his people thrive while the Taino were forced into a life of torture and slavery.

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When thinking of Alaska, for most people, their initial thoughts would not include any Native indigenous peoples. Instead they might think of its tall mountains and frozen tundras. However, the peoples that our history books fail to teach us about are the Native peoples. One of the prominent tribes that lived in these lands were the Unangans, a tribe from the Aleut nation.

The Unangan people suffered greatly during the colonization efforts of two regimes. These being the Russians and the United States. During Russian colonization, the Unangan people suffered through an event known as the "Fur Rush". Russian settlers hunted down otters for their warm pelts, since they were even more expensive than oil at the time. While the Unangan people protected their communities and resources, the Russians overwhelmed the local tribes. Killing tribesmen in their pursuit to protect the local wildlife, as well as threatening to kill their families for doing so.

As the Fur Rush ended, Russia sold the rights of Alaska to the US. Unfortunately for the Unangans, it would be more of the same. As the US settlers exploited the land and the people for its resources. The Unangans suffered much of the same that the tribes in the mainland of the US suffered. From boarding schools, the spread of disease, as well as the desecration of their sacred lands. The Unangans suffered from having less rights than the settlers, being restricted in the lands that they could hunt in as well as their rights to fish.

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What knowledge and skills do I need to be prepared to integrate indigenous experiences in a social studies elementary or middle grade calssroom?

In order to gain the full understanding of this project and the information inside several aspects of the NCSS Standards of Social Studies are involved. The first three standards in the NCSS are what I believe to be the most important when asking myself what I need to fully know and understand in order to best prepare and teach my future class.

For the standard of Culture, we need to gain a base understanding of not only the cultures of the different Native American tribes, but of the colonial power of the time as well. We need to ask ourselves the questions of what were their values? What beliefs and traditions did they uphold? Also when teaching this unit, how can I help my students experience these things on a personal and individual level. From museum exhibits, music, and art in order to gain an understanding of their culture.

For Time, Continuity, and Change, how can I teach about the past in a way that is both historically accurate and help my students understand the important events. Fortunately for us, the tribes that are talked about in this project still exist today. How has time affected these people? By understanding how the past has affected the different native tribes and how these enabled future events and developments in their culture is an important understanding. From how the native people both view and understand their current situation, and how this belief affects their society today.

Finally for People, Places, and Environments, we are ultimately learning about different people groups. Something that is not fully talked about in this project but is a factor in their experiences is their geography. The different hardships that each of these tribes had to experience were different based on where they lived. The Unangans nor the Sioux had to experience the Trail of Tears. Instead because they were away from the East coast of America they had to deal with subjugation rather than relocation. As a teacher I need to understand for myself how and why these differences are important when considering the importance of geography and time when teaching about each of these tribes.

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15th, B. T. on J. (2024, May 1). Standing with standing rock: A role play on the Dakota Access Pipeline. Zinn Education Project. https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/standing-with-standing-rock-nodapl/

Dunbar-Ortiz, R. (2023). An indigenous peoples' history of the United States. Beacon Press.

Khan Academy. (n.d.). US History: Colonization. Khan Academy. https://www.khanacademy.org/

Motivations for colonization. Education. (n.d.). https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/motivations-colonization/7th-grade/

Whose history matters? students can name Columbus, but most have never heard of the Taíno people. Zinn Education Project. https://www.zinnedproject.org/if-we-knew-our-history/whose-history-matters-taino