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Final Lesson Plan: Native Voices Through Non-Fiction, Poetry, and Primary Sources

Album Description

In this lesson students will choose from two non-fiction texts and a selection of poetry to learn about Native American history, culture, and present day lives.

  • Student will read Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
  • Students will choose from a selection of poetry by Native authors including: N  English/Language Arts   9 - 12  Scott Momaday, Joy Harjo, Heid E Erdrich, and dg nanouk okpik.
  • Students will use the resources from the Native newspapers, photographs, and other primary sources to bring the non-fiction to life and give perspective to the poetry.
  • Students will create a final project to illustrate their understanding of Native narratives through non-fiction, poetry, and primary sources.

Tundra times. [volume], October 07, 1963, Page 4, Image 4

Teaching Notes

This article shows students the art of Native Inuit dancing, and how Native tribes were fighting for their survival, both literally and culturally. Paired with Alaskan poet dg nanouk okpik students will gain a better understanding of the lives and art of Native Alaskans.  9 - 12    English/Language Arts  

Reference note

Newspaper: Tundra times. [volume] (Fairbanks, Alaska) 1962-1997
Newspaper Link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020664/1963-10-07/ed-1/seq-4
Image provided by: Alaska State Library Historical Collections
PDF Link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020664/1963-10-07/ed-1/seq-4.pdf

Red Lake news. [volume], December 01, 1915, Image 3

Teaching Notes

This page from the Red Lake News highlights excerpts from student essays about alcoholism in their community. This source has multiple purposes. 

  • It gives students a chance to read writing by Native students that are similar to their age which allows students to make a connection with what they are reading, and the authors.
  • These excerpts are submitted by Native students who are at a boarding school in California, far from their home in Minnesota. The poetry and non-fiction text bring up the topic of forced schooling of Native children by the U.S. government and the collective trauma and culture loss this policy had on Native tribes. This gives voice to those students.
  • The chosen topic of the essay, alcoholism, is a topic that is discussed in many of the writings for this lesson, and is a crucial topic in the history, and present lives, of Native Tribe.  English/Language Arts    Social Studies/History    9 - 12  

Reference note

Newspaper: Red Lake news. [volume] (Red Lake, Minn.) 1912-1921
Newspaper Link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90059061/1915-12-01/ed-1/seq-3
Image provided by: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN
PDF Link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90059061/1915-12-01/ed-1/seq-3.pdf

Cherokee phoenix, and Indians' advocate. [volume], March 04, 1829, Image 2

Teaching Notes

This page from an early Cherokee newspaper discusses the "emigration", forced removal, of the Cherokee from their land in Georgia. It highlights the cost of the removal, the danger of the removal, and includes an article about a policy measure devised by then General, and future President, Andrew Jackson. This page brings the Indian Removal Act, and the forced emigration of Native tribes from the east to the west to life for students. The students will see how this heinous act continues to haunt and influence Native poets, their culture, and their present relationship with the U.S. government.  English/Language Arts    Social Studies/History    9 - 12  

Reference note

Newspaper: Cherokee phoenix, and Indians' advocate. [volume] (New Echota [Ga.]) 1829-1834
Newspaper Link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83020874/1829-03-04/ed-1/seq-2
Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC
PDF Link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83020874/1829-03-04/ed-1/seq-2.pdf

Marker at the Carlisle Indian Cemetery, where American Indians, including children who died at the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, are buried

Teaching Notes

This photo of a memorial to those who died at the Carlisle Indian School brings to life the danger and loss the policy of forced schooling had on Native peoples.

Reference note

Contributor Names: Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer
Created / Published: 2019-06-04.
Subject Headings: -  United States--Pennsylvania--Carlisle
-  America
-  Carlisle Indian School
-  Carlisle Indian Cemetery
-  Cemeteries
Genre: Digital photographs--Color--2010-2020
Notes: -  Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer.
-  The Carlisle Indian Industrial School was an Indian boarding and industrial school open from 1879 through 1918. Now called the "Carlisle Barracks," the school controversially strove to immerse its students into mainstream Euro-American culture. It gained fame when Jim Thorpe, one of its students, became an Olympic and football and baseball star. Remnants are preserved within the U.S. Army War College.
-  Gift/purchase; with support of the Pew Charitable Trusts; 2019; (DLC/PP-2019:012)
-  Forms part of Carol M. Highsmith's America Project in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: highsm 58144 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.58144

[Ciricahua Apaches at the Carlisle Indian School, Penna., 188-?: as they looked upon arrival at the School]

Teaching Notes

Students upon arrival at Carlisle Indian School. Students will then compare this photo with one of the same students four months later. These primary sources allow the students to:

  • See how Native culture was eliminated by the forced schooling process
  • Connect the pictures with the stories of those who attending Carlisle, and other Indian boarding schools, they will read about in the texts and poems.
  • Add to the humanity and voice of Native peoples presented in the lesson  Social Studies/History    English/Language Arts    9 - 12  

Reference note

Created / Published: [1885 or 1886]
Notes: -  This record contains unverified, old data from caption card.
-  Caption card tracings: Ind. tribes; Indians Education Pennsylvania; Shelf.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Digital Id: cph 3a51829 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a51829

[Ciricahua Apaches at the Carlisle Indian School, Penna., 188-?: after 4 months of training at the School]

Teaching Notes

This photo is paired with the pervious photo to show the immediate and drastic change in the boarding school students after just four months at the Carlisle Indian School.

