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The word otsaliheliga (oh-jah-LEE-hay-lee-gah) is used by members of the Cherokee Nation to express gratitude

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Native women are leaders who are responsible for plenty of cultural aspects like congress, fashion, being a life giver as well as advocating for continuing their cultural self image and their environment.

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Editor's note: Today in the United States, there are 574 federally recognized tribes and "Native American" is the most common term for the larger group, but many people prefer to use "American Indian" or "Indigenous American." For more educational resources, please visit the National Museum of the American Indian Photo of Sarah Eagle Heart by Martina Fornace .
Native American women make only 59 cents for every dollar the average white man makes. (And that's for women who are working full-time - for those working part-time, that drops to 55 cents.) And Equal Pay Day for Native women - the day that represents how much longer they have to work to earn as much as an average white man made in one year - doesn't happen until November 30.
First out LGBTQIA+ Native American in Congress
That's the last day of Native American Heritage Month, in which we honor the diverse culture, accomplishments, and heritage of the first inhabitants of what is now the United States. At Ellevest, we like to celebrate the women who are leading the way - from the record number of Native American women who serve in Congress to the entrepreneurs starting businesses faster than the average rate to the activists fighting against racism, violence, and a legacy of injustice.
"When I'm talking to folks, I recognize that somebody else's experience is just as real and valid as my experience. And I recognize that - because I want other people to see my experience as real and valid."

CEO and founder of B.Yellowtail
Today, we're sharing nine inspiring Native American women who have worked to lift up their communities, build new ways to earn what they're worth, fight for equality, and disrupt money.
"I realized that there isn't a space that authentically represents Native people. I was working for brands that would come out with ethnic or Indigenous-inspired collections, but I didn't connect with them. It was a lightbulb moment. I needed to create my own space."
1. Rep. Sharice Davids
Activist, storyteller, philanthropist
A member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, Sharice Davids was born in Frankfurt, Germany, the child of a single mom who was a drill sergeant in the Army. As a child, she was fascinated by martial arts and especially admired Bruce Lee (she even wore a black belt around the house). But lessons weren't in the budget then. Davids took her first martial arts class as a 19-year-old college student, and continued to train while putting herself through first community college, then university, then Cornell Law School. She began competing in mixed martial arts in 2006 and briefly went pro in 2013. But her true calling was in helping her community, and she shifted focus to travel the United States and live on Native American reservations, working on community development. Her work earned her a White House fellowship in 2016. She ran for a seat representing Kansas in the US House of Representatives in 2018, and made history when she won - becoming the first out LGBTQIA+ Native American in Congress and (along with now-Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland) one of the first two Native American women representatives.
"There's frequently a very low baseline of awareness that our conversations can be totally dominated by basic education. If we can get individuals and organizations to a place of cultural knowledge where they understand the need for action and understanding, we can advance the conversation further."
2. Bethany Yellowtail
Native American politician and activist
Bethany Yellowtail, born and raised in Montana between the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations, was a few years into her fashion career when she became frustrated by the appropriation of her heritage across the industry. She launched B.Yellowtail to carve out a space for authenticity, combining traditional Native American clothing with contemporary silhouettes. In addition to selling her own designs, B.Yellowtail doubles as a retail space that supports other Indigenous artists, letting creatives earn what they're worth and take home the majority of the retail cost. Bethany is one of the most prominent Native American designers working today.
"We're the last to really come to the table to be able to have a voice. And now that we are starting to build into this practice of voting and participating in the national electoral process, we're also recognizing that we can not only now vote, but we can also run and become a voice."
3. Sarah Eagle Heart
First Native American woman to receive a medical degree
Sarah Eagle Heart was raised in the Oglala Lakota tribe on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, and was an activist for her community from a young age - including protesting an appropriative homecoming ceremony at the neighboring high school. Since then, she's worked internationally as a leader for social and environmental justice within the Episcopal Church, worked with Women's March leaders to bring Indigenous women to the forefront, and became an Emmy award-winning storyteller. Sarah is the CEO of Native Americans in Philanthropy (NAP), a national non-profit that educates and lifts up Native peoples to create healthy and sustainable communities. In 2017, she won the American Express NGEN Leadership Award, which recognizes trailblazers whose work has had a transformative impact on a critical social need, and in December of last year, Sarah launched Return to the Heart, an Indigenous women-led non-profit foundation that champions climate justice, narrative change, and equity for Native Americans.
"White people have reached a high standard of civilization, but how many years has it taken them? We are only beginning; so do not try to put us down, but help us to climb higher. Give us a chance."
4. Rep. Paulette Jordan
Founder of Morning Light Kombucha
Growing up in the Coeur d'Alene tribe in Idaho, Paulette Jordan cultivated a passion for protecting the Earth's natural resources and fighting for the needs of her community. Both of her grandparents were chiefs, and much of their work involved protecting the tribe's sovereign rights to land and other natural resources. She developed a strong connection to the state's land and the people who share it, which inspired her to enter politics: In 2008, Paulette was elected to the Coeur d'Alene Tribal Council, becoming the youngest person to ever hold her role. In 2014, she ran to represent Idaho's 5th district in the Idaho House of Representatives, won, and successfully ran for a second term two years later. Paulette became the first Native American woman to run for governor in US history in 2018, and though she didn't win, she earned nearly 40% of the vote - more than had ever been cast for any Democratic governor nominee in Idaho's history. She carried that energy into the 2020 Senate race, where she would have become the first Native American woman in the US Senate.
"I'm a single mom. I've been doing this on my own. I love that I'm able to inspire other mothers and other women to go out and pursue what they want. That's exciting to see."
5. Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte
Native American rights activist, poet, journalist
As a child, Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte - born on Nebraska's Omaha reservation in 1865 - watched a sick Native American woman die because a white doctor refused her care. She decided then and there that she would train to be a physician and provide medical services for those in her community. She left the reservation at age 14 to attend New Jersey's Hampton Institute, and went on to graduate top of her class at the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania. She was the first Native American woman in the US to receive a medical degree. Over the course of her career, Dr. La Flesche served more than 1,300 people across 450 square miles, giving financial advice and resolving family disputes in addition to providing medical care.
"A lot of my once-radical ideas have become federal law, and that makes me grateful for every person and all the peoples who influenced my thinking."
6. Melinda Williamson
Entrepreneur, one of the first two Native American women in the US House of Representatives, and the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary (US Secretary of the Interior)
After being diagnosed with an autoimmune illness ten years ago, Melinda Williamson - a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation - began researching natural healing methods. Eventually, she came across kombucha: a fermented tea drink that's said to boost immunity, and a $475 million industry in the US. In 2015, Melinda decided to take the leap and start her own company, and Morning Light Kombucha was born. Ninety percent of the ingredients are sourced from the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation reservation in Hoyt, Kansas (many foraged by Melinda herself), and a portion of every sale goes back to Native communities. Currently, Morning Light is the only Native American-owned kombucha brewery in the country. Melinda is invested in the next generation of Native American entrepreneurs and passionate about encouraging more women to pursue their passions through business.

7. Suzan Shown Harjo
"I'm always gonna fight for folks. I think it's any government's obligation to make the lives of people better. That's why we pay our taxes. We want good roads, we want solid bridges. We want nice playgrounds for kids to play in. We want safe communities. We don't want our neighbors to go hungry. I know what a nice neighborhood is like, and I want people to be able to find success."
Suzan Shown Harjo, born in Oklahoma of Cheyenne and Muscogee ancestry, has been at the forefront of every major battle in recent Native American history, from fighting to remove racist mascots to protecting sacred sites. As president of the Morning Star Institute, Suzan has worked alongside other Native people to recover more than one million acres of land, and she's recognized in both Native American communities and the museum world for her work in repatriating and protecting Native ancestors. In 2014, she was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom - no wonder, since US presidents from Carter to Obama have signed legislation with her imprint into law. President Obama said it best: "Her tireless efforts have protected Native culture, returned Native lands, and improved Native lives. With bold resolve, Suzan Shown Harjo pushes us to always seek justice in our time."
The first Native American woman in space
8. Secretary Deb Haaland
"[This mission] is very exciting. And I think it's important that we communicate this to our community, so that other Native kids, if they thought maybe that this was not a possibility, to realize that some of those barriers that used to be there are really starting to get broken down."
The daughter of two veterans, Haaland is a 35th-generation New Mexican and a member of the Laguna Pueblo people. After moving around as a military kid, she put herself through college and gave birth to her daughter four days before graduating in 1994. The following year, she launched her own company, Pueblo Salsa, which she ran while caring for a baby and attending law school at the same time. (Wow.) Haaland has always been open about the challenges that she faced as a single mom and Native American; her official US House bio notes that both she and her daughter are still paying off student loans, and she's also said that if she'd scored five points higher on the bar exam, her life would probably have gone a different way. Instead, she became the first woman elected to the Laguna Development Corporation's board of directors and began advocating for environmentally friendly business practices. That led to a political path, and she became the first Native American woman to lead a state political party before successfully winning a US House seat in 2018.

As a representative, Haaland introduced several bills to address the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women. In 2021, she was tapped to serve as President Biden's Secretary of the Interior, adding another first to her résumé. Since then, she's continued advocating for missing and murdered indigenous women, expanded historical sites of Native massacres, and launched the Federal Indian Boarding School Intiative to investigate the impact of the US's federal boarding school policies that separated Native American children from their families throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

9. Colonel Nicole Mann

Mann grew up in northern California as a member of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes; after studying mechanical engineering at the United States Naval Academy and Stanford, she joined the Marines, where she quickly became a naval aviator. She flew missions in Iraq and served as a test pilot - totaling more than 2,500 hours of flight time in more than 25 kinds of aircraft - before starting her astronaut training in 2013. Finally, earlier this fall, Mann's career all came together when she commanded the SpaceX Crew-5 flight to the International Space Station for NASA, becoming the first-ever Native American woman (and second Native American overall) to go to space. While on the station, her crew will be conducting more than 200 experiments (including 3D-printing human tissue!) in the hopes of informing future trips to the moon and, eventually, to Mars.

Disclosures

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9 Native American Women Leaders, Founders, and Fighters | Ellevest

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These Native American women have worked to lift up their communities, build new ways to earn what they're worth, fight for equality, and disrupt money.

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The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe resides in the Lower Elwha River Valley

The tribe governs itself

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The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe is a sovereign, federally recognized Indian Nation, with its own constitution and government. Not only does the Tribe govern itself, but many Tribal administrative departments oversee the everyday function of the reservation and provide for Tribal members.

The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe resides in the Lower Elwha River Valley and adjacent bluffs on the north coast of the Olympic Peninsula just west of Port Angeles, Washington. As recognized by the United States in 1855's Treaty of Point No Point, the Tribe has lived in this area since time immemorial.

The Tribe's current landbase was initially acquired by the United States in trust for the Tribe in 1935-36 and these lands were proclaimed as the Lower Elwha Reservation in 1968. Today tribal lands include about 1,000 acres on and near the Elwha River.

​Vision​

To ensure that the Lower Elwha Klallam people can pass on their way of life to their children.

