Rethinking Race 2010: Native American Content

First encounter: two cultures

Descent into warfare

Native Americans were enslaved,

Exiled….under the Indian Removal Act of 1830

                                     

                                                                                   

Assimilated in Indian Boarding Schools

Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota

• 1.7 million acres• 30,000

Lakota Sioux• Established 1868

Pine Ridge Reservation…site of Wounded Knee Massacre 1890

Pine Ridge Reservation…site of Wounded Knee Standoff of 1973

Pine Ridge Reservation 2009

Pine Ridge – Shannon County, SD

• Unemployment around 80%.• Life expectancy: 48 for men, 52 for

women;• Infant mortality five times the

national rate;• Highest alcoholism rate in the

nation

(Source: Eagles Nest Center, Westfield WI)

A story in statisticsCensus 2000Total US

populationAll Native Americans

Selected tribes

Female head of household

%

11.8 20.7 30.7 (Sioux)

% with bachelor degree or

higher (age 25+)

24.4 11.5 6.9 (Navajo)

Median earnings -

male

$37,057 $28,919 $24,688 (Pueblo)

Median earnings -

female

$27,197 $22,834 $21,077 (Navajo)

Poverty rate % 12.4 25.7 38.9 (Sioux)

The mascot controversy

Other Native American topics (on resource list):

• World War II Code Talkers• Cross cultural nursing• Native Americans in film• Protection of graves• Native American authors• Native American law• Casinos• Native American myths

Ample opportunity to “weave” Native American content into your courses

Thank you!