Young children can engage in close reading, critical thinking, and historical thinking when age-appropriate texts are coupled with discipline-specific tasks. Prior knowledge is an impediment, though. Primary elementary learners simply do not have much of a historical schema. Because of primary elementary students' familiarity with Thanksgiving,…

First graders engaged in an extended historical inquiry. Close readings of secondary and primary sources evoked rich class discussion. Scaffolding directed students' scrutiny of secondary sources for historical gaps; they ably detected source and intent within the primary sources. Students articulated newly constructed understandings through…

History teachers may well feel challenged with the task of bringing women into their American West curriculums due to the great diversity of women in the West during the nineteenth century. At the same time, the past thirty years or so have produced a plethora of monographs, articles, and primary source collections on women in the American West.…

Manifest Destiny, the idea that Providence guided the conquest and settlement of North America, is one of the most contested ideas in American culture and history. One's opinion about this central aspect of American mythology depends heavily on one's point of view. Exploring westward expansion and the Cherokee Trail of Tears with primary sources…

People confront stereotypes every day, both in and out of the classroom. Some ideas have been carried in the collective memory and classroom textbooks for so long they are generally recognized as fact. Many are constantly being reinforced by personal experiences, family discussions, and Hollywood productions as well. The distinct advantage to…

What is the value or perceived necessity--for an Indian or for a white man--of changing Northern Cheyenne history? How are a reader's conclusions affected by her perception of the race of the person altering that history? Why is it acceptable to sell but not tell American Indian history? An examination of the visual and discursive rhetoric of "The…

This article draws attention to the language used by fourth and fifth grade teachers during social studies instruction and discusses the implications of how this language frames non-dominant groups, as in this case. Via the discussion of segments of instructional conversations, the authors point to the pervasive use of language that perpetuates…

Letters received and sent by Secretary of War Lewis Cass in the 1830s reveal much about relations between the U.S. government and Native Americans. In the immediate aftermath of the Indian Removal Act, signed into law on May 28, 1830, by President Andrew Jackson, some letters came from interpreters and school teachers seeking payment for their…

Presents a lesson plan designed to make students empathize with early twentieth-century native Americans as they draft a provisional statement of goals for the nation's first secular inter-tribal native organization, the Society of American Indians, founded in 1911. (Author/AEM)

Provides a lesson centered on excerpts from a 1675 letter from the bishop of Cuba, Gabriel Diaz Vara Calderon, to Queen Mariana of Spain that describes life in Spanish Florida missions. Includes a list of questions and excerpts from the letter. (CMK)

This document explores the history of Wisconsin during the revolutionary years of 1750 through 1815. Published quarterly by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, the journal is designed to acquaint elementary school students with historical and contemporary aspects of life in Wisconsin. Most of this issue contains short narratives describing…

A review of primary sources relative to the death of John Sassamon, an American Indian, reveals the difficulties of ethnocentrism, religious bias, and/or personal interest encountered by historians. (JC)

In this article, reprinted from the September 1898 issue of "McClure's Magazine," a Cheyenne Indian gives a first hand account of the defeat of General Custer by a force of three thousand warriors from the major Plains tribes at the battle of the Little Bighorn. (RM)

The author suggests using historical memoirs and autobiographies to involve today's students in the lives of the children of pioneer America. He describes some particular memoirs he has presented to elementary classes. (Editor/SJL)

Reviews "Through White Men's Eyes," six volumes of documentary evidence, arranged chronologically, covering Navajo history from early historic times to the treaty of 1968. Discusses the complicated interrelationships among rich and poor Navajos, Anglos, Hispanics, Pueblos, and other tribes. (SV)