Mission

To build a strong and healthy sovereign nation where Tribal members live their values and culture.

This means enhancing the lives of our people both physically and spiritually through social well being and economic independence while preserving and enhancing our natural resources and cultural heritage.

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ʔéʔɬx̣ʷaʔ nəxʷsƛ̕áy̕əm̕ - The Strong People The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe is a sovereign, federally recognized Indian Nation, with its own constitution and government. Not only does the Tribe govern itself, but many Tribal administrative departments oversee the everyday function of the reservation and provide for Tribal members.

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Doctrine of Discovery 1452-1493

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A Spotlight on a Primary Source by Pope Alexander VI

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The Doctrine of Discovery, 1493 | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

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The Doctrine of Discovery, 1493 |

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Taino people (2 dozen) enslaved to Spain 1494

Who are the Taino people?

https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/pre-colonial-history/taino-indigenous-caribbeans/#:~:text=The%20Ta%C3%ADno%20were%20an%20Arawak,Haiti)%2C%20and%20Puerto%20Rico.

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Early in my high school U.S. history classes, I would ask students about "that guy some people say discovered America." All my students knew that the correct answer was Christopher Columbus, and every time I asked this question, some student would break into the sing-song rhyme, "In Fourteen Hundred and Ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue" - and others would join in.

"Right. So who did he supposedly discover?" I asked.

In almost 30 years of teaching, the best anyone could come up with was: "Indians."

I brushed that answer away: "Yes, but be specific. What were their names? Which nationality?" I never had a student say, "The Taínos."

"So what does this tell us?" I asked. "What does it say that we all know Columbus's name, but none of us knows the nationality of the people who were here first? And there were millions of them."

This erasure of huge swaths of humanity is a fundamental feature of the school curriculum, but also of the broader mainstream political discourse. We usually think about the curriculum as what is taught in school. But as important - perhaps more important - is what is not taught, which includes the lives rendered invisible. Young people, and the rest of us, become inured to the way in which certain people's lives don't count, the way in which the world is cleaved in two: between the worthy and the unworthy, those who matter and those who don't. The "don't matter" people are the ones the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano called los nadies, the nobodies - "Who speak no languages, only dialects. Who have no religions, only superstitions. Who have no arts, only crafts."

For the Taíno people of the Caribbean, their erasure began almost immediately, with Columbus's arrival. It was not curricular, it was flesh and blood. "With 50 men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want," Columbus wrote in his journal on his third day in the Americas. In 1494, Columbus launched the transatlantic slave trade, sending at least two dozen enslaved Taínos to Spain, "men and women, boys and girls," as he wrote. The next year, 1495, Columbus launched massive slave raids, rounding up 1,600 Taínos, from which the "best" 500, perhaps 550, were selected to be shipped to Spain. Of the hundreds of captives left over, "whoever wanted them could take as many as he pleased," one eyewitness, a Spanish colonist, Michele de Cuneo, wrote, "and this was done."

The Spanish priest Bartolomé de las Casas described what he called the "terror" launched by Columbus in his quest for gold and to suppress Taíno resistance:

It was a general rule among Spaniards to be cruel; not just cruel, but extraordinarily cruel so that harsh and bitter treatment would prevent Indians as daring to think of themselves as human beings or having a minute to think at all. So they would cut an Indian's hands and leave them dangling by a shred of skin and they would send him on saying, "Go now, spread the news to your chiefs." They would test their swords and their manly strength on captured Indians and place bets on the slicing off of heads or the cutting of bodies in half with one blow. They burned or hanged captured chiefs.

My students and I read and talked about this erasure - these horrific attacks on Taínos who might dare "to think of themselves as human beings." Because Columbus's policies of enslavement, terrorism, and ultimately, mass murder are so egregious, it's tempting to focus only on Taíno deaths. But those deaths can seem abstract and distant, unless we learn something about Taíno lives.

It has always struck me that Columbus himself expressed much more curiosity about the Taínos than one finds in corporate-produced textbooks - although in recent years, no doubt because of Indigenous activism, textbook publishers have discovered the Taínos, if only briefly and superficially. The Taínos were not literate, in the conventional sense, and so wrote nothing about themselves, but Columbus's journal offers intriguing, if limited, details. In the journal of his first voyage, Columbus wrote about the Taíno people's homes: "Inside, they were well swept and clean, and their furnishing very well arranged; all were made of very beautiful palm branches." He said there were "wild birds, tamed, in their houses; there were wonderful outfits of nets and hooks and fishing-tackle." Columbus writes that it was a "delight" to see Taino canoas (canoes) that were "very beautiful and carved... it was a pleasure to see its workmanship and beauty." After a little more than three months traveling from island to island, Columbus concluded that the Taíno people are "the best people in the world, and beyond all the mildest... a people so full of love and without greed... They love their neighbors as themselves, and they have the softest and gentlest voices in the world, and they are always smiling."

Of course, Columbus's curiosity was grounded in his single-minded quest for gold, and how he might exploit the Taínos to further that mission. As Columbus later wrote King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella: "Gold is a wonderful thing! Whoever owns it is lord of all he wants. With gold it is even possible for souls to open the way to paradise."

Columbus's portrait of the mild, soft, and gentle Taíno may conceal that they also tenaciously resisted the Columbus regime, once its exploitative and deadly nature became clear. This resistance has been called the first anti-colonial guerrilla war in the Americas. It began as early as Columbus's first trip back to Spain, when he left 39 Spaniards at his La Navidad settlement, confident that the powerful Spaniards could handle the supposedly timid Taínos. In response to the Spaniards' rapacity, the Taínos killed all 39 Spaniards, and burned their fort.

If Columbus's first trip, with three vessels and maybe 100 men, was an exploratory probe, the second trip, with 17 ships and between 1,200 and 1,500 men, was a full-scale invasion. When slavery turned out not to be profitable on la Española (the island that today is Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Columbus instituted a tribute system for the Taínos, demanding quotas of gold and cotton, with sadistic punishments for those who failed to comply. This system was "impossible and intolerable," wrote Bartolomé de las Casas.

The Taínos fought back, raiding Spanish forts and killing defenders. Taíno caciques, leaders, worked to build alliances throughout the island. The Taínos continuously resisted the heavily armed Spaniards for almost a year, from May 1495 to March 1496, but uprisings and resistance continued through 1503. According to Spanish accounts, Taínos also went on strike and turned to sabotage. One Spanish eyewitness wrote that the Taínos "thought they might expel [the Spaniards] by creating a scarcity of food. They therefore decided not only to plant no more crops, but also to destroy and tear up all the various kinds of cereals used for bread which had already been sown." Las Casas adds that the Taínos "would hide in the mountains," but when they "fled the Christians, there went with them disease, death, and misery, and an infinite number of fathers and mothers and children died in anguish."

Ironically, in their quest for a happy ending to this grim first chapter in European colonialism in the Americas, textbook writers also focus on food - but not on resistance. For example, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's middle school text United States History Early Years concludes its section on Columbus:

The Columbian Exchange benefited people all over the world. Potatoes from the Americas became an important food for most Europeans. Corn became an important crop in Africa. Sweet potatoes were grown as far away as China. Today, tomatoes, peanuts, and American beans and peppers are grown in many lands.

The sole "review" question asks: "How did the Columbian Exchange change the diet of Europeans?"

This is how the textbook story ends: wondering about the eating habits of Europeans. Let's remember that enslaving Africans and shipping them to the Americas was also a part of the so-called Columbian Exchange. Africa was not only a receptacle for American corn. Columbus was granted the first royal permit to bring enslaved Africans to the Americas in 1501, less than a decade after his arrival.

Despite textbook attempts to conclude the story with a smiley-face, there is no happy ending. But there is a hopeful one - found in the remarkable resilience of the Taíno people. Contrary to some scholarship, the Taínos were not all killed off by Columbus and subsequent occupiers, and today members of the Taíno diaspora along with people in the Caribbean who claim Taíno ancestry are reviving and celebrating their culture. According to Christina M. González, writing in the fall 2018 issue of American Indian, the Taíno revival began around the quincentenary of Columbus's arrival. The renaissance focuses on language, art, religion, pharmacology, agriculture, fishing, cooking, and, of course, rethinking Taíno history. González writes, "Many in the movement call upon embodied memories of traditions and values disseminated across generations, often by family matriarchs, which espoused mindful relations in a world where all things have life, from plants, stones, rivers, forests, caves, sun and moon, to deceased relatives and disincarnate beings inhabiting their islands."

In recent years, genetic research has confirmed the ongoing Taíno presence in the Caribbean. According to José Barreiro, a scholar and a member of the Taíno Nation of the Antilles, genetic research in Cuba has found that almost 35 percent of Cubans have Native American mitochondrial DNA, with some regions as high as 59 percent. A University of Puerto Rico study of 800 randomly selected Puerto Ricans found 61.1 percent of individuals surveyed had mitochondrial DNA of Indigenous origin. But as a friend recently reminded me, people with Taíno cultural DNA had no need for scientific confirmation that they are still here - "hidden in plain sight," as José Barreiro subtitled his National Museum of the American Indian article on " Indigenous Cuba."

Columbus's treatment of the Taíno people meets the UN definition of genocide. But there has also been a curricular genocide - erasing the memory of the Taíno from our nation's classrooms. How else can we explain students' universal recognition of Columbus and almost total ignorance of the name Taíno? As we work to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day in our communities and schools, let's work to remember the people who were here first. Their lives mattered 500 years ago, and they matter today.

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Whose History Matters? Students Can Name Columbus, But Most Have Never Heard of the Taíno People " Zinn Education Project

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By Bill Bigelow This erasure of huge swaths of humanity is a fundamental feature of the school curriculum, but also of the broader mainstream political discourse. We usually think about the curriculum as what is taught in school. But as important - perhaps more important - is what is not taught, which includes the lives rendered invisible.

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Everglades was a land once lived with possums, bears, racoons, panthers, armadillos, etc…

https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/historyculture/native-people.htm

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Standing with Standing Rock:

-> The protest brought together 200-300+ tribal nations that have not united for more than 150 years

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Join us in calling on the DOJ to investigate possible constitutional violations at Standing Rock and suspend use of federally supplied military equipment by police.

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Sequoyah came up with revolutionary technology to fight back, a writing system called syllabary 1807-1820

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/sequoyah-and-creation-cherokee-syllabary/

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Amy Goodman’s coverage on Democracy Now! Shows footage of the use of dogs and pepper spray on protesters.

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FULL Exclusive Report: Dakota Access Pipeline Co. Attacks Native Americans with Dogs & Pepper Spray

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On Saturday in North Dakota, security guards working for the Dakota Access pipeline company attacked Native Americans with dogs and pepper spray as they resisted the $3.8 billion pipeline’s construction. If completed, the Dakota Access pipeline would carry about 500,000 barrels of crude per day from North Dakota’s Bakken oil field to Illinois, where it would meet up with an existing pipeline that would carry the oil all the way down to Texas. The pipeline has faced months of resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and members of nearly 100 more tribes from across the U.S. and Canada. On Friday, lawyers for the tribe filed documents showing how the very land where Dakota Access would bulldoze on Saturday was, in fact, a tribal burial site. Democracy Now! was on the ground on Saturday, and we bring you this exclusive report.

