Wabanaki Connections - November 2008

*Wabanaki 101 / 102 / 103
*Home and Away
*Betsy Sky-McIlvain’s offer - “Unlearning Indian Stereotypes”
*Wabanakis of Maine and the Maritimes Resource Book
*Polar Bear & Company
*Maine Native / Wabanaki Studies on the DOE website
*Keynote Presentations (like PowerPoint) on this site: LD291 Introduction, The Great Dying, and Native Americans as Children’s Toys
*December LD291 Working Group meeting request
*Thoreau’s Dawnland Travels website

Val and Joseph concluded the second session of Wabanaki 101: An Introduction to LD291 last week with 12 Portland educators.  We were pleased at the turnout and know that colleagues in their buildings will benefit from their interest.  We are now putting together a Wabanaki 103 (102 is a stereotypes workshop that we will run again in the future: http://www.hanksville.org/sand/stereotyp…) for the spring that will focus on the use of Native American-related literature in the classroom. Many teachers are not certain about the appropriatemess of some children’s books that have traditionally been used in schools to teach about “Indians”.  We’ll look at resources that will help teachers make informed decisions about which books to use and which to use judiciously to point out stereotypes.  Check out this website to get a head start: oyate.org  This organization reviews books and makes recommendations about their use.  Beverly and Doris have also published two books of reviews: Through Indian Eyes and The Broken Flute.  Many of Portland’s school libraries should have these in their collections.  Take a look at this site for more on Wabanaki stories: http://www.native-languages.org/wabanaki… Stay tuned for more information.

Home and Away Galley is located in Kennebunkport and has a focus on Arctic and Indian Arts from all over.  David and Ann Shultz are well-informed concerning a wide range of Native cultures and traditions.  During the warmer months of the year, they also invite well-known Native artists to visit and demonstrate the crafting of their art.  Barry Dana, former Penobscot chief and a wonderful artist in his own right, spent a weekend in Kport this summer.  Check them out at: www.homeandaway.biz /  david at homeandaway.biz

Betsy Sky-McIlvain, Freeport Middle School, and host of her own Wabanaki Resources site  http://www.leasttern.com/) sent the following:  I have available a DVD of
“Unlearning Indian Stereotypes” - I will duplicate it and send it off for a
cost of media + postage = $4.00 - for another $1, I will add the copy of
the “Indian Stereotypes - childrens’ version” which is a CD of images that
can be used for identifying the stereotypes mentioned in the DVD.  By the
way, the DVD was a VHS which was originally a sound filmstrip - so it is a
little dated visually, but the info. is still valid.

With Rosie Shiras’ passing last June, I have taken over the sale of the Wabanakis of Maine and the Maritimes Resource Book.  It will still be availalable through the AFSC website  http://www.afsc.org/ht/d/ContentDetails/… ). at various venues around the State of Maine (Common Ground Fair, Maine Indian Basketmakers Association sales, Maine Council of Social Studies Conference, etc.) or by contacting me directly for purchase information ( charnj at portlandschools.org).  This is a non-profit sale of an enormously popular and valuable resource for the teaching of LD291 in your classrooms.

Polar Bear & Company of Solon, ME is the publisher of David Cook’s Above the Gravel Bar: The Native Canoe Routes of Maine.  David covers the geological history of Maine and details the pre-Contact period of Native use of the rivers and waterways of Maine to move about the landscape.  This is a wonderful introduction for any teacher and would make a great text for a high school level Native Studies class.  Check it out at: www.polarbearandco.com

Jana Boody, Social Studies guru at MEDOE, has been instrumental in promoting the implementation of LD291 in Maine’s classrooms through her role as .  She has been extraordinarily inclusive in making sure that resources are made available to teachers to  do this work.  Our hats are off to her!  Check out the MEDOE website for more information at:
 http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/ss/s…

Gaby Pelletier has a wonderful site focusing on Wabanaki art and crafts.  Ms. Pelletier  provides an important service in highlighting the historical and on-going art and craftwork of the Wabanaki.  Check out the links to other sites for more information.  http://native-artifact-consulting.com/

There are now 3 Keynote Presentations on this blog under Pages and Recent Posts: “Wabanaki Connections: A Short Trip Through the Dawnland”, “Great Dying: Disease, the Wabanakis, and Resiliency”, and “Native Americans as Children’s Toys”.  Each can be viewed on your computer or shown through an LCD for professional development or with students.

