Schedule

All lecture Powerpoints can be found in this class Google Drive.

Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, *State Names*, 2000, oil, collage and mixed media on canvas, 48 x 72 in. (121.9 x 182.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Week One: Introductions

Monday, September 9 (modified schedule: 9:50-10:35am)

Topic: syllabus and class website review

Please do the following:

Complete the Tell Me About Yourself! Google Form
Log in the class website (linked on landing page) and familiarize yourself with the dashboard and how to make a blog post

Wednesday, September 11

Topics: Native geography (native-land.ca), terminology, primary v. secondary sources, thinking like a historian overview

Discuss: Quick primer: “Teaching & Learning about Native Americans,” and A Model of Historical Thinking and tips for terminology

Friday, September 13

Topics: The end of treaty making (1871) and federal Indian policy in the Reconstruction era

Discuss: There,There p. 3-44

Blog post 1 (due Sunday by Midnight): Write a post introducing yourself. What are your academic and other interests? What do you look forward to learning about in this course? Additionally, reflect on your experience with learning about Native American history (from other history classes, contemporary news, popular culture, etc.).

Red Horse (Minneconjou Lakota), Untitled from the Red Horse Pictographic Account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, 1881. National Anthropological Archive. Wikimedia.

Week Two: Resistance Across the West

Monday, September 16

Topics: The Modoc War (1872-1873), Apache resistance, and the Red River War (1874-1875)

Discuss: Valentine’s Day Treaty with the Modoc (1864), Winema Riddle’s Pension Certificate (1891), Statement of Geronimo (1886)

Wednesday, September 18

Topics: Pahá-Sápa, Custer’s 1874 expedition, and the Battle of Greasy Grass (1876)

Discuss: Kicking Bear, The Battle of Little Big Horn (c. 1896) (click image and zoom) and F. Otto Becker, Custer’s Last Fight (c. 1896-1920)
Optional: Tȟatȟáŋka Waŋžíla (Henry Oscar One Bull), Custer’s War, (c. 1900)

Friday, September 20

Topics: Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt (Chief Joseph) and the Nez Perce

Discuss: There ,There, p. 45-78: “Opal Viola Bear Shield” and “Edwin Black”

Blog post 2 (due Sunday by Midnight): The Battle of Greasy Grass, also known as the Battle of Little Big Horn or “Custer’s Last Stand” has figured prominently in American memory. Reflect on why you think that this battle, which ended in a major Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho victory, influenced the tide of Native resistance in the West. Compare this event to other acts of resistance elsewhere; what is the “big picture” of Native resistance at this time? Remember to discuss and analyze at least one source in your response.

A two week pass for Edward Yahyahkeekoot from 1932. Canada implemented its reservation pass system in 1885. *CBC.*

Week Three: Policies of Confinement + Assimilation

Monday, September 23

Topics: Railroads, reservations, and the extermination of bison

Discuss: Homecoming: Buffalo Return to Indigenous Lands (19 min video) and “Big Medicine’s long journey home”

Wednesday, September 25

Topics: The Dawes Act (1887) and Boarding Schools

Discuss: “Sioux boys as they arrived at Carlisle” (photo), “Sioux boys 3 years after arrival at Carlisle” (photo), “A 1912 weekly outline and lesson plan for the Upper Lake Day School for Native Americans in California” and “A letter from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs (the “long hair” letter) about the way in which Indian people should dress and act, 1902“

Friday, September 27

Topics: Boarding Schools part II: NAGPRA, repatriation movements, and remembering

Discuss: There, There p. 81-117; and “Why Don’t Indigenous Children Buried at Carlisle and Other Former Indian Boarding Schools Qualify for Repatriation Under NAGPRA?” and Carlisle Repatriation Updates

Blog post 3 (due Sunday by Midnight): The themes of this week centered on the myriad efforts to confine and assimilate Native Americans. Reflect on the topic(s) that resonated most with you—what aspects of these policies or actions caught your attention, and why do you think you responded this way? Consider not only the immediate effects on Native American communities but also legacies of these policies and how communities are responding today. Remember to discuss and analyze at least one source in your response.

