"The Indian people have been significant players in North Dakota's history even though the state has neither the largest nor the most diverse Indian population. In a meaningful way North Dakota's Indian Heritage emphasizes the important contributions that Indians have made to the mosaic of North Dakota's culture. In so doing, it celebrates the unique history and culture of the Indian people of North Dakota."--Jacket
One of the most popular misconceptions about American Indians is that they are all the same-one homogenous group of people who look alike, speak the same language, and share the same customs and history. Nothing could be further from the truth! This book gives kids an A-Z look at the Native Americans that shaped their state's history. From tribe to tribe, there are large differences in clothing, housing, life-styles, and cultural practices. Help kids explore Native American history by starting with the Native Americans that might have been in their very own backyard! Some of the activities include crossword puzzles, fill in the blanks, and decipher the code.
In the spring of 2015, the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction brought together tribal Elders from across North Dakota to share stories, memories, songs, and wisdom in order to develop the North Dakota Native American Essential Understandings (NDNAEU) to guide the learning of both Native and non-Native students across the state. They are: (1) Sacred Relatives; (2) Learning and Storytelling; (3) Sharing and Generosity; (4) Sense of Humor; (5) Tribal Policies, Treaties, and Sovereignty; (6) Native Contributions; and (7) Native Identity. Similar Essential Understandings have been developed and are being used in several other states already, and more are making plans to begin a similar process. Many tribal Elders have had input into these understandings, and it is hoped that the NDNAEU themselves will open up many more additional opportunities for tribal Elders and Educational Leaders to impact North Dakota classroom practice with important tribal stories, songs, and cultural perspectives. The learning benefits to North Dakota students who have a tribal or native heritage are clear. According to research around Culture Based Education (CBE), "&in culture-rich environments, teachers push beyond conventional best practice to achieve greater relevance, relationships, and rigor using culturally responsive, relevant approaches. Teachers can and must make learning culturally meaningful to their students and families by honoring culture and place in teaching and learning with respect to the heritage language, family and community involvement, instructional content and context, and authentic assessment" (Kana'iaupuni and Ledward 2013). This publication provides a detailed description of the North Dakota Native American Essential Understandings, and a summary of outcomes connected with multi-cultural education as summarized in ASCD Express, Vol. 6, No. 15., 2011 (http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol6/615-koppelman.aspx). They are: (1) All students should be encouraged to affirm themselves as unique individuals and they should accept and respect the differences shaping individual identities of other students; (2) Students should learn about their group from the school curriculum and about the diverse groups in American society to have a basis of appreciation and respect for cultural diversity; (3) Students should engage in intergroup dialogues that promote cross-cultural communication skills and reduce biases and prejudices; (4) Students should learn to be critical thinkers able to analyze historical and contemporary issues in order to make intelligent decisions about problems and conflicts; and (5) Students should engage in activities that address social justice issues and be encouraged to develop and implement strategies to respond to such issues in their school and their community. It is the hope of both the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction and the tribal Elder team of writers that these seven NDNAEU can create a framework for learning that will foster these outcomes. The NDNAEU are merely a starting point for this work.
Robert Hopkins was a man caught between two worlds. As a member of the Dakota Nation, he was unfairly imprisoned, accused of taking up arms against U.S. soldiers when war broke out with the Dakota in 1862. However, as a Christian convert who was also a preacher, Hopkins's allegiance was often questioned by many of his fellow Dakota as well. Without a doubt, being a convert--and a favorite of the missionaries--had its privileges. Hopkins learned to read and write in an anglicized form of Dakota, and when facing legal allegations, he and several high-ranking missionaries wrote impassioned letters in his defense. Ultimately, he was among the 300-some Dakota spared from hanging by President Lincoln, imprisoned instead at Camp Kearney in Davenport, Iowa, for several years. His wife, Sarah, and their children, meanwhile, were forced onto the barren Crow Creek reservation in Dakota Territory with the rest of the Dakota women, children, and elderly. In both places, the Dakota were treated as novelties, displayed for curious residents like zoo animals. Historian Linda Clemmons examines the surviving letters from Robert and Sarah; other Dakota language sources; and letters from missionaries, newspaper accounts, and federal documents. She blends both the personal and the historical to complicate our understanding of the development of the Midwest, while also serving as a testament to the resilience of the Dakota and other indigenous peoples who have lived in this region from time immemorial.
In 1904, the first Scandinavian settlers moved onto the Spirit Lake Dakota Indian Reservation. These land-hungry immigrants struggled against severe poverty, often becoming the sharecropping tenants of Dakota landowners. Yet the homesteaders' impoverishment did not impede their quest to acquire Indian land, and by 1929 Scandinavians owned more reservation acreage than their Dakota neighbors. Norwegian homesteader Helena Haugen Kanten put it plainly: "We stole the land from the Indians." With this largely unknown story at its center, Encounter on the Great Plains brings together two dominant processes in American history: the unceasing migration of newcomers to North America, and the protracted dispossession of indigenous peoples who inhabited the continent. Drawing on fifteen years of archival research and 130 oral histories, Karen V. Hansen explores the epic issues of co-existence between settlers and Indians and the effect of racial hierarchies, both legal and cultural, on marginalized peoples. Hansen offers a wealth of intimate detail about daily lives and community events, showing how both Dakotas and Scandinavians resisted assimilation and used their rights as new citizens to combat attacks on their cultures. In this flowing narrative, women emerge as resourceful agents of their own economic interests. Dakota women gained autonomy in the use of their allotments, while Scandinavian women staked and "proved up" their own claims. Hansen chronicles the intertwined stories of Dakotas and immigrants-women and men, farmers, domestic servants, and day laborers. Their shared struggles reveal efforts to maintain a language, sustain a culture, and navigate their complex ties to more than one nation. The history of the American West cannot be told without these voices: their long connections, intermittent conflicts, and profound influence over one another defy easy categorization and provide a new perspective on the processes of immigration and land taking.