Jana Boody is convening an LD291 Working Group meetiing for December 4&5 in Augusta to begin making connections between LD291 mandates and the current Social
Studies Learning Results.  Please let me know if you have anything you would like brought up at the meeting concerning the implementation of LD291 in your classrooms.  The product of this meeting will NOTbe a curriculum, but the work may help teachers make connections between the spirit of the document and the many resources available.

Here’s another resource for those making literary and cultural connections in their classrooms:
 http://www.thoreauwabanakitrail.org/   This site will help you highlight the current interest in Thoreau’s Dawnland travels with literary selections, maps, and other information.

Val and I want to say  Woliwon / Woliwoni / Wela’lin! to all the teachers who have worked so hard to implement LD291 in their classrooms.  We continually receive positive feedback about the work you are doing from folks in the business around the state.  Please continue to let us know how we can help you!  Be well!  Val Vassar and Joseph E. Charnley

Here’s another resource for working with Wabanaki material culture. http://native-artifact-consulting.com/

This lesson plan goes along with the “Great Dying” Keynote presentation on this site.  Good luck and let me know how it goes!

Epidemics in the Dawnland

Joseph E. Charnley and Melissa Ross
 charnj at portlandschools.org  /  rossm at portlandschools.org
King Middle School - 92 Deering Avenue
Portland, ME 04102

This lesson plan was created to complement the goals of LD291:
The Teaching of Maine Native American Culture and History.

Key concept
The causes and consequences of epidemics among the Wabanaki

Overview
Students will gain an awareness of the cultural, social, and economic         devastation caused by repeated disease epidemics in the 17th and 18th         centuries in Maine and the Maritimes.  The activities will include a Keynote         Presentation, class discussion, and small group reading / answering         questions.

Objectives
?The students will consider what they know about the Wabanaki.
?The students will consider what they know about epidemics and disease         in large populations.
?The students will consider the social, cultural, and economic             consequences to the Wabanaki of repeated epidemics.
?The students will share their ideas about a secondary source reading.

Grade Level(s) / Time
?This 40-minute activity has been used with grade 6 students but can be         adapted to any higher level, including adults.

Resources
?The Wabanaki of Maine & the Maritimes (Resource Book): Background         History, A:8-10, “ Kennebec Mother’s Thoughts: The Impact of             Epidemics”, :89-90, “A Kennebec Mother’s Thoughts”, C:33-4 “Mapping         Wabanaki Aboriginal Territories”, D:4.
?Realia such as Wabanaki baskets, tools, foods.
?Keynote Presentation: “Emptying the Wilderness” available @             http://blogs.portlandschools.org/charnj
?90%, in large block letters on oaktag for re-use
?”Blue” and “Yellow” printed/typed on 1/2 pieces of index cards/card         stock (2”x3”)
? Timeline of European Disease Epidemics Among American Indians          http://www.kporterfield.com/aicttw/artic…) cut and pasted     into a long roll.  10 pages long
OPTIONAL FOR BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE:
?”Test Your Wabanaki Knowledge” at:                              http://blogs.portlandschools.org/charnj)
?Lies My Teacher Told Me, James W. Loewen, New York: Touchstone         Books, 2007.  pp. 296-7.
?1491, by Charles Mann, has detailed information for teachers and         upper-level students
?The Penobscot Curriculum Project kit offers a “Disease” unit. Contact         James E. Francis at the Penobscot Cultural Heritage Dept. on Indian Island
1-207-817-7472
?Native speakers as available.