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Taino Resistance - first anti-colonial guerilla war.

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Early in my high school U.S. history classes, I would ask students about "that guy some people say discovered America." All my students knew that the correct answer was Christopher Columbus, and every time I asked this question, some student would break into the sing-song rhyme, "In Fourteen Hundred and Ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue" - and others would join in.

"Right. So who did he supposedly discover?" I asked.

In almost 30 years of teaching, the best anyone could come up with was: "Indians."

I brushed that answer away: "Yes, but be specific. What were their names? Which nationality?" I never had a student say, "The Taínos."

"So what does this tell us?" I asked. "What does it say that we all know Columbus's name, but none of us knows the nationality of the people who were here first? And there were millions of them."

This erasure of huge swaths of humanity is a fundamental feature of the school curriculum, but also of the broader mainstream political discourse. We usually think about the curriculum as what is taught in school. But as important - perhaps more important - is what is not taught, which includes the lives rendered invisible. Young people, and the rest of us, become inured to the way in which certain people's lives don't count, the way in which the world is cleaved in two: between the worthy and the unworthy, those who matter and those who don't. The "don't matter" people are the ones the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano called los nadies, the nobodies - "Who speak no languages, only dialects. Who have no religions, only superstitions. Who have no arts, only crafts."

For the Taíno people of the Caribbean, their erasure began almost immediately, with Columbus's arrival. It was not curricular, it was flesh and blood. "With 50 men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want," Columbus wrote in his journal on his third day in the Americas. In 1494, Columbus launched the transatlantic slave trade, sending at least two dozen enslaved Taínos to Spain, "men and women, boys and girls," as he wrote. The next year, 1495, Columbus launched massive slave raids, rounding up 1,600 Taínos, from which the "best" 500, perhaps 550, were selected to be shipped to Spain. Of the hundreds of captives left over, "whoever wanted them could take as many as he pleased," one eyewitness, a Spanish colonist, Michele de Cuneo, wrote, "and this was done."

The Spanish priest Bartolomé de las Casas described what he called the "terror" launched by Columbus in his quest for gold and to suppress Taíno resistance:

It was a general rule among Spaniards to be cruel; not just cruel, but extraordinarily cruel so that harsh and bitter treatment would prevent Indians as daring to think of themselves as human beings or having a minute to think at all. So they would cut an Indian's hands and leave them dangling by a shred of skin and they would send him on saying, "Go now, spread the news to your chiefs." They would test their swords and their manly strength on captured Indians and place bets on the slicing off of heads or the cutting of bodies in half with one blow. They burned or hanged captured chiefs.

My students and I read and talked about this erasure - these horrific attacks on Taínos who might dare "to think of themselves as human beings." Because Columbus's policies of enslavement, terrorism, and ultimately, mass murder are so egregious, it's tempting to focus only on Taíno deaths. But those deaths can seem abstract and distant, unless we learn something about Taíno lives.

It has always struck me that Columbus himself expressed much more curiosity about the Taínos than one finds in corporate-produced textbooks - although in recent years, no doubt because of Indigenous activism, textbook publishers have discovered the Taínos, if only briefly and superficially. The Taínos were not literate, in the conventional sense, and so wrote nothing about themselves, but Columbus's journal offers intriguing, if limited, details. In the journal of his first voyage, Columbus wrote about the Taíno people's homes: "Inside, they were well swept and clean, and their furnishing very well arranged; all were made of very beautiful palm branches." He said there were "wild birds, tamed, in their houses; there were wonderful outfits of nets and hooks and fishing-tackle." Columbus writes that it was a "delight" to see Taino canoas (canoes) that were "very beautiful and carved... it was a pleasure to see its workmanship and beauty." After a little more than three months traveling from island to island, Columbus concluded that the Taíno people are "the best people in the world, and beyond all the mildest... a people so full of love and without greed... They love their neighbors as themselves, and they have the softest and gentlest voices in the world, and they are always smiling."

Of course, Columbus's curiosity was grounded in his single-minded quest for gold, and how he might exploit the Taínos to further that mission. As Columbus later wrote King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella: "Gold is a wonderful thing! Whoever owns it is lord of all he wants. With gold it is even possible for souls to open the way to paradise."

Columbus's portrait of the mild, soft, and gentle Taíno may conceal that they also tenaciously resisted the Columbus regime, once its exploitative and deadly nature became clear. This resistance has been called the first anti-colonial guerrilla war in the Americas. It began as early as Columbus's first trip back to Spain, when he left 39 Spaniards at his La Navidad settlement, confident that the powerful Spaniards could handle the supposedly timid Taínos. In response to the Spaniards' rapacity, the Taínos killed all 39 Spaniards, and burned their fort.

If Columbus's first trip, with three vessels and maybe 100 men, was an exploratory probe, the second trip, with 17 ships and between 1,200 and 1,500 men, was a full-scale invasion. When slavery turned out not to be profitable on la Española (the island that today is Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Columbus instituted a tribute system for the Taínos, demanding quotas of gold and cotton, with sadistic punishments for those who failed to comply. This system was "impossible and intolerable," wrote Bartolomé de las Casas.

The Taínos fought back, raiding Spanish forts and killing defenders. Taíno caciques, leaders, worked to build alliances throughout the island. The Taínos continuously resisted the heavily armed Spaniards for almost a year, from May 1495 to March 1496, but uprisings and resistance continued through 1503. According to Spanish accounts, Taínos also went on strike and turned to sabotage. One Spanish eyewitness wrote that the Taínos "thought they might expel [the Spaniards] by creating a scarcity of food. They therefore decided not only to plant no more crops, but also to destroy and tear up all the various kinds of cereals used for bread which had already been sown." Las Casas adds that the Taínos "would hide in the mountains," but when they "fled the Christians, there went with them disease, death, and misery, and an infinite number of fathers and mothers and children died in anguish."

Ironically, in their quest for a happy ending to this grim first chapter in European colonialism in the Americas, textbook writers also focus on food - but not on resistance. For example, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's middle school text United States History Early Years concludes its section on Columbus:

The Columbian Exchange benefited people all over the world. Potatoes from the Americas became an important food for most Europeans. Corn became an important crop in Africa. Sweet potatoes were grown as far away as China. Today, tomatoes, peanuts, and American beans and peppers are grown in many lands.

The sole "review" question asks: "How did the Columbian Exchange change the diet of Europeans?"

This is how the textbook story ends: wondering about the eating habits of Europeans. Let's remember that enslaving Africans and shipping them to the Americas was also a part of the so-called Columbian Exchange. Africa was not only a receptacle for American corn. Columbus was granted the first royal permit to bring enslaved Africans to the Americas in 1501, less than a decade after his arrival.

Despite textbook attempts to conclude the story with a smiley-face, there is no happy ending. But there is a hopeful one - found in the remarkable resilience of the Taíno people. Contrary to some scholarship, the Taínos were not all killed off by Columbus and subsequent occupiers, and today members of the Taíno diaspora along with people in the Caribbean who claim Taíno ancestry are reviving and celebrating their culture. According to Christina M. González, writing in the fall 2018 issue of American Indian, the Taíno revival began around the quincentenary of Columbus's arrival. The renaissance focuses on language, art, religion, pharmacology, agriculture, fishing, cooking, and, of course, rethinking Taíno history. González writes, "Many in the movement call upon embodied memories of traditions and values disseminated across generations, often by family matriarchs, which espoused mindful relations in a world where all things have life, from plants, stones, rivers, forests, caves, sun and moon, to deceased relatives and disincarnate beings inhabiting their islands."

In recent years, genetic research has confirmed the ongoing Taíno presence in the Caribbean. According to José Barreiro, a scholar and a member of the Taíno Nation of the Antilles, genetic research in Cuba has found that almost 35 percent of Cubans have Native American mitochondrial DNA, with some regions as high as 59 percent. A University of Puerto Rico study of 800 randomly selected Puerto Ricans found 61.1 percent of individuals surveyed had mitochondrial DNA of Indigenous origin. But as a friend recently reminded me, people with Taíno cultural DNA had no need for scientific confirmation that they are still here - "hidden in plain sight," as José Barreiro subtitled his National Museum of the American Indian article on " Indigenous Cuba."

Columbus's treatment of the Taíno people meets the UN definition of genocide. But there has also been a curricular genocide - erasing the memory of the Taíno from our nation's classrooms. How else can we explain students' universal recognition of Columbus and almost total ignorance of the name Taíno? As we work to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day in our communities and schools, let's work to remember the people who were here first. Their lives mattered 500 years ago, and they matter today.

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Whose History Matters? Students Can Name Columbus, But Most Have Never Heard of the Taíno People " Zinn Education Project

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By Bill Bigelow This erasure of huge swaths of humanity is a fundamental feature of the school curriculum, but also of the broader mainstream political discourse. We usually think about the curriculum as what is taught in school. But as important - perhaps more important - is what is not taught, which includes the lives rendered invisible.

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A Native American Family story about food, history, culture, diversity, resourcefulness, perseverance, family and community.

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Julio C. Tello, an Indigenous Peruvian archaeologist, tells his story about his discoveries in the Andean highlands.

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PDF: https://fliphtml5.com/bokia/tkem/basic

In this book we take a sneak peek at the Cherokee people's live through each season and share several things that they are grateful for.

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An eighth-grade English teacher creates an assignment for her class to debate whether Rye’s mascot should stay or change.

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"In this tribute to Native resilience, Indigenous author-and-illustrator team Lindstrom and Goade invite readers to stand up for environmental justice. An inspiring call to action for all who care about our interconnected planet."―Kirkus Reviews

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This Native American story covers River's story where she is recovering from an illness and cannot dance at the powwow. Within following her journey, River is learning the healing power of community.

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In 2016 The Dakota Access Pipeline was unanimously approved for construction

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he Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is the safest and most environmentally sensitive way to transport crude oil from domestic wells to American consumers. It is the result of an extensive process that involved review and approval by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and regulators in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois. It will be among the safest, most technologically advanced pipelines in the world.

This $3.8 billion project crosses almost entirely private land, often already in use for other utility easements. The Dakota Access Pipeline does not cross the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, even at the portion of the pipeline that is the subject of dispute at Lake Oahe. In developing the route, the United States Army Corps of Engineers had hundreds of contacts with dozens of tribes regarding the Dakota Access project. In addition, the U.S. Army Corps reached out to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe nearly a dozen times to discuss archaeological and other surveys conducted before finalizing the Dakota Access route.

Notably, the Dakota Access Pipeline uneventfully operates along the same path as (but much deeper underground) the Northern Border Pipeline, which has functioned safely beneath the lake for 35 years.

The Dakota Access Pipeline is virtually entirely underground. As you see from this map, it does not cross any land belonging to the Standing Rock Sioux.