Ghost Dance Shirt, Arapaho, c. 1890, Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

Week Four: “The Buffalo are Coming”: The Ghost Dance Movement & the 1890s

Monday, September 30

Topics: Wavoka’s vision and the Ghost Dance ceremony

Discuss: Wovoka’s Message and James Mooney’s recordings of Ghost Dance Songs, and “Indians Not Ready to Fight,” Indianapolis Journal, 1890.

Wednesday, October 2

Topics: Sitȟáŋka tȟaóyate kiŋ wičhákasotapi (“Where Big Foot’s people were wiped out” / the Wounded Knee Massacre) (1890) and rethinking the “closing” of the frontier

Discuss: Lakota accounts from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs Report (1891), and “‘In Memory of the Chief Big Foot Massacre”: The Wounded Knee Survivors and the Politics of Memory,” WHQ (2015) and “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” (1893)

Friday, October 4

Topics: Kānaka Maoli:
The Kingdom of Hawai’i, Annexation (1898), and Sovereignty Movements

Discuss: There, There p. 118-155 (Orvil Red Feather through Jacquie Red Feather; optional: browse the documents related to protesting Hawaiian Annexation

Blog post 4 (due Sunday by Midnight): Frederick Jackson Turner remarked that by 1890, the Superintendent of the Census deemed that the “frontier of settlement… can not… any longer have a place in the census reports.” The “frontier thesis” as Turner’s speech became known, had a profound impact on the history of the American West for decades to come. Reflect on how this also affected the treatment of Native American history, especially given that the Wounded Knee Massacre also happened in 1890. For many students in history courses, Wounded Knee is the last time that Native Americans are mentioned. How can we, as historians, begin to look beyond the problem of “frontier” history? Remember to discuss and analyze at least one source in your response.

The Narrows, Upper St. Mary’s Lake, with Baring’s Basin in the Background. From James Willard Schultz, *Blackfeet Tales of Glacier National Park* (1916).

Week Five: The Dawn of the [Native] American Century

Monday, October 7

Topics: The making of the U.S.-Canadian and U.S.-Mexican borders and imperialism at the turn of the twentieth century

Discuss: Listen to Getting Curious Podcast, “What’s The Cold, Hard Truth About Ice In Hawaiʻi? with Hiʻilei Julia Kawehipuaakahaopulani Hobart” (2022 – 60 min) and “Why a Native tribe in Arizona has drafted a roadmap to expedite border crossings (6 min video)” and “Iroquois lacrosse team gives up chance at championship over passports.”

Wednesday, October 9

Topics: National parks, Native Lands: Native Dispossession and Fighting for Treaty Rights into the Twentieth Century

Discuss: Please bring your laptop to class (I will have a few extra just in case!); 1971 “Keep America Beautiful” Ad (1 min video)

In-class activity: Take a Google Earth virtual field trip!

Friday, October 11

No Class

Blog post 5 (due Sunday by Midnight): The twentieth century, often dubbed the “American century” is marked by the United States entering a new era of imperialism (ushered by the Spanish-American War). Reflect on the topics this week and their centrality in the creation of borders and boundaries, as well as how U.S. settler colonialism fed into imperialism. You may also approach these topics from a racial, gendered, economic, or environmental perspective. Remember to discuss and analyze at least one source in your response.

Photo of wounded soldier (Choctaw) with nurse and surgeon. September 1918. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

Week Six: The Fight for Citizenship and Sovereignty

Monday, October 14

Topics: Native Americans and WWI, code talkers, and the Citizenship Acts (1919, 1924)

Discuss: “Letter from the Commanding Officer of the 142nd Infantry to the Commanding General of the 36th Division, stating how messages would be transmitted” (1919) and “List of terms used by Choctaw codetalkers” (1919) and “Excerpt from a Department of the Interior report that explains Indian citizenship (1952)“

Wednesday, October 16

Fall Institute Day — No Class

Friday, October 18

Topics: Ni Okašką (Osage Nation) and U.S. v. Ramsey (1926)

Discuss: There, There p. 159-225 (Opal Victoria Bear Shield through Thomas Frank)

Blog post 6 (due Sunday by Midnight): This week centers on the tension between the themes of citizenship and sovereignty. Reflect on the impact of WWI on Native American citizenship, as well as the continuity of issues related to Native sovereignty in the postwar era. Remember to discuss and analyze at least one source in your response.