Learning Results
?Social Studies: B - Civics and Govt.; C - Economics; D - Geography;
E - History

Activity
A.    Put up 90% cards on walls around classroom.  Hand out the blue or yellow cards, one each, to students as they enter the class or after they are seated.  There should be a ratio of 1 blue to 9 yellow cards.
B.    Whether you have provided information beforehand or not, ask for a show of hands for “What do you know about the Wabanaki, past and present?”  Use your personal knowledge (access the information sources above) to check in with the kids to clarify misconceptions or answer questions they might have.
C.    Introduce the lesson topic and let them know that questions are welcome but that because of the nature of the subject, respect is a must.
D.    Show the Keynote Presentation - “Emptying the Wilderness”. You may have asked the students to take notes - check in once in awhile to see if they are on task or have any questions. Back up each slide with information you have learned from your own reading and ask questions to generate discussion
E.    Ask ‘yellow card’ students to raise their hands.  Ask class if they know why some have yellow and some have blue cards.  You can have ‘survivors’ move to a separate part of class or just have the students discuss what it might have been like to have been a ‘survivor’. What would they have done?  Where would they have gone?  What would they have brought with them to other tribes?  Collect cards.
F.    Divide class into groups of 3 or 4 students each.  Each group (depending on grade and reading levels) will be assigned a section (or all) of “A Kennebec Mother’s Thoughts”. Divide the questions as needed and ask that each group read the selection out loud before writing answers to the questions. After a reasonable time, regather and review their answers focusing special attention on the questions that forced the mother to make choices.  Collect or have the students keep the answers for further use.
G.    Before dismissing the class, roll out the “Timeline of European Disease Epidemics Among American Indians” to point out that these epidemics were not single events.  Also make sure to point out that even with these disastrous events, Native Peoples have managed to survive and flourish.
RESILIENCY!
(The issue of smallpox laden blankets being given to Native people by English and American military forces may arise.  Deal with it as you would with any other difficult topic - honestly and with accurate information. This website has some information to check out.: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_…)

Follow-up / Above and Beyond

Depending upon the group, time available, and interest, students might look into the Jesuit Relations  http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relat…) which are the journals and records kept by the “Black Robes” as they worked among the Wabanaki. Students might also use the information gained here to use in a science project around disease and epidemics.  As an assessment, and along with other Wabanaki studies work, students might write a letter or a news report explaining the epidemic and its consequences.

“A Kennebec Mother’s Thoughts”  - Questions for discussion

A.    Who was this “French man in the black robe” who appeared in the village?
What is the mother’s view of Europeans?
What has happened to her family?
Who is the only person not affected by the sickness?

B.    How are the ‘new diseases’ different from earlier times when people got sick?
What did the woman’s uncle do when the family got sick?
What did he take? Leave behind? Why?
What is the importance of the uncles ‘dreams’?

C.    What did the people use to heal themselves?  Where did these resources come from?
What was the role of the uncle in the father’s healing?
Why do you think the healer from downriver threatened to kill the black robe (priest)?
What is the choice the mother has to make?

Wabanaki Connections - October 2008

* Welcome Back!
* Maine Indian Basketmakers Sale and Demonstration
* Hudson Museum News
* Old Fort Western’s 2008/2009 School Program Brochure Now Available
* Wabanaki 101 again offered with Val and Joseph - Oct. 14 and 23
* Passaconaway’s descendants struggle to protect sacred site - News article about Mt. Agamenticus in York, ME and contemporary Native American history

-A hearty Welcome Back! to everyone. Val and I hope that you had a wonderful summer and that you are feeling rested and ready to jump into educating our charges. We look forward, once again, to helping you with whatever you might need concerning LD291: The Teaching of Maine Native American History and Culture. Please contact us with any questions you might have. Be well. Val Vassar and Joseph E. Charnley

-The early winter Maine Indian Basketmakers Sale and Demonstration will be held Saturday, December 13th from 9AM to 4PM at the Student Rec and Fitness Center of the UMaine-Orono campus. Admission is free. “Come and celebrate the traditional arts and culture of the Maliseet, Mikmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot peoples of Maine. This event features over 30 Maine Indian Basketmakers who sell their hand-made, one of a kind, ash splint and sweet grass basketry. Work baskets, such as creels, pack and potato baskets, curly bowls, may be found along with quill jewelry, wood carvings, and birch bark work. Traditional foods, storytelling and music, and demonstrations of brown ash pounding and basket making will be presented throughout the day”. FMI: 207-581-1901 or www.umaine.edu

-The New Hudson Museum, currently under reconstruction, will reopen in the Fall of 2009 with new galleries and an increased Wabanaki presence. They are currently offering a variety of “The Hudson Museum On The Road” exhibits which you can learn about via www.umaine.edu I have some information which I can copy and send your way if you would like (Joseph).

