American Indian History and Heritage

This Teacher’s Guide from the National Endowment for the Humanities will introduce you to the cultures and explore the histories of some groups within the over 5 million people who identify as American Indian in the United States, with resources designed for integration across humanities curricula and classrooms throughout the school year.

Resources Related to Native Communities at the National Archives
https://www.docsteach.org/topics/american-indians

The billions of historical documents and other materials housed at the National Archives throughout the country include information relating to Native Americans from the 18th through the 21st century. The documents we hold related to Native Communities reflect their interaction with the U.S. Government. On this page we include primary sources related to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians.

Selected Audio and Video from the Library of Congress
https://www.nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov/audio-and-video.html

• American public radio and television programs related to Native Americans from The American Archive of Public Broadcasting (a collaboration between Library of Congress and WGBH Boston).
• Breaking the Bonds of People and Land: Native American Removal in the United States and Mexico
• Dineh Tah Navajo Dancers
• Ed Schupman: “Do All Indians Live in Tipis?” and Other Compelling Questions for Education
• Hoop Dancing, Rosebud Sioux and Crow Creek Sioux
• Joy Harjo’s Inaugural Reading as U.S. Poet Laureate (Library of Congress YouTube channel)
• Tim Tingle and D.J. Battiest-Tomasi: Oklahoma Choctaw Storytellers and Flute Players

National Archives

• Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talkers Story (Children’s Book Program)
• Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations (The National Archives’ YouTube channel)

Smithsonian

• YouTube Channel for the National Museum of the American Indian
• American Indian Flute Music
• Meet the Artist: Marie Watt
• Native Knowledge 360

Other Resources

• PBS created a video series, Native America, which explores the world created by First Peoples through interviews with experts in four 50-minute videos. PBS also offers lessons that connect to the videos, including a focus on Native military service members.
• This toolkit for decolonizing Thanksgiving now has two parts and assembles resources, including books, that’ll help reframe the story of Thanksgiving.
• The history of the Thanksgiving holiday is often very different from the story that’s told. Have students read and discuss this article from National Geographic Kids to undo some misunderstandings about the story.
• Listen to these 15–20 minute Blackfeet and Crow Star Stories that illuminate the astronomical study and tales of Native peoples who resided in present-day Montana. Discuss how these stories help to shape the beliefs and spirituality of Blackfeet and Crow citizens and how what they knew maps to modern scientific knowledge.
• Watch this two-minute video interview about Native foods to ground a discussion about food groups and nutrition. Students can research their own food traditions and how they fit into the FDA’s guidelines to explore cultural and socioeconomic factors in diet and nutrition.
• Browse this online poetry collection from the Library of Congress to find, listen to, and discuss readings of Native poetry from U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s project Living Nations, Living Words
• Indigenous Peoples’ History
  Cohosted by experts from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, this webinar delves into the ways American history instruction often fails to acknowledge—and contributes to—the erasure of Indigenous stories and perspectives.

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