Reference note

Created / Published: [188-?]
Notes: -  This record contains unverified, old data from caption card, with subsequent revisions.
-  "85690" at bottom left. Confirmed to be a U.S. Army Signal Corps number.
-  Caption card tracings: Ind. tribes; Indians Education Pennsylvania; Shelf.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Digital Id: cph 3a51830 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a51830

N. Scott Momaday: Book Fest 07

Teaching Notes

Students will listen to N. Scott Momaday at the National Book Festival put on by the Library of Congress each year. This will provide students with:

  • A connect to the author of some of the poems they are reading
  • Give voice to present day Native peoples and remind students that Native cultures are alive and thriving in the U.S. today
  • Show the contribution to American culture by Native voices  9 - 12    English/Language Arts    Library  

Link: https:

Reference note

Summary: N. Scott Momaday in a presentation at the 2007 National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.
Notes: -  N. Scott Momaday is a poet, novelist, playwright, storyteller, artist, and a professor of English and American literature. He is author of prose collections, plays, and works of Native American culture such as "The Way to Rainy Mountain". His books of poetry include "In the Bear's House" and "In the Presence of the Sun: Stories and Poems". His first novel, "House Made of Dawn", won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1969. Among other honors, he received an Academy of American Poets Prize and an award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters. A resident of New Mexico, he is a Kiowa and a member of the Kiowa Gourd Dance Society.

Joy Harjo, Mvskoke Creek, U.S. Poet Laureate

Teaching Notes

This poster of Joy Harjo, U.S. Poet Laureate provides students with:

  • A face to the name of a poet they are reading
  • Shows the contribution Native Poets are providing to the American literary tradition
  • Diverse author representation  English/Language Arts  

Reference note

Summary: Poster shows portrait of Joy Harjo with sunbeams behind her.
Contributor Names: Echo-Hawk, Bunky, artist
Miller, Shawn M., b. 1985, photographer
Amplifier, sponsor
Amplifier, publisher
Created / Published: [Seattle] : Amplifier, 2020.
Subject Headings: -  Harjo, Joy
-  Indians of North America
-  Creek Indians--2020
-  Poets--2020
-  Sunlight--2020
Genre: Portraits--2020
Inkjet prints--2020
Posters--2020
Notes: -  Title from item.
-  Alternate title from Amplifier website.
-  Poster signed by artist.
-  Poster by Bunky Echo-Hawk after a photograph by Shawn Miller.
-  "Despite Indigenous people's resilience, a large number of Americans know little to nothing about Native Americans, some even believe that Native people no longer exist. This lack of knowledge and information means that Native people are being erased from modern society and are being made invisible. Invisibility kills. Invisibility leads to dehumanization, creates bias and discrimination against Native peoples, and keeps Native people from having a seat at the table in the important issues facing our country. It is crucial that Native communities and our allies fight for authentic, accurate, and contemporary representations of Native Americans. To uplift authentic, accurate, and contemporary representations of Native people and their contributions to this country, we are launching a series of artwork in collaboration with IllumiNatives.org highlighting 7 contemporary changemakers including Joy Harjo (Mvskoke), the first Native U.S. Poet Laureate." Amplifier website
-  On bottom left corner: Bunky Echo-Hawk + Amplifier.org for IllumiNatives.org.
-  Purchase; Amplifier; 2020; (DLC/PP-2020:074).
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: ppss 01159 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppss.01159

Beach Drive and Lake Onondaga, Syracuse

Teaching Notes

This image of Onondaga Lake pairs with Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

  • Students will see what the marsh areas of central New York looked like prior to their destruction due to pollution.
  • They will connect with the text by putting an image to a place that is central to the text

Reference note

Contributor Names: Detroit Publishing Co., publisher
Created / Published: [between 1890 and 1901]
Subject Headings: -  Lakes & ponds
-  United States--New York (State)--Syracuse
-  United States--New York (State)--Onondaga Lake
Genre: Dry plate negatives
Notes: -  Date based on Detroit, Catalogue J (1901).
-  Detroit Publishing Co. no. 012193.
-  Gift; State Historical Society of Colorado; 1949.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: det 4a07768 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a07768

Zeisberger's Indian dictionary, English, German, Iroquois--the Onondaga and Algonquin--the Delaware;

Teaching Notes

This dictionary will allows students to:

  • engage with a Native language, and particularly one that is featured in some of the writings for this lesson
  • See that Native languages, and culture, are rich and sophisticated  English/Language Arts    9 - 12  

Reference note

Contributor Names: Zeisberger, David, 1721-1808.
Horsford, Eben Norton, 1818-1893.
Created / Published: Cambridge [Mass.] J. Wilson and son, 1887.
Subject Headings: -  English language--Dictionaries--Polyglot
-  Onondaga language--Dictionaries--Polyglot
-  Delaware language--Dictionaries--Polyglot
Notes: -  Also available in digital form.
Digital Id: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gdc/scd0001.00215864182
dcmsiabooks.zeisbergersindia00zeis

Onondaga Nation artist Brandon Lazore's homage to the area Cayuga Indians and the greater Haudenosaunee Confederacy in artwork at the bus stop outside city hall in Ithaca, New York

Teaching Notes

This mural in Ithaca, NY will allow the students to:

  • See how the Onondaga culture is alive and part of everyday life in America
  • Be exposed to Native art
  • Make connection to the text 

Reference note

Contributor Names: Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer
Created / Published: 2018-07-18.
Subject Headings: -  United States--New York (State)--Ithaca
-  America
-  Downtowns
-  Brandon Lazore
-  Ithaca bus stop mural
-  Murals
-  Cayuga Indians
-  Haudenosaunee Confederacy
Genre: Digital photographs--Color--2010-2020
Notes: -  Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer.
-  Purchase; Carol M. Highsmith Photography, Inc.; 2018; (DLC/PP-2018:052-2)
-  Forms part of Carol M. Highsmith's America Project in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive.
-  Credit line: Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: highsm 52193 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.52193