-The Old Fort Western 2008/2009 School Program brochure describes in detail 17 programs for use by public, private, and home-school teachers. Librarians and others who conduct public programs, such as clubs, groups, historical societies, and civic and social organizations of all kinds, may also schedule programs from the brochure. All programs may be scheduled at the Fort. All programs are also available in your classroom or where your group meets - an important feature in an age of $4.00 per gallon and up gasoline and diesel fuel.

The brochure is organized by the social studies subject areas (civics and government, economics, geography and history) covered in Maine’s 2007 Social Studies Learning Results. Programs are also identified as to grade level and related MLR performance indicators. All 17 programs address enduring social studies issues as defined in the standards. All may be used to assess the achievement of grade-level performance goals as defined by Maine’s Learning Results.

In this edition of the brochure, two social studies content areas and one historical era receive special attention. Economics and Personal Finance, identified as an area needing professional development by many Maine teachers, is thoroughly covered at all grade levels by the program “Going Shopping in the 18th Century.” Similarly, several programs, including “They Behaved Cleverly,” “Contrary to Reports,” “A Low Class of Population,” and “This Momentous Affair” use literature and literacy to teach social studies. And for the first time, the Fort is offering a program, “A Low Class of Population,” to teach not only some of the social studies methods identified in Section A of the standards but to address the issues of immigration and discrimination in the past and the present.

“The social studies are being accorded less and less time in many schools these days,” said Fort director, Jay Adams. “What is more, travel and enrichment opportunities are being curtailed in part because of high fuel prices. It is our intent to help teachers make the most of the time they have by providing hands-on programs that stimulate critical thinking and help prepare students for active and engaged citizenship. We provide these programs at the lowest possible cost, and we make them all available in school classrooms as well as at the Fort. We simply want to help social studies teachers whenever and wherever we can.”

A summary of the brochure has just been mailed to 8,500 teachers, guidance counselors, curriculum coordinators, principals, superintendents, and other educators throughout Maine. The full brochure is available at www.oldfortwestern.org or call 626-2385 for more information.

-Val and Joseph are once again offering Wabanaki 101, an introduction to Wabanaki Studies. If you have no or little experience around Native Studies, this is a great introduction to meeting the mandate of LD291: The Teaching of Maine Native American History & Culture. The first session is Tuesday, October 14th and the second will be Thursday, October 23rd. Come to one or both and bring your questions and knowledge. Both sessions will be held at Riverton Elementary.

-If you are looking for ways to connect a discussion of Native issues to your classroom, you often can find local events to access. Here’s one that is on-going in our own backyard.

“Descendants of the Pennecook Tribe of the Eastern Abenaki Nation in southern Maine and northern New Hampshire have gathered for generations at this pile of stones on top of Mount Agamenticus in York, Maine, to worship and perform ceremonies. The site is held in reverence as a sacred place. Now the coordinator of the Mount Agamenticus Conservation Region says St. Aspinquid “never existed” and wants to undertake a “cleaning up” project by moving the stones away from the summit. A sign will be erected there that does not mark the site as a memorial to or burial site of Passaconway, but instead refers to “the legend.” Check out the entire article at:  http://vcnaa.com/joomla/content/view/523…

-Please send us any Wabanaki news items that come your way. Have a great month of October!

