Teaching Native American History

Thanks for the great information and resources Mary Alice Anderson . For anyone who might want to have students explore the 1970 map included in the discussion post, you can access it at: https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3701gm.gct00013/?sp=97

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Thank you for adding the link. I like the colors and clarity of this map.

Also, I want to note that both spellings … Ojibwa and Ojibwe … are used.

I'm so glad you shared this. Even outside the region, the Star Wars connection will connect the preservation of these ancestral languages to students across the US. Do you know if there are plans to offer the language as a sound option when the film goes to video distribution?

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I have not seen any additional information, but I have seen Anton Treuer mentioned in the news. He helped with the film and is a professor at Bemidji State University in Northern Minnesota. The University offers minors and certificates in Ojibwa language and teacher training for people teaching in tribal schools.

Endazhi-gikinoo’amawindwaa Gekinoo’amaagejig This certificate was created to meet the needs of tribal schools and Ojibwe immersion programs in Reserve (Wisconsin), Bena (Minnesota), Red Lake (Minnesota) and Ponemah (Minnesota), BSU seeks to train a new generation of fluent speakers who have training and credentials necessary to accelerate this critical dimension of the Ojibwe language revitalization movement. https://www.bemidjistate.edu/academics/certificates/ojibwe/

I just added Dr. Truer to the We are Still Here Noteworthy Native Americans inquiry album.

It would be interesting to learn what is happening in other regions of the country to revitalize and maintain indigenous languages.

Bayfield Schools [Wisconsin] launches Ojibwe language immersion program

From this WPR article:

"The Bayfield School District is launching an Ojibwemowin Immersion Program for kindergarten students this fall as part of supporting language revitalization efforts with the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. . . .

'I can’t understate how significant this is — not only for our community in our area, but for our children and their future,” Paap said, who is a Red Cliff tribal member [and District administrator Beth Manidoo Makwa Paap]. “Cultural identity has been something that the federal government has worked really hard to strip away from Indigenous people, and the fight continues to reclaim identity and lifeways.'

Prior to the beginning of the school year, around a dozen families had submitted papers to enroll in the program. A mix of Native and non-Native youth will take part.

Binesiikwe Edye Washington, the tribe’s education division administrator, said the district intends to expand immersion programming to K-5 students at the classroom level by adding a grade each year.

'Students would be learning all content areas through Ojibwe language — anywhere from reading math, singing, games, all of those things,' Washington said."

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