We have great respect for the concerns of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and plan to continue to work with their leaders to address those concerns. Recently, their interests have been overtaken by politically-motivated, anti-fossil fuel protesters who are using this issue as a cover for their often violent and extremist efforts to cause disruption. Their actions deny private property rights and freedoms to the landowners who are near and adjacent to the Standing Rock Reservation and deny American citizens and businesses the energy they need to produce jobs and build a vital and healthy economy. The behavior by some of these extremist organizations is not only criminal but dangerous to themselves and others, and we join with law enforcement and others in asking them to obey the rule of law.

We will continue to defend the rights we have been granted through proper and legal venues, and the rights of Americans to reduce foreign dependence on fossil fuels to power our economy and warm our homes.

MEET ENERGY TRANSFER PARTNERS

America uses 800 million gallons of petroleum every day. At Energy Transfer Partners, we're proud of our role in developing the latest in pipeline technologies, to bring energy to American homes and businesses. We safely operate more than 70,000 miles of pipeline, with a company priority to build with American materials, American workers, and American ingenuity.

A MESSAGE FROM NORTH DAKOTA GOVERNOR DOUG BURGUM:

"This is a key step toward the completion of this important infrastructure project, which has faced months of politically driven delays and will allow for safe transport of North Dakota product to market."- Doug Burgum, Governor, North Dakota

CEO Behind Dakota Pipeline: Employment Is Robust Thanks To The Building Of Pipelines

News, Opinions & Briefings about The Dakota Access Pipeline

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he Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is the safest and most environmentally sensitive way to transport crude oil from domestic wells to American consumers. It is the result of an extensive process that involved review and approval by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and regulators in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois.

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Chunkey- Native American Game with Chunkey stones (1100-1400)

The sport was not only played for recreation, but also to settle disputes and spread regional culture.

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Similar to shuffleboard or bocce ball, a number of Native cultures in the eastern United States played chunkey. The sport was not only played for recreation, but also to settle disputes and spread regional culture. Evidence of chunkey has been found hundreds of miles from Cahokia, hinting at the influence of this cultural center.

There are variations of this game, but all versions share similarities. Give the instructions below a try and see if you can play your own game of chunkey!

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Season 2 of Native America is a groundbreaking portrait of contemporary Indian Country. Building on the success of the first season, this four-part Native...

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Huacas

-> Sacred markers

Culcos: Founded to the most sacred huacas

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Luxury Tours to South America by Kuoda | Custom Private Tours

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Cusco is a city full of intriguing and mysterious surprises, many of which travelers will probably never fully understand in just one trip to Peru or short visit to Cusco.

But your trip to Cusco can be different. Allow us to share with you three of the lesser-known, yet extremely accessible, neighborhood shrines of Cusco. You could easily visit some of them during a free day in your Cusco travel itinerary without even needing a guide. Just remember to bookmark this blog post so you have it handy for when you do visit Cusco.

The Huacas of Cusco

During Inca times, the city of Cusco was arranged along a system of ceques (an Inca word meaning something like line, pathway, or trail) that may have had something to do with the political and/or kinship organization of Cusco. The ceque system in Cusco began at the Qorikancha Temple, and radiated out into 42 pathways, along which one could find hundreds of small huacas, or sacred shrines.

Some of these shrines could be natural features of the terrain, such as caves, rock formations, large boulders, and springs; others were manmade, such as fountains, tunnels, and buildings. Their significance was related to the complex Inca belief system. Fascinatingly, some of these huacas still exist as parts of modern day Cusco neighborhoods and there is no entrance fee to visit them. In fact, you'll likely have the following three sites to yourself.

Mesa Redonda and Inca Altar :

Located in Lucrepata, just to the east of San Blas, and just below the street known as Jardines de las Incas, there is a huge somewhat egg-shaped boulder, seemingly stuck in the middle of an ordinary residential neighborhood.

Near the boulder is an equally enormous flat, round stone. Both formations sit among ancient terraces and are divided by a flowing stream, surrounded by Inca stonework. The flat stone is the Mesa Redonda, the round table, which, according to prominent archaeologist Brian Bauer, used to be an altar where llamas were sacrificed to the Apus, or mountain deities.

He believes that this rock is what was called the Pachatusan, which is the same name given to the Apu that towers over Cusco, making it probable that this, along with the huge boulder right near it, called Senqa, " the nose", were part of a highly significant sacred ceremonial site. This intriguing place actually receives little attention nowadays, but is free for all to view and soak up the atmosphere. Just ask your Kuoda Travel guide to point you in the right direction.

Rumihuasi:

Located above the San Sebastian neighborhood of Cusco, is another huaca situated along the ceque lines, known as Rumihuasi (rock house)

This ruin is reached by taking a taxi up to the neighborhood known as Carigrande, then climbing the large cement staircases (beware of dogs) until you reach a dirt path. If you ascend the path to the right, there is a trail that cuts left just before the first house: take that path and you will come upon Rumihuasi.

Alternatively, you can take this same path to the left for perhaps a half an hour for a gentler, less ascending trek, and the road will wind around to the ruins. You'll find a rock tunnel here that has no obvious practical purpose, around twenty to twenty-five feet long, through which you can walk.

Perhaps traversing the tunnel was part of the ritual associated with this fascinating place. When you emerge from the tunnel, there is an open area with carved Inca stonework; look up to find the ruins of rock houses above it, with four or five rooms surrounded by rock walls, some of which are original Inca stonework.

Rumihuasi is a peaceful, calm, out-of-the-way but still accessible huaca, planted just there above the Carigrande neighborhood in Cusco.

Zone X:

Find the Huerto Bus at the western end of Avenida Collasuyo, just before it turns into Avenida Recoleta, above the Rosaspata Marketplace.

If you board this bus, (which will cost 80 centimos), it will climb up into the hills above Cusco and you will pass the town of Qenqo (with a large, green sign) on your right hand side; beyond this town there is a stand of eucalyptus forest and just after this on the left hand side you will see a sign that says Parque Arqueológico de Sacsayhuaman.

Get off here and cross the street; walking up into the hills, you will come upon the area known as Zone X. This is an area with lots of ruins, remnants of walls, and ancient caves.

There are also areas that contain huge sections of inexplicably carved-out rock. You will find many mysterious niches to explore all over the hillside. From this zone, you can look down on spectacular views of Sacsayhuaman and the city of Cusco.

There are more insider tips where this came from. Get in touch with a Kuoda Travel Designer today to begin discussing your personal Peru travel options.

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Cusco's Sacred Huacas: Neighborhood Shrines You Can Walk To | Kuoda Travel

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During Inca times, the city of Cusco was arranged along a system of ceques (an Inca word meaning something like line, pathway, or trail)

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The Coricancha: Sun temple

It was one of the most important and most sacred temples of the Inca empire. Its ruins are located in Santo Domingo Plaza in Cusco.

The word “Coricancha” is formed through a combination of two Quechua words: “quri” meaning worked gold in English, and “kancha”, which means temple, or place enclosed by walls.

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This beautiful temple can be known as Coricancha, Qoricancha, Qorikancha or Koricancha and it was one of the most important and most sacred temples of the Inca empire. Its ruins are located in Santo Domingo Plaza in Cusco. When the Spanish arrived in Cusco they destroyed most of Coricancha, and the Santo Domingo Church was built on the foundations and the remaining walls of the temple, preserving only a small part of its indigenous beauty.

The word "Coricancha" is formed through a combination of two Quechua words: "quri" meaning worked gold in English, and "kancha", which means temple, or place enclosed by walls. This suggests that the name of the temple roughly translates to "Walls of Gold".

About Coricancha

Coricancha was the center of Cusco, in more ways than just geographical. It was also the religious center, as a sacred place where appreciation was shown for Inti, the Inca Sun God. In fact, it was the only temple that existed only for religious ceremonies and was the most sacred temple of all the Incas. To enter the temple, worshippers needed to have been barefoot, fasting and carrying a heavy load upon their back as a sign of humility to the god.

Many historians have written that once the Spanish arrived in Cusco they were blinded by its grandeur, every wall was covered with a layer of gold, and there were dieties everywhere to celebrate the different gods of the Inca Empire, such as a silver depiction of the Moon Godess. The concentration of the precious metals made the whole area shine. There were animal figures made entirely from gold filling the gardens, the Spaniards had never seen so much gold in one place before. Most of these pieces were sent to the King of Spain as a 'thank you' for allowing the expeditions to South America to take place.

History

The walls of Coricancha are made from indigenous rocks named calcite and andesite, giving the structure the perfect finish that is expected from Inca architecture, and which also means that the structures stand up to not just time, but natural disasters. The temple has survived not one, but three different major earthquakes that have rocked Cusco.

The Inca leader, Huayna Capac, gave special importance to the temple and so ordered all rich citizens to travel there. This led to a concentration of powerful people in Cusco and eventually strengthened the empire and allowed for favourability to the state in revolutionary movements.

Main Attractions of Coricancha

The Temple of the Sun

Of all of Coricancha, the Temple of the Sun was the most important. In fact, it was so large that it took up more than half of the Church of Santo Domingo, which stands in its place today. In this temple, even today you can see the embalmed bodies of the Children of the Sun, which rest on chairs made of gold, placed at a golden table. There were several mummies found here, and before it was destroyed, it was believed that the temple was protected by Mamaconas, the priestess of the Sun. Sadly, most of the temple was destroyed by the Spanish to build the church.

The Temple of the Moon

Not far from the Temple of the Sun rests the Temple of the Moon. Considered to be the wife of the sun, the Moon Temple was an important part of Coricancha. The temple itself radiated beauty- lined with silver and decorated with representations of the moon. Sadly, the majority of this temple was also destroyed in order to make room for the Spanish church.

The Temple of Venus and the Stars

As the Sun was God and the Moon was his wife, so the stars were the daughters of the Inca, and servants to the moon. The temple to celebrate the stars was close to the moon but was separated by a small alley, dedicated to Venus. The Temple of the Stars is where the Inca was divinized for festivals, ceremonies, and sacrifices, which took place in the courtyard.

Rainbow temple

The rainbow was also worshiped by the Incas and had a dedicated temple as well. The Inca believed that rainbows were produced by the sun. Sadly, most of this temple was also destroyed in order to make room for the Dominican Convent buildings.

The Solar Garden

The Solar Garden became almost a warehouse for the offerings brought by the subjects to honor the Sun God. Consisting of many things such as flowers and other foliage brought from Tahuantinsuyo. Research has suggested that these offerings were made of gold and silver. They were so plentiful that they filled the huge garden. During Colonial time it became Dominican friars' garden.

The Fountains

In the original Coricancha there were 5 different fountains and the origin of the water was a secret. Each fountain held a different religious significance, and in true Coricancha style, were decorated with beautiful metals.

Opening Hours

Admission times to the Temple are:

Monday to Saturday 8:30 am -5:30 pm

Sunday 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

Discover Coricancha

Coricancha is a place that you definitely can't miss in Cusco, not just for its amazing constructions, but for the historical treasure adorning its walls. Discover the hidden magic of the most important temple in the Inca empire. Check our complete guide to Cusco for even more information on what to see, where to stay, and much much more!