A short look at stereotypes, particularly as they apply to Native Americans and Internet images. Native Americans as Children’s Toys

Test Your Wabanaki Knowledge

The following test items were compiled by my 7th and 8th grade students following their taking the ‘Test Your Native IQ’ quiz. I asked them to submit two questions each and drew these 20 from those for you to use to test your general knowledge of the Wabanaki, past and present. Keep track of your answers and then check them at the bottom of this page. Please let me know how you do. Joseph

1. The term ‘Wabanaki’ means:
a. The People of the Eastern Shores
b. The People of the Dawn
c. The Dawnland People
d. all of the above
2. ‘LD291’ is a mandated piece of Maine legislation that requires:
a. Social Studies teachers to teach about the Native peoples of Maine
b. all teachers to teach about the Native peoples of Maine
c. Social Studies and LA teachers teach about the Native peoples of Maine
d. teachers to decide if they will teach about the Native peoples of Maine
3. Around ___ Maine Passamaquoddy still speak their own language.
a. 50
b. 500
c. 1,500
d. 2,500
4. In ___, the state of Maine sold 100,000 acres of Penobscot tribal land without the tribe’s permission.
a. 1781
b. 1833
c. 1904
d. 1980
5. This Wabanaki nation was likely the first to come into contact with Europeans.
a. Mi’kmaq
b. Penobscot
c. Maliseet
d. Passamaquoddy
6. The Passamaquoddy nation:
a. is self-governing
b. has no distinct government
c. is self-governing with state and federal oversight
d. is self-governing with federal oversight only
7. The Mi’kmaq of Maine received Federal Recognition in:
a. 1958
b. 1983
c. 1991
d. 1995
8. Which two Wabanaki nations share an Algonquian language?
a. Mi’kmaq and Maliseet
b. Passamaquoddy and Maliseet
c. Penobscot and Mi’kmaq
d. Penobscot and Passamaquoddy
9. This Wabanaki American Indian nation has two reservations in Maine:
a. Mi’kmaq
b. Penobscot
c. Maliseet
d. Passamaquoddy
10. During the American Revolution, the Penobscot people:
a. sided with the British
b. did not take sides
c. sided with the Americans
d. were not aware that the war was going on
11. What is the purpose of the Wabanaki Center at UMaine - Orono?
a. for people to learn about the Wabanaki peoples
b. for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples to meet about the Wabanaki
c. for Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars to research the Wabanaki
d. all of the above
12. The Wolastoqiyik or Etchemin are more commonly known as:
a. Maliseet
b. Penobscot
c. Mi’kmaq
d. Passamaquoddy
13. The Passamaquoddy and the Commonwealth of MA signed a binding treaty in ___.
a. 1641
b. 1794
c. 1887
d. 1980
14. Between 1616 and 1619 alone some ___% of Wabanaki perished from European-introduced disease.
a. 60
b. 75
c. 80
d. 90
15. Europeans / Americans diminished Native land-holdings by:
a. abrogating treaties
b. conducting ‘scorched-earth’ type warfare
c. creating legal justifications such as “Right of Discovery”
d. all of the above (and more)
16. The ‘Penawahpskewi’, ‘People of the White Rocks’, refers to the:
a. The Maliseet
b. The Penobscot
c. The Mi’kmaq
d. The Passamaquoddy
17. Many Mi’kmaq still bear the scars of ___.
a. poor health care
b. boarding schools
c. ‘English only’ classes
d. all of the above
18. Old Town High School recently changed its mascot from the ‘Indians’ to the ‘Coyotes’. How many Maine schools still use Native mascots?
a. 10
b. 20
c. 30
d. 40
19. Until what year were the Penobscot (and other Wabanaki) considered ‘mentally unfit’ by the Maine State Legislature?
a. 1930
b. 1945
c. 1960
d. 1975
20. The issue(s) of ___ plays an on-going role in Wabanaki / State & Federal Government relationships.
a. sovereignty and self-determination
b. recognition
c. reorganization
d. trade

