CKHG Unit 13: Native Americans: Cultures and Conflicts
NOTE: The resources for this unit are in the second part of Native Americans and Westward Expansion: Cultures and Conflicts.
Focus:
This unit explores the ways of life of diverse Native American peoples and goes on to examine how their cultures were disrupted, displaced, and profoundly altered by westward expansion and American government policies and practices during the 1800s. Students learn about the diverse ways of life of Native American peoples in the Great Basin and Plateau regions, the Northern and Southern Plains, and the Pacific Northwest. Students explore how the lives of Plains dwellers were changed by the introduction of the horse and the near extinction of bison. Students learn about the devastating effect of diseases brought by settlers moving westward, about American government policy and actions to move Native Americans from their lands and force them onto reservations, as well as government programs to break down tribal life and compel assimilation. Students also learn how the Sioux, Nez Percé, and other Native Americans fought to maintain their lands, their independence, and their ways of life. Some of the content of this unit is tied to the “Pathway to Citizenship,” an array of civics-focused knowledge, questions, and activities.
Number of Lessons: 8
Instruction Time:
45 minutes (Each lesson may be divided into shorter segments.)
Additional Search Terms:
social studies • map skills • nonfiction • informational text • primary sources • Bannocks • Shoshone • Utes • Paiutes • shamans • Coyote tales • hunter-gatherers • Nez Percé • Arapaho • Cheyenne • Tlingits • potlatch • totem poles • Bureau of Indian Affairs • Carlisle School • Indian Wars • Sand Creek Massacre • Battle of Little Bighorn • Crazy Horse • Sitting Bull • Custer’s Last Stand • Wounded Knee • Ghost Dance