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Coricancha: Temple of the Sun - Peru Hop

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This beautiful temple can be known as Coricancha, Qoricancha, Qorikancha or Koricancha and it was one of the most important and most sacred temples of the Inca empire. Its ruins are located in Santo Domingo Plaza in Cusco.

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The Cherokee lived in villages along the riverbanks. Each village had a council house. A council house was a large, circular, windowless building often built on a mound. The walls were made of saplings woven together then plastered with mud.

The Cherokee lived in a large, rectangular wood house in the summer. In the winter the family moved to a smaller round, windowless house.

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Chapter One covers the traditional Native American education. It then dives into the European Intrusion (1492-1787)

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Shamanism-

Shamanism is a spiritual practice and primal belief system which is common to many ancient peoples, including the Celts, the Sami, ancient Tibetans, and Native Americans.

https://indiantraders.com/blogs/news/native-american-shamanism

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The mostly Scots Irish squatters, attempting to secure and expand their settlements were at war with the resistant Cherokees called "Chickamaugas."

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On September 19-20, 1863, Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee defeated a Union force commanded by General William Rosecrans in the Battle of Chickamauga, during the American Civil War. After Rosecrans' troops pushed the Confederates out of Chattanooga early that month, Bragg called for reinforcements and launched a counterattack on the banks of nearby Chickamauga Creek. Over two days of battle, the rebels forced Rosecrans to give way, with heavy losses on both sides. Bragg failed to press his advantage after the victory, however, allowing the Federals to safely reach Chattanooga. Ulysses S. Grant soon arrived with reinforcements, allowing the Union to reverse the results of Chickamauga and score a lasting victory in the region that November.

Battle of Chickamauga: Winning Chattanooga

In the western theater of the Civil War, during the late summer and autumn of 1863, Union and Confederate forces were struggling over control of the key railroad center of Chattanooga, Tennessee. By mid-September, Union General William Rosecrans had pushed Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee out of Chattanooga and gathered his army of some 60,000 at Chickamauga, Georgia, located 12 miles southwest of Chattanooga. Though Confederate morale in the region was at a low point, the imminent arrival of reinforcements led by James Longstreet helped shore up Bragg's forces, and the general decided to go on the offensive.

Did you know? The West Point-educated George Thomas, known as the "Rock of Chickamauga" for his steadfast performance in that battle, remained loyal to the Union despite his Virginia birth.

After his subordinates failed to follow through with a series of initial attacks, the first of Longstreet's troops arrived. With some 65,000 men at his disposal (either on the field or on the way), Bragg was assured that he would enjoy a numerical advantage over Rosecrans. On the early morning of September 19, the two armies met in the woods lining the banks of Chickamauga Creek.

The "Rock of Chickamauga"

On the first day of battle, Bragg's men repeatedly attacked the Union left, anchored by a large Union corps led by George Thomas. With reinforcements sent in by Rosecrans, Thomas was able to hold his position for the most part, with heavy losses on both sides. That evening, Longstreet arrived with two more brigades. Bragg decided to split his army into two wings, with Longstreet in command of the left and Leonidas Polk leading the left.

Though Polk frustrated Bragg with his delays, Longstreet advanced around 11:30 am on September 20. In a stroke of luck for the Confederates, the advance occurred just at the point when Rosecrans was shifting his troops. As a result, the rebels were able to burst through a gap in the Federal lines and send the Union troops into a chaotic retreat north towards Chattanooga. Even as Bragg refused Longstreet's call for reinforcements, Thomas organized the remaining Federals in a desperate Union stand, earning a lasting reputation as the "Rock of Chickamauga" for his efforts. A reserve division arrived in time to aid Thomas, and the last of Rosecrans' troops were able to make an orderly retreat to Chattanooga that night.

Impact of the Battle of Chickamauga

Though Longstreet and his fellow general Nathan Bedford Forrest wanted to pursue the enemy the following morning, Bragg was preoccupied with the toll taken on his army by the battle at Chickamauga. Ten Confederate generals had been killed or wounded, including the fiery Texan John Bell Hood (whose leg was amputated), and overall Confederate casualties numbered close to 20,000. The Union suffered some 16,000 casualties, making the Battle of Chickamauga the costliest one in the war's western theater.

Bragg's inaction turned a tactical triumph for the South into a strategic defeat, as Union forces were allowed to get safely to Chattanooga. The Confederates subsequently put that city under siege, but in October General Ulysses S. Grant arrived with reinforcements and took over the Union command in the region. Promoted to brigadier general after his service at Chickamauga, Thomas received command of the Army of the Cumberland, succeeding Rosecrans. In November, Thomas helped Grant's forces reverse the results of Chickamauga with a decisive victory over the Confederates in the Battle of Chattanooga.

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On September 19-20, 1863, Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee defeated a Union force commanded by General William Rosecrans in the Battle of Chickamauga, during the American Civil War. After Rosecrans' troops pushed the Confederates out of Chattanooga early that month, Bragg called for reinforcements and launched a counterattack on the banks of nearby Chickamauga Creek.

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Maya writing consists of more than 800 characters

-> Glyphs : Venus

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The Maya hieroglyphic writing system was a sophisticated combination of pictographs directly representing objects and ideograms (glyphs) expressing more abstract concepts such as actions, ideas and syllabic sounds. Maya writing has survived on stone carvings, stucco, various manufactured artefacts, and codices. Examples are found across Mesoamerica. Deciphered in the 20th century, around 75% of surviving texts can be understood.

Origins

The hieroglyphic writing system of the Maya may have developed from the less sophisticated systems of earlier Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec, which used only literal images (pictographs) or it may have developed completely independently; scholars are not in agreement on the point. More certain is when the Maya began their writing system: the second half of the Middle Preclassic period, c. 300 BCE. However, the more sophisticated writing system of this time almost certainly would have had earlier, less complex precedents present in the preceding centuries of Mayan culture. From the Early Classic period onwards there was a significant increase in stone monuments bearing inscriptions and the language reached full maturity and flourished throughout the Classic period (250-900 CE).

Sources

The best-preserved examples of Maya writing are often from stone monuments, most commonly altars, stelae and elements of architectural sculpture, especially around doorways and stairs. Pottery is another important source of script as vessels often carry either painted or inscribed writing. Examples of painted writing, although much rarer, also survive in caves and on some interior walls of buildings. Another source, albeit with shorter examples of text, are inscribed artefacts made from jade, greenstone, shell, and bone. Finally, there are written books. These screen-fold volumes written on bark paper had always been in use and, from the 9th century CE, they became the preferred medium for Mayan writers as inscriptions on monuments all but disappeared. Unfortunately for posterity, only three examples have survived the ravages of a tropical climate and zealous spanish priests, and these all date from the late Postclassic period. The three surviving codices - interestingly, written using only black and red ink - are currently housed in museums in Paris, Madrid and Dresden. A few pages from a fourth Mayan text also survive and are housed in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.

The System

The meaning of a given text has to be interpreted from a triple combination of images which literally represent real objects or actions (pictographs); symbols (glyphs) which symbolically refer to objects or actions (and which can also indicate adjectives, prepositions, plurals, and numbers); and phonetic glyphs which represent sounds (for example a vowel or a consonant and a vowel together), correct pronunciation, pre-fixes, suffixes, pronouns and tense. The Mayan script is, therefore, a combination of signs representing syllables (syllabograms) and words (logograms). Sometimes, concepts could be represented in alternative ways, for example, a jaguar could be indicated by a picture of a jaguar head or by the phonetic glyphs ba-la-ma or by a combination of a jaguar head and the glyph ma.

Although there are around 1,000 different symbols in the Maya script, scribes of any one period used a range of between 300 to 500 signs. Despite the fact that there are only five vowels and nineteen consonants in the Maya language, there are actually 200 syllabic signs. This is because combinations of vowels and consonants could be indicated and a single sound could also be represented by several different signs. In addition, the language evolved over time to produce symbols more aesthetically pleasing for certain inscriptions and innovations could combine, or reduce by simplification, older symbols which made the signs more and more abstract. However, symbols representing whole words always remained more common than syllable symbols, a fact perhaps explained by the Mayan reverence for tradition, the sacred nature of language, and the desire to make the text as accessible as possible to all readers.

Maya text is read by starting from the top left & reading horizontally across two blocks & then moving down to the row below.

Signs and symbols were arranged in blocks which were placed in double columns. The text is read by starting from the top left and reading horizontally across two blocks and then moving down to the row below. In very short texts the glyph blocks are placed in a single line and are read from top to bottom in vertical texts or left to right in horizontal texts. Sentences follow the structure verb-object-subject and when necessary adverbs are placed before the verb.

Maya Literacy

It is probable that only a small elite of the Maya population could read, possibly only the nobility and priests. Interestingly, women of such status were not barred from learning to read and write. This restriction on just who acquired literacy fitted with the belief that writing was sacred. Indeed, the Maya believed that writing was invented by the god Itzamna and in the sacred text the , the Monkey Scribes - the gods Hun Batz and Hun Chuen, brothers of the Hero Twins - are the patrons of writing and the arts in general. These two gods are often depicted on Maya pottery sat together with pen or brush in hand writing in a codex. Although literacy was, then, almost certainly limited, it may be that the general populace could recognise common symbols such as those representing dates and rulers.

The actual production of texts was probably limited to priestly scribes assigned to the workshops of royal palaces. The high frequency of artists' signatures on stelae, pottery and sculptures and their notable absence in written texts suggests that scribes did not enjoy the status of other artisans. Indeed, it may be that scribes were not regarded as authors but, rather, as recorders of the declarations of the gods and divine rulers. This is also indicated by the very formulaic nature of Maya writing where formalised phrases are often repeated and the fact that the most common subjects of Maya texts are histories of both the real world and mythology, texts which declare ownership of particular objects, and texts dedicating buildings and monuments to specific gods.

Legacy

The Maya system of writing would go on to influence that other great Mesoamerican civilization the Aztecs who would build upon the progress made by the Maya by incorporating even more phonetic elements into their writing. The Maya writing system continued to be used up to the Spanish Conquest but then this 'pagan' text was prohibited. Despite the deliberate destruction of Maya texts and the prohibition of the language the Maya did, though, continue to use it in secret well into the 18th century CE.

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The Maya hieroglyphic writing system was a sophisticated combination of pictographs directly representing objects and ideograms (glyphs) expressing more abstract concepts such as actions, ideas and...

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Bonampak murals

Bonampak is best known for the colourful floor-to-ceiling murals that cover the interior walls of a small three-room building on the first level of the acropolis.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Bonampak

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Major Anti-Native campaigns executed by the U.S in the mid 1800s.

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On a cool May day in 1758, a 10-year girl with red hair and freckles was caring for her neighbor's children in rural western Pennsylvania. In a few moments, Mary Campbell's life changed forever when Delaware Indians kidnapped her and absorbed her into their community for the next six years. She was among the first of some 200 known cases of white captives, many of whom became pawns in an ongoing power struggle that included European powers, American colonists and Indigenous peoples straining to maintain their population, their land and way of life.