November 1940 issue of *Indians at Work,* BIA 1940. Smithsonian Libraries.

Week Seven: The Indian New Deal

Monday, October 21

Topics: A “New Deal” for all?: The Meriam Report (1928) and the Indian Reorganization Act (1934)

Discuss: “Letter to John Collier” and “The CCC Indian Division” and browse issues of Indians at Work (1933-1945).

Wednesday, October 23

No Class, work on film review project

Friday, October 25

No Class, work on film review project

No weekly blog post; complete the film review project. Due Sunday by 11:59pm

Field Office Poster, “Chicagoland Indians Get Good Jobs,” Chicago Field Office Employment Assistance Case Files, 1952-1960, Record Group 75, Bureau of Indian Affairs, NARA.

Week Eight: The Termination Era (1940s-1960s)

Monday, October 28

Topics: U.S. Exploitation of Native Lands, Resources, and Energy in the WWII era

Discuss: Marsha Weiseger, “Gendered Injustice: Navajo Livestock Reduction in the New Deal Era,” WHQ 2007 and Ian Zabarte, “A message from the most bombed nation on earth,” 2020.

Wednesday, October 30

Topics: The Indian Claims Commission (ICC) (1946), Termination policy and Relocation (1953-1970)

Discuss: House Concurrent Resolution 108 (1953) and “Reaffirmed Statement on Indian Policy” by the National Congress of American Indians (1959)

Friday, November 1

Topics: Reversing termination: Restoring recognition and the American Indian Movement (AIM) (1968)

Discuss: There, There p. 229-260 (Orvil Red Feather through Edwin Black); and “1989 – American Indian Activist Russell Means testifies at Senate Hearing” (18 min video)

Blog post 7 (due Sunday by Midnight): After WWII, U.S. policies towards Native Americans underwent a drastic shift that aimed to dismantle Native lands, resources, and governance. This week’s readings shed light on this period of exploitation and loss, all while ushering a new era of modernization, growth, and affluence for other Americans. Reflect on this disparity and the experiences of Native peoples in the post-WWII era. Consider the racial, gendered, and ecological scope of termination and its legacies. Remember to discuss and analyze at least one source in your response.

Popular books by Native American writers associated with the Native American literary renaissance. See Wiki.

Week Nine: A New Wave of Native Activism

Monday, November 4

Topics: The Occupation of Alcatraz (1969), The Trail of Broken Treaties and the Occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, DC (1972)

Discuss: Browse the Documents from the Museum Collections at Alcatraz Island (advance using the blue key icon at bottom of screen) and “The 1969 Occupation of Alcatraz Was a Catalyst for Indigenous Activism” (2024 -13.5 min video)

Wednesday, November 6

Topics: The Wounded Knee Occupation (1973) and Leonard Peltier’s trial

Discuss: Watch Newsnight Minnesota on Peltier, 1996 (4.5 min video) and “I am still here”: Leonard Peltier’s Letter to Supporters (2023) and “Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier denied parole for 1975 killings of 2 FBI agents,” NPR, 2024.

Friday, November 8 — Moved to Monday, November 11!

Topics: A Native American renaissance: literary, musical, and artistic expression

Discuss: There, There p. 261-290 (Thomas Frank to end); Charlie Hill’s (Oneida) standup routine on The Richard Pryor Show (1977) and browse the Spotify Playlist of Native music 1960s-present

Blog post Week 9 (due MONDAY by Midnight): For this week, write a reflection about any of the themes, topics, people, or events discussed from this week (Monday and Wednesday’s assigned content). Remember to discuss and analyze at least one source in your response.