Understanding and Teaching Native American History The Harvey Goldberg Series for Understanding and Teaching History The Harvey Goldberg Series for Understanding and Teaching History gives college and secondary history instructors a deeper understanding of the past as well as the tools to help them teach it creatively and effectively. Named for Harvey Goldberg, a professor renowned for his history teaching at Oberlin College, Ohio State University, and the University of Wisconsin from the 1960s to the 1980s, the series reflects Goldberg’s commitment to helping students think critically about the past with the goal of creating a better future. For more information, please visit www.GoldbergSeries.org. Series Editors John Day Tully is a professor of history at Central Connecticut State Univer- sity and was the founding director of the Harvey Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching at Ohio State University. He has coordinated many Teaching American History grants and has received the Connecticut State University System’s Board of Trustees Teaching Award. Matthew Masur is a professor of history at Saint Anselm College, where he has served as codirector of the Father Guerin Center for Teaching Excellence. He has also been a member of the Teaching Committee of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. Brad Austin is a professor of history at Salem State University. He has served as chair of the American Historical Association’s Teaching Prize Committee and has worked with hundreds of secondary school teachers as the academic coordinator of many Teaching American History grants. Advisory Board Leslie Alexander  Associate Professor of History, University of Oregon Kevin Boyle  William Smith Mason Professor of American History, Northwestern University Ross Dunn  Professor Emeritus, San Diego State University Leon Fink  UIC Distinguished Professor of History, University of Illinois at Chicago Kimberly Ibach  Principal, Fort Washakie High School, Wyoming Alfred W. McCoy  J.R.W. Smail Professor of History, Director, Harvey Goldberg Center for the Study of Contemporary History, University of Wisconsin–Madison David J. Staley  Associate Professor of History, Director, Center for the Humanities in Practice, Ohio State University Maggie Tran  Chair of Social Studies, McLean High School, Virginia Sam Wineburg  Margaret Jacks Professor of Education and (by courtesy) of History, Director, Stanford History Education Group, Stanford University Understanding and Teaching Native American History Edited by Kristofer Ray and Brady DeSanti The University of Wisconsin Press Publication of this book has been made possible, in part, through support from the Anonymous Fund of the College of Letters and Science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The University of Wisconsin Press 728 State Street, Suite 443 Madison, Wisconsin 53706 uwpress.wisc.edu Gray’s Inn House, 127 Clerkenwell Road London EC1R 5DB, United Kingdom eurospanbookstore.com Copyright © 2022 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System All rights reserved. Except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles and reviews, no part of this publication may be repro- duced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any format or by any means—digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—or conveyed via the Internet or a website without written permission of the University of Wisconsin Press. Rights inquiries should be directed to [email protected]. Printed in the United States of America This book may be available in a digital edition. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Ray, Kristofer, editor. | DeSanti, Brady J., editor. Title: Understanding and teaching Native American history / edited by Kristofer Ray and Brady DeSanti. Other titles: Harvey Goldberg series for understanding and teaching history. Description: Madison, Wisconsin : The University of Wisconsin Press, [2022] | Series: The Harvey Goldberg series for understanding and teaching history | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021055211 | ISBN 9780299338503 (hardcover) Subjects: LCSH: Indians of North America—History—Study and teaching. Classification: LCC E76.6 .U53 2022 | DDC 970.004/97—dc23/ eng/20211129 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021055211 Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 3 Kristofer Ray and Brady DeSanti Part One: Essential Topics in Native American History Before Columbus: Native American History, Archaeology, and Resources 11 Maureen Meyers The “Virgin” Soil Thesis Cover-Up: Teaching Indigenous Demographic Collapse 29 Tai S. Edwards Understanding and Teaching Native American Slavery: From First Slaves to Early Abolitionists in Four Myths 44 Denise I. Bossy Teaching the Indian Wars 60 Mark van de Logt Teaching the Broad and Relevant History of American Indian Removal 78 John P. Bowes Teaching the History of Allotment 93 Rose Stremlau v Contents Storied Lands; Storied Peoples: Teaching the History of Federal Indian Law through Native American Literature 112 N. Bruce Duthu Nation to Nation: Understanding Treaties and Sovereignty 129 Margaret Huettl Teaching Indigenous Environmental Histories 145 Paul Kelton and James D. Rice Teaching and Understanding Genocide in Native America 160 Gray H. Whaley Part Two: Reflections on Identity and Cultural Appropriation An Appropriate Past: Seminole Indians, Osceola, and Florida State University 171 Andrew K. Frank Looking Past the Racial Classification System: Teaching Southeastern Native Survival Using the Peoplehood Model 185 Marvin M. Richardson Teaching Native American Religions and Philosophies in the Classroom 198 Brady DeSanti Sustenance as Culture and Tradition: Teaching about Indigenous Foodways of North America 214 Devon A. Mihesuah Native American Art 101 228 Nancy Marie Mithlo Land Acknowledgments in Higher Education: Moving beyond the Empty Gesture 247 Joshua Thunder Little and Miye Nadya Tom vi Contents Part Three: Reflections on Teaching Native American History How I Learned to Teach Indian History: A Memoir 261 Theda Perdue Teaching American Indian History Using the Medicine Way 274 Donald L. Fixico Transnational History and Deep Time: Reflections on Teaching Indigenous History from Australia 284 Ann McGrath Being There: Experiential Learning by Living Native American History 298 Bernard C. Perley čwè·ˀn neyękwaˀnawè·rih: Reflections on Teaching Indigenous History from a Native Student 309 Taylor Hummel Contributors 321 Index 327 vii Acknowledgments This project can be viewed as a kind of time capsule of the many changes that have occurred in my life the past few years. I began this undertaking with some amount of anxiety, as I never thought I would enjoy a career in academia, let alone experience the great fortune of working on a project of this scope. It has been an absolute honor work- ing with the authors included in this volume. Their dedication, profes- sionalism, and patience cannot be overstated. I am also grateful to my coeditor and brother-in-arms, Kris, for his steady hand, dedication, and camaraderie. Together, we persevered through the storms life sometimes threw at us to achieve a work we are both supremely proud of. Along the way, I was lucky to come to know Kris and his family as relatives. In the introduction to his excellent volume of short stories, Worlds Enough & Time: Five Tales of Speculative Fiction, Dan Simmons noted that “time is generous to things but brutal as hell to us human beings. Per- haps we have worlds enough in our three-score-and-ten, but time denies us room to celebrate those worlds; time is the only gift that takes away everything and everyone we love if we get enough of it.” Time can in- deed be brutal, but putting together a project of this size reminded me as well of time’s fleetingness. I am grateful that upon the completion of this volume I still have time enough to celebrate with my friends and loved ones. This book is dedicated specifically to my parents, Tony and Mary DeSanti, and my brothers, Tony and Joe. My parents raised me right and supported me throughout my journey to this point in my life. Their unwavering love has been an anchor that has helped me on my life’s journey. I want to also thank my Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) biologi- cal mother, Mary, for the gift of life, my biological siblings, and many relatives on that side of my lineage who have been kind, generous, and welcoming toward me for many years. Miigwech to you all. Brady DeSanti, Omaha, Nebraska ix