Answers
1. D - All of these names have been used to translate the word “Wabanaki”.
2. B - All teachers in Maine are required to teach to LD291. As time goes on, the materials and resources for that to happen effectively will be created and disseminated.
3. D - The question is: will the next generation of Native youth be able to withstand the incredible social and economic demands of the dominant society and gain a firm understanding of their culture’s linguistic heritage?
4. B - The illegal sale and / or appropriation of Indigenous people’s land continues today in many parts of the world, including the US.
5. A - The voyages of the Norsemen, and archaeological evidence recovered in the Maritimes, suggests that the Mi’kmaq were the first to meet up with Europeans. The meeting did not go well for the Vikings.
6. C - Native American governmental forms, imposed by the British and then American governments, are a complex mixture of “sovereign, but dependent” governing (Chief Justice Marshall).
7. C - The Mi’kmaq pursued Federal Recognition apart from the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot Land Claims Settlement. One advantage in their settlement was that the State of Maine exercises no legal controls over them that they do not agree to.
8. B - Both can be understood by the Penobscot, while Mi’kmaq can be challenging for all three. “Maliseet”, by the way, is a Mi’kmaq word for “slow talkers”, not necessarily a compliment.
9. D - Indian Township, near Princeton and Sipayik, near Eastport, and about 50 miles apart.
10. C - It is little wonder considering the way in which they had been treated by the British, including having had a bounty placed on their scalps - men, women, and children - under the Phipps Proclamation. Indeed, the first British warship captured in the Revolutionary War was taken by Penobscot warriors who then sailed it, without any training!, to an American port.
11. D - The Wabanaki Center  http://www.naps.umaine.edu/) is one of many resources available for all to learn more about the Wabanaki.
12. A - Native peoples rarely are known by their own names, but are rather given names by other tribes (“Sioux = enemy” and was the Anishinabe word for their Lakota neighbors) or by invaders. “Wolastoqiyik” means the “People of the Wolastoq” (St John’s River) and “Etchemin” is believed to be a French rendition of the Native word for “canoe”.
13. B - This treaty, signed before Maine became a separate state, formed the basis of the 1980 Land Claims Settlement Act. Almost none of the provisions of the over 300 treaties signed by Native and non-Native leaders has been honored. Treaties were always signed government-to-government and thus form a basis for on-going self-determination actions on the part of Native nations.
14. D - While sometimes disputed, this figure holds for losses across the entire continent, including the Far North. A close reading of the book, 1491, provides a fascinating look into the role disease played in providing a base from which Europeans launched their seizure of much of the Indigenous world.
15. D - From George Washington (“Town Destroyer” to the Iroquois) on, there has been a focused policy of removing land and resources from Native control. The use of legal niceties has backfired in recent years as Native lawyers use the courts to demand reparations, but the battle for Indigenous peoples land continues to this day across the globe.
16. B - You can see what remains visible of the rocks beneath the dam across the street from Old Town Canoe Company in Old Town. If you cover up a people’s heritage, does that mean it no longer exists?
17. D - Isabelle Knockwood’s outstanding book, Out of the Depths, gives the reader a harrowing look into the boarding schools and their impact on Native Peoples everywhere. The movie, “The Rabbit-Proof Fence”, is another powerful exploration of this topic as experienced by Australian Aborigines.
18. C - Mascot comes from the Spanish for “pet” and the French for “a person, animal, or thing that brings good luck”. This is a loaded topic for many schools across the country and says a lot about our society’s continuing perspectives on Native peoples. By the way, “coyote” is an animal that is not indigenous to Maine: there is no Passamaquoddy or Penobscot word for the animal.
19. D - In 1975, the State Legislature finally struck language from their records that painted Native peoples as being “less able, intelligent, capable” than non-Natives. How does language manifest stereotypes in a culture?
20. A - The idea that Native nations are sovereign and continue to be self-determining is a continuous source of debate in the courts and in the halls of government. Cf. treaties above.

Thanks for taking this quiz and for working to advance your understanding of the Wabanaki and other Indigenous peoples around the world. Please let me know how you did and if any of the questions need reworking or up-dating.
Woliwon / Woliwoni / Wela’lin!

UMaine LD291 Response

This is a KeyNote Presentation that provides a quick overview of LD291, including considerations for educators working to implement the Teaching of Maine Native American History & Culture in their classrooms. Use the link below to access the presentation or click on the QuickTime icon directly. To advance the presentation in either window, click on the screen. If you click on a link within the presentation, you will have to restart the presentation.  

Wabanaki Connections is a resource for educators searching for information about how to appropriately implement LD291 in their classrooms. The editor, Joseph E. Charnley, will up-date the blog once a month and will add links and other information about LD291 as they become available. Please feel free to respond to the information here with questions, comments, and new information that will help us all make LD291 work in Maine’s schools.

Here’s a link to further information about Wabanaki art and craftwork.  http://native-artifact-consulting.com/