Special Section - Native Americans, Credits
Native Americans for Kids and Teachers
Our thanks to the many people who helped us discover factual and fascinating information. We learned so much in our research, and are delighted to freely share it with you. We hope it helps you with your homework, projects, and classroom activities.
Washington State History Museum, Tacoma, WA, for our private tour, with a research opportunity about the early tribes.
Dr. Adams. Over the years, Dr. Adams has been a consultant to the Sioux, Winnebago, Fox, and other tribes in the Midwest on community development. He also participated in a federal project for communication and values differences among cultures, resulting in a website - a multicultural toolkit.
Thanks to several of our old professors and some new ones, identified throughout our site, such as Dr.Peter Bakker (alf.let.uva.nl) who helped us to understand why Native Americans did not use proverbs.
This site could not have been written without the many Native American people who do not wish their names to be listed. We spent a summer traveling and asking and were amazed at how much fascinating information was generously shared with us. We are most grateful for it!
Books we used:
American's Fascinating Indian Heritage, Reader's Digest, 1978
Native Americans of Yesterday by Marion E. Gridley, sponsored by the Indian Council Fire, 1940
Native Americans of the Americans, National Geographic Society, 1958
Indian Reservations, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Dept of the Interior, 1950
Questions on Indian Culture, by Dr. Ruth Underhill, University of Denver, Bureau of Indian Affairs, pamphlet, 1953
Dakota and Ojibwa People, Minnesota Historical Society, 1985
Regions Far and Near for a Changing World, Macmillan/McGraw-Hill, 1995
Seminole Music by Frances Densmore
For Kids
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For Teachers
Return to: Native American Lesson Plans and Classroom Activities
Native Americans for Kids
Native Americans in US, Canada, and the Far North
Early people of North America (during the ice age 40,000 years ago)
Northeast Woodland Tribes and Nations - The Northeast Woodlands include all five great lakes as well as the Finger Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River. Come explore the 3 sisters, longhouses, village life, the League of Nations, sacred trees, snowsnake games, wampum, the arrowmaker, dream catchers, night messages, the game of sep and more. Special Sections: Iroquois Nation, Ojibwa/Chippewa, The Lenape Indians. Read two myths: Wise Owl and The Invisible Warrior.
Southeast Woodland Tribes and Nations - The Indians of the Southeast were considered members of the Woodland Indians. The people believed in many deities, and prayed in song and dance for guidance. Explore the darkening land, battle techniques, clans and marriage, law and order, and more. Travel the Trail of Tears. Meet the Muscogee (Creek), Chickasaw, Choctaw, Mississippians, Seminole Indians and Cherokee Indians.
Plains Indians - What was life like in what is now the Great Plains region of the United States? Some tribes wandered the plains in search of foods. Others settled down and grew crops. They spoke different languages. Why was the buffalo so important? What different did horses make? What was coup counting? Who was Clever Coyote? Meet the Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Comanche, Pawnee, and Sioux Nation.
Southwest Indians - Pueblo is not the name of a tribe. It is a Spanish word for village. The Pueblo People are the decedents of the Anasazi People. The Navajo and the Apache arrived in the southwest in the 1300s. They both raided the peaceful Pueblo tribes for food and other goods. Who were the Devil Dancers? Why are blue stones important? What is a wickiup? Who was Child of Water?
Pacific Coastal Northwest Indians - What made some of the Pacific Northwest Indian tribes "rich" in ancient times? Why were woven mats so important? How did totem poles get started? What was life like in the longhouse? What were money blankets and coppers? How did the fur trade work? How did Raven Steal Crow's Potlatch?
Inland Plateau People - About 10,000 years ago, different tribes of Indians settled in the Northwest Inland Plateau region of the United States and Canada, located between two huge mountain ranges - the Rockies and the Cascades. The Plateau stretches from BC British Columbia all the way down to nearly Texas. Each village was independent, and each had a democratic system of government. They were deeply religious and believed spirits could be found everything - in both living and non-living things. Meet the Nez Perce
California Indians - The Far West was a land of great diversity. Death Valley and Mount Whitney are the highest and lowest points in the United States. They are within sight of each other. Tribes living in what would become California were as different as their landscape.
Native Americans of the Far North: What trick did the Kutchin people use to catch their enemies? How did these early people stop ghosts from entering their homes? Why was the shaman so powerful? What is a finger mask? Play games! See and hear an old Inuit myth! Enter the mystical world of the people who lived in the far north in olden times. Algonquian/Cree, Athapascan/Kutchin, Central Canada, Inuit, The Shaman
Comparison Chart (Europeans & Indians)