While Mary was ultimately returned to her white family-and some evidence points to her having lived happily with her adopted Indian tribe-stories such as hers became a cautionary tale among white settlers, stoking fear of "savage" Indians and creating a paranoia that escalated into all-out Indian hating.

From the time Europeans arrived on American shores, the frontier-the edge territory between white man's civilization and the untamed natural world-became a shared space of vast, clashing differences that led the U.S. government to authorize over 1,500 wars, attacks and raids on Indians, the most of any country in the world against its Indigenous people. By the close of the Indian Wars in the late 19th century, fewer than 238,000 Indigenous people remained, a sharp decline from the estimated 5 million to 15 million living in North America when Columbus arrived in 1492.

The reasons for this racial genocide were multi-layered. Settlers, most of whom had been barred from inheriting property in Europe, arrived on American shores hungry for Indian land-and the abundant natural resources that came with it. Indians' collusion with the British during the American Revolution and the War of 1812 exacerbated American hostility and suspicion toward them.

Even more fundamentally, Indigenous people were just too different: Their skin was dark. Their languages were foreign. And their world views and spiritual beliefs were beyond most white men's comprehension. To settlers fearful that a loved one might become the next Mary Campbell, all this stoked racial hatred and paranoia, making it easy to paint Indigenous peoples as pagan savages who must be killed in the name of civilization and Christianity.

Below, some of the most aggressive acts of genocide taken against Indigenous Americans:

The Gnadenhutten Massacre

In 1782, a group of militiamen from Pennsylvania killed 96 Christianized Delaware Indians, illustrating the growing contempt for native people. Captain David Williamson ordered the converted Delawares, who had been blamed for attacks on white settlements, to go to the cooper shop two at a time, where militiamen beat them to death with wooden mallets and hatchets.

Ironically, the Delawares were the first Native Americans to capture a white settler and the first to sign a U.S.-Indian treaty four years earlier-one that set the precedent for 374 treaties over the next 100 years. Often employing the common phrase "peace and friendship," 229 of these agreements led to tribal lands being ceded to a rapidly expanding United States. Many treaties negotiated U.S.-Indian trade relations, establishing a trading system to oust the British and their goods-especially the guns they put in Indian hands.

Battle of Tippecanoe

In the early 1800s, the rise of the charismatic Shawnee war leader, Tecumseh, and his brother, known as the Prophet, convinced Indians of various tribes that it was in their interest to stop tribal in-fighting and band together to protect their mutual interests. The decision by Indiana Territorial Governor (and later President) William Henry Harrison in 1811 to attack and burn Prophetstown, the Indian capital on the Tippecanoe River, while Tecumseh was away campaigning the Choctaws for more warriors, incited the Shawnee leader to attack again. This time he persuaded the British to fight alongside his warriors against the Americans. Tecumseh's death and defeat at the Battle of the Thames in 1813 made the Ohio frontier "safe" for settlers-at least for a time.

The Creek War

In the South, the War of 1812 bled into the Mvskoke Creek War of 1813-1814, also known as the Red Stick War. An inter-tribal conflict among Creek Indian factions, the war also engaged U.S. militias, along with the British and Spanish, who backed the Indians to help keep Americans from encroaching on their interests.

Early Creek victories inspired General Andrew Jackson to retaliate with 2,500 men, mostly Tennessee militia, in early November 1814. To avenge the Creek-led massacre at Fort Mims, Jackson and his men slaughtered 186 Creeks at Tallushatchee. "We shot them like dogs!" said Davy Crockett.

In desperation, Mvskoke Creek women killed their children so they would not see the soldiers butcher them. As one woman started to kill her baby, the famed Indian fighter, Andrew Jackson, grabbed the child from the mother. Later, he delivered the Indian baby to his wife Rachel, for both of them to raise as their own.

Jackson went on to win the Red Stick War in a decisive battle at Horseshoe Bend. The subsequent treaty required the Creek to cede more than 21 million acres of land to the United States.

Forced Removal

One of the most bitterly debated issues on the floor of Congress was the Indian Removal Bill of 1830, pushed hard by then-President Andrew Jackson. Despite being assailed by many legislators as immoral, the bill finally passed in the Senate by nine votes, 29 to 17, and by an even smaller margin in the House. In Jackson's thinking, more than three dozen eastern tribes stood in the way of what he saw as the settlers' divinely ordained rights to clear the wilderness, build homes and grow cotton and other crops.

In his annual address to Congress in 1833, Jackson denounced Indians, stating, "They have neither the intelligence, the industry, the moral habits, nor the desire of improvement which are essential to any favorable change in their condition. Established in the midst of another and a superior race...they must necessarily yield to the force of circumstances and ere [before] long disappear."

From 1830 to 1840, the U.S. army removed 60,000 Indians-Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee and others-from the East in exchange for new territory west of the Mississippi. Thousands died along the way of what became known as the "Trail of Tears." And as whites pushed ever westward, the Indian-designated territory continued to shrink.

Mankato Executions

Annuities and provisions promised to Indians through government treaties were slow in being delivered, leaving Dakota Sioux people, who were restricted to reservation lands on the Minnesota frontier, starving and desperate. After a raid of nearby white farms for food turned into a deadly encounter, Dakotas continued raiding, leading to the Little Crow War of 1862, in which 490 settlers, mostly women and children, were killed. President Lincoln sent soldiers, who defeated the Dakota; and after a series of mass trials, more than 300 Dakota men were sentenced to death.

While Lincoln commuted most of the sentences, on the day after Christmas at Mankato, military officials hung 38 Dakotas at once-the largest mass execution in American history. More than 4,000 people gathered in the streets to watch, many bringing picnic baskets. The 38 were buried in a shallow grave along the Minnesota River, but physicians dug up most of the bodies to use as medical cadavers.

The Sand Creek Massacre

Indians fighting back to defend their people and protect their homelands provided ample justification for American forces to kill any Indians on the frontier, even peaceful ones. On November 29, 1864, a former Methodist minister, John Chivington, led a surprise attack on peaceful Cheyennes and Arapahos on their reservation at Sand Creek in southeastern Colorado. His force consisted of 700 men, mainly volunteers in the First and Third Colorado Regiments. Plied with too much liquor the night before, Chivington and his men boasted that they were going to kill Indians. Once a missionary to Wyandot Indians in Kansas, Chivington declared, "Damn any man who sympathizes with Indians!...I have come to kill Indians, and believe it is right and honorable to use any means under God's heavens to kill Indians."

That fateful cold morning, Chivington led his men against 200 Cheyennes and Arapahos. Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle had tied an American flag to his lodge pole as he was instructed, to indicate his village was at peace. When Chivington ordered the attack, Black Kettle tied a white flag beneath the American flag, calling to his people that the soldiers would not kill them. As many as 160 were massacred, mostly women and children.

Custer's Campaigns

At this time, a war hero from the Civil War emerged in the West. George Armstrong Custer rode in front of his mostly Irish Seventh Cavalry to the Irish drinking tune, "Gary Owen." Custer wanted fame, and killing Indians-especially peaceful ones who weren't expecting to be attacked-represented opportunity.

On orders from General Philip Sheridan, Custer and his Seventh attacked the Cheyennes and their Arapaho allies on the western frontier of Indian Territory on November 29, 1868, near the Washita River. After slaughtering 103 warriors, plus women and children, Custer dispatched to Sheridan that "a great victory was won," and described, "One, the Indians were asleep. Two, the women and children offered little resistance. Three, the Indians are bewildered by our change of policy."

Custer later led the Seventh Cavalry on the northern Plains against the Lakota, Arapahos and Northern Cheyennes. He boasted, "The Seventh can handle anything it meets," and "there are not enough Indians in the world to defeat the Seventh Cavalry."

Expecting another great surprise victory, Custer attacked the largest gathering of warriors on the high plains on June 25, 1876 -near Montana's Little Big Horn river. Custer's death at the hands of Indians making their own last stand only intensified propaganda for military revenge to bring "peace" to the frontier.

Wounded Knee

Anti-Indian anger rose in the late 1880s as the Ghost Dance spiritual movement emerged, spreading to two dozen tribes across 16 states, and threatening efforts to culturally assimilate tribal peoples. Ghost Dance, which taught that Indians had been defeated and confined to reservations because they had angered the gods by abandoning their traditional customs, called for a rejection of the white man's ways. In December 1890, several weeks after the famed Sioux Chief Sitting Bull was killed while being arrested, the U.S. Army's Seventh Cavalry massacred 150 to 200 ghost dancers at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.

For their mass murder of disarmed Lakota, President Benjamin Harrison awarded about 20 soldiers the Medal of Honor.

Resilience

Three years after Wounded Knee, Professor Frederick Jackson Turner announced at a small gathering of historians in Chicago that the "frontier had closed," with his famous thesis arguing for American exceptionalism. James Earle Fraser's famed sculpture "End of the Trail," which debuted in 1915 at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, exemplified the idea of a broken, vanishing race. Ironically, just over 100 years later, the resilient American Indian population has survived into the 21st century and swelled to more than 5 million people.

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

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When Native Americans Were Slaughtered in the Name of 'Civilization' | HISTORY

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By the close of the Indian Wars in the late 19th century, fewer than 238,000 Indigenous people remained of the estimated 5 million-plus living in North America before European contact.

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The U.S efforts to annex areas under Spanish rule began as early as 1806 with Jefferson military project called the Pike Expedition.

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Under the orders of the War Department, Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike, with a force consisting of two lieutenants, a surgeon, a sergeant, two corporals, 16 privates, and an interpreter, set out in two boats from Belle Fontaine, near St. Louis, Missouri, on July 15, 1806, for the purpose of "exploring the internal parts of Louisiana."

Accompanying him were chiefs and headmen of the Osage and Pawnee Indians, through which nations it was intended the expedition should pass. He also took several women and children returning to their nations from captivity among the Pottawatomie, having been freed by the United States government. La Charette was reached on July 21, where Pike found waiting for him Lieutenant James B. Wilkinson, Dr. John H. Robinson, and another interpreter, all of whom had gone on before.

On September 6, the company arrived in the vicinity of the present town of Harding, Kansas, and passed over the divide separating the Osage from the Neosho Valley. On September 10, he reached the divide between the Neosho and Verdigris Rivers and, on the 11th, camped on the latter stream, not far from the town of Bazaar, in Chase County, Kansas.

The beautiful prairies, covered with wildflowers and abounding with game, kindled the warmest praises of Pike. On September 12, he wrote that he saw at one view on the flowered plain below buffalo, elk, deer, antelope, and panther from the top of a hill. This was the hunting ground of the Kanza or Kaw Indians, and the animals began to appear almost without numbers. On the 14th, the expedition journeyed through an unending herd of buffalo all day long, which merely opened ranks to let the intruders pass and then closed again as if nothing had happened. On the 15th, a large unoccupied encampment of the Kanza Indians was passed, and Pike observed in the distance the buffalo running, which indicated the presence either of Indians or white men. On this day, he camped near Tampa in Marion County. Two days later, he reached the Smoky Hill River, and after this, the game began to grow scarcer. He continued his journey to the mouth of the Saline River, which was reached on September 18, and from that point turned almost directly north, and on the 25th, reached the Pawnee village, near where the town of Scandia now stands, in Republic County. Pike was now on the Republican branch of the Kansas River, having crossed the Great Saline, the Little Saline, and Solomon's Fork.

