Contemporary American Indian History

Teaching Situation and Rationale

“For minority cultures like those of Native Americans to resist absorption, for them to maintain identity, this body of communication…heretofore omitted – must be articulated” - Paul Eisenstein¹

In Custer Died for Your Sins, American Indian writer, teacher and activist Vine Deloria writes, “Easy knowledge about Indians is a historical tradition,”² fueled by pervasive stereotypes, invisibility, and a “tremendous amount of misinformation” ³ (Deloria 12). Omitted history is pervasive when it comes to relating the “colonial dispossession” of Native lands and cultures in North America.⁴  Illuminating this history is one of the primary aims of the three books my students will study in this unit, along with the theme of recovering cultural identity. 

I live and teach in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which was founded as a Creek Indian settlement in 1828.⁵  Most of my students are not aware of the Native American history of our city, either because they are not from Tulsa (several were raised in other countries and we also have a high mobility rate), or because they do not encounter it in the textbooks of their required Oklahoma and American History classes. I teach at one of the most diverse high schools in my state, so my students come from a variety of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Nearly 50% of students at East Central High School are Hispanic, 22% are African American, 13% White, 5% American Indian, 5% Asian and 5% identify as Multi-Racial. My classes reflect that same diversity. Academically, even my Advanced Placement Language and Composition classes are composed of students who have varying ability levels, several of whom are English Language Learners. Some of my students are reading at or above grade level and are comfortable with the process of interpreting literature, while others are reading below grade level and have a more limited vocabulary.  All of my students qualify for free or reduced lunch, based on their parents' income, and most work after school jobs (up to 30-40 hours a week), either because they are self-supporting or because they need to help with finances at home. Those factors can be a challenge when assigning homework or independent reading, as students have limited time outside of school for either, and some struggle with completing it.  Therefore, I have to be creative when thinking about how to make the most efficient use of reading time in class, as well as structuring out of class reading assignments and homework so students are more likely to complete them.

This unit focuses on how each of the following works responds to a particular crisis in American Indian history: Tulsa: From Creek Town to Oil Capital (Angie Debo), Custer Died for Your Sins (Vine Deloria, Jr.), and Winter in the Blood (James Welch).  My students will explore the primary concerns expressed by each of these American regional writers, and study how they are conveyed through each author’s rhetorical choices (each work’s particular context, purpose, topic/focus, audience and voice), and overlapping themes.

All my students are smart, funny, interesting people who each bring a unique perspective to the study of literature. I strive to bring them experiences that will broaden their horizons and help them see the connections between different genres of literature, as well as how different writings were influenced by the historical content in which they were written. In AP English, we are always looking at writing through the lens of the rhetorical triangle (the interrelationship between author, topic, audience, purpose and context), and the works in this unit lend themselves perfectly to that kind of contextual analysis.  Because they are members of very diverse ethnic groups, and many of them have to navigate a divide between their home and school cultures, I think my students will find the issues of culture and identity in these works to be relevant and interesting. I also believe it’s important for my students to understand the history of our city, so reading Tulsa: From Creek Town to Oil Capital will expose them to Tulsa’s history, while also allowing me to introduce them to various aspects of the vibrant American Indian culture present in our city today.  Although I will implement this unit with my 11^th grade AP Language and Composition classes, it would be appropriate for any American Literature or American Studies class.