In 2017, the Oregon Legislature enacted Senate Bill 13, known as Tribal History/Shared History. This bill was the culmination of decades of organizing and curriculum work by the nine federally recognized Tribes within Oregon. The law directs the Oregon Department of Education to develop a K-12 Native American curriculum in partnership with Oregon…

In 2017, the Oregon Legislature enacted Senate Bill 13, known as Tribal History/Shared History. This bill was the culmination of decades of organizing and curriculum development by the nine federally recognized Tribes in Oregon. The law directs the Oregon Department of Education to develop a K-12 Native American curriculum in partnership with…

History at its best helps the present make sense of the past. History at its best tells the nation's story through the voices of all the people. These voices enlighten and provide wise counsel for the present, creating healthy and creative communities. History at its worst not only ignores the different voices, but eliminates them altogether. The…

Before the words are spoken, a bright light shines from the eyes of second grade teacher Mr. Aguilar. "I do not teach poetry," he says, "poetic language is everywhere. It is a kind of movement, a wind." While poetry is typically characterized by its flexible form and accessibility, for Mr. Aguilar, now in his tenth year of…

Jess Landy's desire to introduce her pupils to a more complex narrative of the American West led her to the life story and work of a remarkable individual, George Catlin. In this article she shows how she used this unusual micro-narrative in order to challenge pupils' ideas not just about the bigger narrative of which it is a part, but about the…

When planning a GCSE period study on the American West, Alex Ford wrestled with reconciling the content demands of the examination specifications with the need to provide his students with a memorable narrative. In this article, Ford shows how he drew on the latest academic scholarship to construct a rigorous, coherent narrative outlining the…

People confront stereotypes every day, both in and out of the classroom. Some ideas have been carried in the collective memory and classroom textbooks for so long they are generally recognized as fact. Many are constantly being reinforced by personal experiences, family discussions, and Hollywood productions as well. The distinct advantage to…

When Americans from the eastern part of the United States began moving west in large numbers in the mid-nineteenth century, tensions escalated and conflicts erupted between and among settlers, railroad workers, ranchers, the United States military, and numerous Native American tribes. Incorporating balanced consideration of these diverse and…

In 2001, the author wrote legislation that required all public schools in Maine to teach Maine Indian history. On June 14 of that year, Gov. Angus King signed "An Act to Require Maine Native American History and Culture in Maine's Schools" into law--the first of its kind in the U.S. What makes the law unique is its requirement that…

This article describes the Native American History in a Box curriculum which is designed to introduce elementary and middle-level students to Native American cultures. The curriculum consists of a five day unit addressing the following concepts pertaining to Native American Nations: settlements, tools, sustenance, pottery, and contact with…

This essay is based on the author's presentation at the Wachman Center's July 26-27, 2008 history institute, co-sponsored and hosted by the Cantigny First Division Foundation of the McCormick Tribune Foundation. For multiple reasons, one can say that the frontier wars are the most complex and difficult of all the nation's wars to teach. The…

Students gain a better understanding of war and economics when the variables come alive through stories, artifacts, and paintings. In this article, the author describes a short story about the fur trade which can generate lots of student questions about the fur economics, the Eastern Woodland Indians, trade artifacts, and war. The author also…

On July 26-27, 2008, FPRI's Wachman Center hosted 37 teachers from across the country for a weekend of discussion on teaching U.S. Military history. Sessions included: (1) The Revolutionary War and Early American Military History (Kyle Zelner); (2) The Mexican-American War (Paul Springer); (3) The Civil War (Mark Grimsley); (4) The Frontier Years…

From 1900 to 1970, only eight United States historians established courses on Native American history in history departments at the college and university level. This made them rare exceptions in an academic world that placed overwhelming emphasis on mainstream Euro-American history, with extremely limited attention to race and ethnicity. Except…

Teaching the history of Native North America is difficult. Teachers must ask students to read and to write about past peoples whose transmission of knowledge was oral and performative. The available pool of books and articles for assignment often work more as exercises in "othering" than understanding. And everyone in the classroom must…