Curriculum on Native Americans in high-school classrooms has been very thin at best, and this is to the detriment of teaching justice within our nation. This unit explores the human experience of Native Americans through works of fiction, art and theater while also examining primary and secondary historical sources relating to the issues of native communities living in the legal and culturally harsh environment of the 21st century. Many contemporary teachers and students of the subject fail to realize how underappreciated Native American history is and miss an opportunity to unlock the real visions of our forefathers. The unit helps students to understand why Indian nation sovereignty is important for the reversal of an attempted cultural genocide and how it can apply to their own communities. The unit concludes with students developing an advertising campaign and/or proposal for a tribe of their choice on how to solve an issue of that particular tribe, using the previously examined sources with the aim of allowing Native Americans finally to tell their story.
(Developed for U. S. History I, grade 10)