Sometime before Pike left St. Louis, Missouri, news of his projected expedition was carried to the governor of New Spain (Mexico), and a party of over 300 Spanish troops under Lieutenant Malgares, was sent out to intercept him. Between the mouth of the Saline and the Republican Rivers, Pike crossed the trail of this party but was fortunate in not coming in contact with the Spaniards at that time. Malgares had been to the Pawnee village before Pike arrived there and had endeavored to poison the minds of the Indians against the Americans. He had partially succeeded, too, for when Pike held a grand council with the tribe on September 29, he noticed that the Pawnee chiefs showed a tendency to look with disdain upon his little force of 20 white soldiers, which certainly made a much less imposing appearance than the large Spanish force of Malgares. Of this council, Pike gives the following explicit account in his journal of the expedition:

"The notes I took at the grand council held with the Pawnee Nation were seized by the Spanish government, together with all my speeches to the different nations. But it may be interesting to observe here, in case they should never be returned, that the Spaniards had left several of their flags in this village, one of which was unfurled at the chief's door the day of the grand council; and among various demands and charges I gave them was, that the said flag should be delivered to me, and one of the United States flags be received and hoisted in its place. This probably was carrying the pride of nations a little too far, as there had so lately been a large force of Spanish Cavalry at the village, which had made a great impression on the minds of the young men as to their power, consequence, etc., which my appearance with 20 infantry was by no means calculated to remove. After the chiefs had replied to various parts of my discourse but were silent as to the flag, I again reiterated the demand for the flag, adding that it was impossible for the nation to have two fathers, that they must either be children of the Spaniards or acknowledge their American father.'

After a silence of some time, an old man rose, went to the door, took down the Spanish flag, brought it and laid it at my feet, and then received the American flag and elevated it on the staff which had lately borne the standard of his Catholic Majesty. This gave great satisfaction to the Osage and Kaw, both of whom decidedly avow themselves to be under American protection. Perceiving that every face in the council was clouded with sorrow as if some great national calamity was about to befall them, I took up the contested colors and told them 'that as they had now shown themselves dutiful children in acknowledging their great American father, I did not wish to embarrass them with the Spaniards, for it was the wish of the Americans that their red brethren should remain peaceably round their own fires, and not embroil themselves in any dispute between the white people; and that for fear the Spaniards might return there in force again, I returned them their flag, but with the injunction that it should never be hoisted again during our stay.' At this, there was a general shout of applause, and the charge was particularly attended to."

Thus, the United States flag was raised for the first time in the State of Kansas on September 29, 1806.

Pike obtained horses from the Indians and left the Pawnee village on October 7, taking a course a little west of south. On the 8th, he came again upon the Spanish trail and, at one of the camps, counted 59 fires, which, at six men to a fire, signified a force of 354 troopers. Solomon's Fork was again crossed on the 9th, much farther to the west, and here, another Spanish camp was found. The party reached the Smoky Hill Fork on the 13th, not far from the boundary line of the counties of Russell and Ellsworth, and the following day arrived at the divide between the Arkansas and the Kansas Rivers. Here, Pike and a small party became lost on the prairie and did not turn up for several days. The expedition continued to the Arkansas River, where the lost party under Pike overtook it. The river was crossed on the 19th.

Here, the expedition was divided, part returning down the Arkansas River and the other portion going on up to the mountains to discover the headwaters of the Red River and descending that unknown stream - unknown to the Americans. Canoes were made of buffalo, and deer hides stretched over wooden frames, filled with provisions, arms, and ammunition. In these boats, Lieutenant Wilkinson, six soldiers, and two Osage Indians embarked for Fort Adams on the Mississippi River below Natchez, Mississippi. On January 8, 1807, they reached Arkansas Post, near the mouth of the Arkansas River, after severe hardships and passing through many dangers from hostile Indians. Pike advanced rapidly up the Arkansas River and, on October 31st, saw much crystalline salt on the ground's surface. At that time, he was not far from the present town of Kinsley, Edwards County, Kansas.

By November 9, he was near where Hartland in Kearny County, Kansas, once stood. Here, at one of the Spanish encampments, he counted 96 fires, indicating that the force had been augmented from 600 to 700 troopers.

A few days later, he crossed into what is now the State of Colorado and, on the 15th, reached Purgatory River, a branch of the Arkansas River. His purpose was to meet with the Comanche Indians near the headwaters of the Arkansas River, then to strike across the country to the head of Red River and descend to Natchitoches according to the original plan.

Thus far, Pike had ascertained the sources of the Little Osage and the Neosho Rivers, had passed around the head of the Kansas River, and had discovered the headwaters of the South Platte River. He was now intent on finding the upper sources of the Red River. What Pike called the third fork was reached on November 23rd. He wrote: "As the river appeared to be dividing itself into many small branches and, of course, must be near its extreme source, I concluded to put the party in a defensible situation; and then ascend the north fork to the high point of the blue mountain, which we conceived would be one day's march, in order to be enabled from its pinnacle to lay down the various branches and positions of the country."

The "third fork" was the St. Charles River, and Pike's encampment was made at what he called the "grand forks," or at the junction of the Fountain River with the Arkansas River. The high point he referred to would later be named Pike's Peak. His men cut the necessary logs the next day and erected a strong breastwork, five feet high on three sides, with the other opening on the south bank of the Arkansas River. Leaving all the others at this fort, Pike, Robinson, Miller, and Brown started for the mountains. By the 26th, they had ascended so high that they looked down on the clouds rolling across the plain to the east. The next day they reached the summit after a very difficult time, having been obliged often to wade in snow waist-deep. Returning, they reached the fort on the 29th, after which the surrounding country was explored for several miles in every direction in a vain search for the source of the Red River.

While Pike was in camp on the Rio del Norte River in New Mexico, he and his party were captured by a detachment of Spanish cavalry and conducted to Santa Fe. This was in February 1807. He was well treated, and after being taken to Chihuahua, where his papers were confiscated, he was conducted east through Texas and finally liberated near Natchitoches, Louisiana.

Thus the project of exploring the Red River was defeated, and one of the objects of the expedition was not accomplished. The Spanish governor suspected that Pike was leagued with Aaron Burr to detach a portion of Spanish territory. But as not a scrap was found to connect him with the "Burr Conspiracy." The Spanish treated Pike and his men as respectable Americans, advanced him $1,000 on the credit of the United States, and escorted him to Natchitoches, which town was conceded to be within the American domain. Spain claimed the upper course of the Red River, and to have permitted Pike to explore it would have been tantamount to a recognition that American territory extended to that river. Three years later, Pike's journal was published, and the wonderful possibilities of Kansas were thus made known to the English-speaking nations.

Compiled and edited by Kathy Alexander/ Legends of America, updated February 2023.

About the Article: The majority of this historic text was published in Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Volume I; edited by Frank W. Blackmar, A.M. Ph. D.; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912. However, the text on this page is not verbatim, as additions, updates, and editing have occurred.
Also See: Discovery and Exploration of America Early Expeditions Through Kansas Explorers & Frontiersmen Trappers, Traders & Pathfinders

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Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike and his men set out from St. Louis on July 15, 1806, for the purpose of exploring what is now the American Southwest.

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The removal of the Cherokee began in 1838 under the leadership of General Winfield Scott who, with 7,000 soldiers and members of various State militias, escorted the Cherokee and other Indians west.

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The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail passes through the present-day states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.

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Role play Lesson: Standing with Standing Rock

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Role play Lesson: Standing with Standing Rock

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The more I read and learned about the Standing Rock resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline, the more obvious it became that this story must make its way into my curriculum. Here was a fascinating and important story-a story that literally cannot be told without recognizing Native peoples as full participants in their own, and U.S., history.

I put out a call to other teachers, educators, and activists who might be interested in collaborating on some curriculum. I wanted to roll out the lessons in the days before or after Thanksgiving. This timing, I believed, would be a powerful symbolic rejection of the lies about Indian people promulgated in our national Thanksgiving myths, in favor of a real story, about real Indians, leading a powerful movement in the 21st century. Joined in the work by my fellow Lake Oswego High School teacher, Andrew Duden, and Rethinking Schools curriculum editor Bill Bigelow, we quickly agreed that the story lent itself well to a role play and got to work.

Before launching the role play, we wanted to give students a visceral and visual sense of the resistance under way along the Missouri River. We thought immediately of Amy Goodman's wonderful coverage on Democracy Now!, and specifically, of the horrifying footage of the use of dogs against protestors/Water Protectors by a private security firm ( Democracy Now!, 2016). We also used " The Standing Rock Protests by the Numbers," a short documentary posted at the Los Angeles Times (Etehad and Tchekmedyian, 2016). We asked students to jot down questions that emerged as they watched. Afterward, students shared out their questions and it didn't take long for them to recognize and frame many of the fundamental issues at stake. Gavin asked, "Are the protestors more angry about the possibility of oil spills or that they're building on burial grounds?" Kisa asked, "What guarantee does the pipeline company have against the breaking or leaking of the pipe?" Tatum wrote, "Is this pipeline really needed? What is it for? Can they move it somewhere else?" Vivian asked, "Who owns the land the pipeline is being built through?" Finally, Callie wondered, "Does the government care about what could happen to the water of these tribes?" These questions not only built toward the role play to come, but also generated possible research questions for the entire unit.

The Role Play

We liked the idea of a role play for a couple reasons. Our first and most important goal was to create a context for students to confront the complex social reality of the Dakota Access Pipeline and the resistance movement to which it has given rise. That social reality includes the history and contemporary status of Indigenous rights, the power of the fossil fuel industry, the support for pipeline infrastructure from segments of organized labor, and the extent to which our government is protecting-or failing to protect-the land, water, and air. The role play asks students to explore these complicated dynamics as active participants. Reading about historical figures is like standing on the sidewalk looking at a house: You can recognize its basic shape, color, and perhaps how many levels it has. Actually assuming the identity of these historical figures allows you to step through the front door and explore what's inside: How many rooms does it have? What's the function of each? How are they connected? Which is the most spacious and light? Which the darkest and most cramped? Is it well-built or flimsy? We hoped this role play would enable students to navigate the #noDAPL movement from inside the house, rather than as a bystander peering in from outside. Another of our considerations was that at the moment we were writing, there was little mainstream media attention directed toward Standing Rock, so in some way, the role play was aspirational-a way of insisting that this is a Big Deal, even if that is not reflected in the media. Our aim was for students to know what was happening, but also, perhaps what was not happening, and to begin to wonder about why.

