This collection uses primary sources to explore the idea of Manifest Destiny and its influence. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

This lesson encourages students to study a variety of documents to understand the impact of a particular piece of legislation and relates to the powers granted to Congress in Article I, Section 8 , of the Constitution, related to making laws. It correlates to the National History Standards and the National Standards for Civics and Social Sciences. It also has cross-curricular connections with with history, government, global studies, and music.

In this lesson, students will learn essential information about taxes and how they impact enrolledmembers of federally recognized Native American Tribes. Many people believe that Native Americans do not pay taxes and therefore should not benefit from federal and state tax-supported programs. This lesson debunks that myth and helps students understand the complex interrelation between state, federal, and Tribal governments and tax systems. Students will also complete a math exercise using piecewise functions to analyze and calculate federal and Oregon state income taxes. The lesson can stand on its own or serve as a complement to or extension of other math lessons. 

My resource is a presentation/video that helps to educate on both the negative and positive aspects of Native American/colonist interaction. It includes examples of both types of interaction and the progression of these two peoples from allies to rivals.

In this activity, students will look at historical images to learn about three types of Native American dwellings — teepees, pueblo adobe structures, and hogans. Students will make observations about the types of dwellings in the images. Then students will discuss their observations as a class.

This set of questions and answers allows you to measure your awareness of Native American influences in U.S. history and culture.

This lesson challenges students' views of Native Americans as a vanished people by asking them to compare their prior knowledge with information they gather while reading about contemporary Native Americans.

Engaging lesson for 7-12 students to learn and celebrate the contribution of Native Americans to Rock & Roll History.  Lesson to be used for 7-12 during Native American Heritage Month.  Nebraska Fine Arts Standard:   FA 12.4.3.d  & FA 8.4.3.d  Connect music to historical and cultural contexts, the arts (glossary), other disciplines, and life experience through responding.

Welcome to the “Urban Indian Identity” module, where students are guided through a series of readings on how urban Indian identities can be constructed, quizzed on those readings, then asked to apply their understanding of content in a series of Application Activities. This module uses Team-Based Learning pedagogy and Sketchnoting. Part of series of modules belonging to the ISU course, "Native People In American Culture."

Welcome to the “Ways of Seeing and Knowing” module, where students are guided through a series of readings on how select notable American Indians "see and know" the world, quizzed on those readings, then asked to apply their understanding of content in a series of Application Activities. This module uses Team-Based Learning pedagogy and Sketchnoting. Part of series of modules belonging to the ISU course, "Native People In American Culture."

In the United States, the nineteenth century was a time of tremendous growth and change. The new nation experienced a shift from a farming economy to an industrial one, major westward expansion, displacement of native peoples, rapid advances in technology and transportation, and a civil war. In this lesson, works of art from the nineteenth century are paired with written documents, including literary selections, a letter, and a speech. As budding historians, students can use these primary sources from the nineteenth century to reconstruct the influence of technology, geography, economics, and politics on daily life.
In this lesson students will: Learn about daily life in the United States in the 1800s through visual art and literature; Understand some of the ways in which nineteenth-century life was affected by technology, geography, economics, and politics; Apply critical-thinking skills to consider the various choices artists and writers have made in depicting daily life around them; Make personal connections to the nineteenth century by placing themselves in the contexts of works of art and readings.

This site offers a sampling of traditional Omaha Indian music. The sound recordings include wax cylinder recordings made in the 1890s, as well as songs and spoken-word segments from the 1983 Omaha harvest celebration pow-wow, segments from an interview with an Omaha elder in 1983, songs and speeches from a performance by members of the Hethu'shka Society in 1985, and portions of an interview with an Omaha musician in 1999. Photos, fieldnotes, and more from the 1983 pow-wow are included.

This collection uses primary sources to explore perspectives on the French and Indian War. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

Powwow Trail is a glimpse inside the Oneida Nation Powwow through the eyes of Dylan Jennings, a UW-Madison student, traditional dancer, and singer with Midnite Express. Dylan explains the significance of the powwow in his life, and reflects on his multiple identities as college student, member of his tribe, youth mentor and dancer and singer on the powwow trail. The story also addresses the similarities and differences between Native tribes.

In Prayers in a Song, Tall Paul explores the connections between language, identity, and landscape. He raps about how language shapes identity, and about his own sense of disconnection from the lands and traditions of his ancestors. His original hip-hop brings together the modern and the traditional, illustrating some of the

In 1838, poet, essayist, and lecturer Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a letter to President Martin Van Buren protesting the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation from its land in Georgia to modern-day Oklahoma. In this extended excerpt from his letter, read by Professor Amy Sturgis from Lenoir-Rhyne University, Emerson demonstrates that people at the time were aware that the Trail of Tears was a grave injustice. Emerson's was only one of many voices protesting the government's treatment of the Cherokee people, but these protests fell on deaf ears. The Trail of Tears remains a blemish on U.S. History.

The lessons in the Colonial Unit introduce students to many of the themes in the curriculum. In the Pocahontas lesson, students question Disney's account of Pocahontas's encounter with John Smith. Students engage in three additional inquiries: one about the Puritans, one about the causes of King Philip's War, and one about the causes of the Salem Witch trials. The Colonial Unit is unique in that it introduces students to different types of historical evidence such as maps and passenger lists, and asks students to consider what claims can be made on the basis of these special documents.

Unit 4 primarily cover topics dealing with westward expansion during the nineteenth century. The exceptions are the lessons on Nat Turner and Irish immigration. These are included for chronological reasons, and to show students how historical trends can occur simultaneously. Both themes (slavery and immigration) are revisited in Units 5 and 6. This unit features several elaborate lesson structures: a Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) and and Inquiry. In the SAC on Lewis and Clark, students debate whether or not Lewis and Clark were respectful to the Native Americans they encountered on their journey, while the Inquiry asks students to investigate what motivated Texans to declare their independence. Several lessons, especially on Manifest Destiny and Indian Removal, ask students to consider the perspectives of historical actors whose world views may seem foreign or even incomprehensible.

This lesson examines Native American sovereignty and the Constitutional power granted to the president and the Senate to make treaties with foreign nations. The site presents the Treaty and related documents, including a photograph of the Indian leader, Spotted Tail. Explanatory text, materials for teachers, and links to further resources accompany the documents.

This collection uses primary sources to explore the history of Spanish missions in California. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.