The setting of the role play is a meeting, called by the president, to hear input on whether the Dakota Access Pipeline should be completed. Students, representing five different groups, must convince him that the project should be abandoned or allowed to proceed. Two of the groups are in direct conflict:

Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, protesting the pipeline and encamped along the Missouri River in North Dakota

Energy Transfer Partners, the oil company building the pipeline

The other three groups we selected provide additional context on the question of whether the pipeline should be built:

Iowa farmers who have brought lawsuits and protested another section of the same pipeline

Our Children's Trust, youth activists suing the federal government over its insufficient responses to and action on climate change

North America's Building Trades Unions, which represent the workers who consider themselves direct beneficiaries from the pipeline's construction

After sorting students into five table groups, we distributed the role sheets, which outline each group's beliefs and interests. We asked students to read and underline important information in their roles. Next we had students answer three questions:

1. Do you support the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline? Why or why not?

2. What are the three most compelling arguments or pieces of information that you want the president to consider when making his decision to proceed with or halt the construction of the pipeline?

3. How do you think the president should respond to the Standing Rock Sioux protesters (and other protesters) currently blocking the way of the pipeline's construction?

Classroom Story

Curriculum specialist and teacher trainer in Native education, District of Columbia

Video Clip:
FULL Exclusive Report: Dakota Access Pipeline Co. Attacks Native Americans with Dogs & Pepper Spray | Democracy Now!
Related Video
"Stand With Standing Rock" by David Rovics

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Standing with Standing Rock: A Role Play on the Dakota Access Pipeline - Zinn Education Project

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Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca, Bill Bigelow, and Andrew Duden. Article by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. 15 pages. Rethinking Schools. A role play helps students recognize the issues at stake in the historic struggle of the Standing Rock Sioux to block construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline.

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Climate Crisis Timeline

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Climate emergencies surround us today. The gap between the severity of the climate crisis and the inadequate response in schools threatens students' lives and the future of the planet. The Zinn Education Project has developed this timeline to invite teachers and students to examine the choices and stakes that animate the climate crisis, and to work together toward meaningful solutions. ;xNLx;;xNLx;Our timeline traces its roots from European colonial expansion and racial capitalism to present-day fossil fuel industry and government projects that exploit and destroy the Earth in the name of maximum profit. It also emphasizes moments and movements of resistance and activism that inform climate justice work today. Scientific discoveries and disinformation - who knew what, when, and to what ends - punctuate this history, as do accelerating catastrophes that emphasize the urgency of the crisis.;xNLx;;xNLx;This timeline is a brand new resource, and we're eager to hear how you use it in your classrooms and curricula. Experiment with it, send us your teaching stories, and spread the word on social media (#TeachClimateJustice). Find contact info, more context on the timeline, related teaching ideas, and other resources at the [Zinn Education Project site](http://www.zinnedproject.org/climatetimeline).;xNLx;;xNLx;Background art by Jill Pelto. Her description: "Landscape of Change uses data about sea level rise, glacier volume decline, increasing global temperatures, and the increasing use of fossil fuels. These data lines compose a landscape shaped by the changing climate, a world in which we are now living." [See Jill Pelto's gallery](http://www.jillpelto.com/gallery).;xNLx;;xNLx;Learn more about [this timeline](http://www.zinnedproject.org/climatetimeline).

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Climate emergencies surround us today. The gap between the severity of the climate crisis and the inadequate response in schools threatens students' lives and the future of the planet. The Zinn Education Project has developed this timeline to invite teachers and students to examine the choices and stakes that animate the climate crisis, and to work together toward meaningful solutions.

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The best way to show my creativity throughout this project is to create a Padlet. I have been having a lot of fun collecting my learning and creating padlets out of them. Padlets come in all sorts of formats so having the freedom to be creative and upload links, pictures, findings, and questions that I need to be prepared to integrate Indigenous experiences in a social studies elementary classroom. Padlets are also very organized in my opinion, I am able to color coordinate items which would be useful when creating the categories of information as well as for myself to well understand and manage when referencing back to it later in the future.

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The reason for these categories is because culture and tradition is a big part of social studies and learning about certain topics. I learned so much about certain languages spoken and values. Past and present refers to more information dates and key terms. Resistance and progress will mention findings on topics concerning protests, the Tainos resistance movement, and past or current events that are still contributing to today’s society. This could be similar to past and present but there are certain factors that distinguish both categories like one being more of a vocabulary term based category and one being movements and learnings of wars and resistance throughout the timeline. Books are the last small category. As an elementary teacher I believe it is important to acknowledge the books that will help me and my students learn social studies. There are so many informational books on culture, tribes, lifestyle, and more. This last category serves as my extra teacher toolbox for my future library.

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Native American Museums — 10 of the Best in the US

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Native American Museums — 10 of the Best in the US

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Posted By PowWows.com Last Updated on: January 8th, 2020

Whether you live in the west coast, the east coast, or somewhere in between, there are plenty of opportunities to experience and appreciate Native American history and culture, both past and present, through Native American museums, sprinkled throughout the U.S.

Sadly, many of these cultural centers and museums are not usually thought of as famous local or national sites to visit. However, with this list, we hope to bring some much-deserved awareness to these ten Native American museums.

These museums feature incredible displays of artifacts and historical objects, but they also showcase the living Native American culture through events, seminars, Pow Wows, and more.

So, next time you want to discover more about the indigenous peoples of North America, take a trip to one of these museums celebrating Native American history and culture!

Top Native American History Museums

1. Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos, NM

This museum is all about celebrating and sharing the "arts and cultures of the Southwest." While it is a smaller museum than some others on our list, it holds an impressive collection of beautiful pieces and a rich cultural tradition. The museum, a historical site in its own right is named for the fashionista, Millicent Rogers (1902-1953), whose passion for North American cultural heritage left a lasting legacy. This museum is home to Roger's own beautiful collection of Native American turquoise jewelry and her own creations, as well as many Native American and Hispanic arts, ranging from prehistoric to contemporary.

2. Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA

This impressive center of Western Pennsylvanian history includes several museums, from the main Heinz History Center to the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum. However, its spot in this list of Native American peoples museums is due to its stunning Fort Pitt Museum, which is home to historic galleries, living history reenactments, and exhibitions exploring the French and Indian War. Within its galleries and exhibitions, the relationship between Native Americans and the French and English who all competed for the land are explored. This center is also affiliated with the Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village, which is an unbelievable archeological treasure: the oldest known site of human habitation in North America used continuously by the Native Americans until the 18 th century.

3. Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki, Clewiston, FL

This museum, located on the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation, hosts about 200,000 different artifacts and archival items, expressing the living history and culture of the Seminole peoples. Named in the Seminole language "a place to learn and remember," Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki not only has collections of patchwork clothing, baskets, dolls, and other traditionally-created pieces of cultural significance from the 20 th century, but is also home to a large collection of historic archives, conservation work, and oral history.

4. Onöhsagwë:de' Cultural Center, Salamanca, NY

This Native American cultural center features interactive exhibits, programs, and collections that allow patrons to explore the daily life and struggles of Native American peoples from prehistory to today, through changing exhibits and permanent art collections, featuring artwork in traditional mediums, such as beadwork, antler carvings, and cornhusk pieces. They also host an annual traditional dance competition as part of their Winter Social Pow Wow.

5. Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ

Phoenix is home to Heard Museum, a Native American Indian museum featuring art and objects that show the daily lives of Native peoples in North America with a focus on tribes and peoples from the Southwest. Their exhibitions include textiles, ceramics, weaving, jewelry, clothing, and more, from prehistoric to modern. They also feature contemporary artwork by Native American artists. Their award-winning changing exhibits range from mural artwork, stonework, and other featured collections to historical time periods, persons, and influential topics. Each year, Head Museum hosts the World Hoop Dance Championships.

6. Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum, Warner, NH

With a powerful backstory of multiculturalism and diversity, this museum has a unique heritage of Native American land reclamation. Located in the beautiful woods of New Hampshire, this museum features tours through the Medicine Woods that showcase the natural flora that Native Americans historically used for food, medicine, and more. With interactive and educational exhibits, this museum offers guided tours of their facility that help you get the most out of its many exhibits, outdoor features, and programs. They organize lectures, crafts, workshops, and more. It is also home to the Annual Harvest Moon and NatureFest, a fun day of cultural food, exhibits, and storytelling, appreciating a traditional harvest celebration.

7. The Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, IN

This museum displays the rich cultural diversity of North American peoples through an expansive collection of storytelling, artistic expression, and artifacts. One of the only Midwestern museums to present the histories of both Native America and the American West, The Eiteljorg is located in Indianapolis and showcases many dynamic collections of art, history, and culture. From sculptures and paintings to weaving and pottery, this museum of historical and contemporary art is something you won't want to miss. The museum also organizes many educational and cultural programs and festivals, such as the summer Indian Market & Festival, throughout the year.

8. Six Nations Indian Museum, Onchiota, NY

This family-owned museum features artifacts, arts, and educational exhibits from the perspective of North American indigenous peoples. With a focus on Haudenosaunee culture, this unique museum represents the tribes of the Six Iroquois Nations Confederacy: Mohawks, Senecas, Onondagas, Oneidas, Cayugas, and Tuscaroras. Not only are the exhibits beautiful representations of Native American culture, but even the museum building itself is decorated with Haudenosaunee symbols and motifs.

9. The Journey Museum and Learning Center, Rapid City, SD

This immersive museum houses five major prehistoric and historic collections of art, artifacts, and exhibits to shed light on history from the Black Hills and Native American culture. Art collections and galleries feature the unique telling of the history of the Western Great Plains through the eyes of the Lakota people, as well as the historic pioneers who settled there and the contemporary scientists who study the archeological and natural history of the location. They run several educational programs and have many dynamic and interactive displays and outdoor exhibits.

10. National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC

No "Native American museums near me" list would be complete without a mention of the most famous museum of all: the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC. It has the honor of being the first national museum of Native American heritage and culture and its over 800,000 items represent more than 1,200 indigenous cultures, from items and educational materials on religion, traditions, and contemporary identity to ancient artifacts and modern fine art. There is also a sister museum located in New York, NY. They host several annual celebrations and festivals that highlight the rich traditions of heritage of indigenous peoples, including a six-day celebration called the Kaypi Perú Festival, a summer Native Art Market, and an annual Hawaiian cultural celebration.

There are over a hundred Native American museums throughout the country - too many to list them all here! We strongly encourage you to visit the ones on this list or to do your own research and find Native American museums near you. Exploring these important places allows you to appreciate some of the nation's hidden gems of cultural and historical significance.
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10 of the Best Native American Museums in the United States

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Posted By PowWows.com Last Updated on: January 8th, 2020 Whether you live in the west coast, the east coast, or somewhere in between, there are plenty of opportunities to experience and appreciate Native American history and culture, both past and present, through Native American museums, sprinkled throughout the U.S.

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15 Resources for Teaching Native American History and Culture

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15 Resources for Teaching Native American History and Culture

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15 Resources for Teaching Native American History and Culture | ISTE

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Portraying the First Thanksgiving as a friendly harvest feast when Native Americans and Pilgrims came together in friendship distorts the true history of that era. These 15 resources will help educators include Indigenous voices in their history lessons.

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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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I added an extra resource section for additional resources that can help me as a future educator when looking at social studies and teaching/learning about Native Americans.

These include several things like lesson plans, documentaries, websites, museums, etc.