2. Context: Native American Representations Throughout History

(This is the Lesson Plan 2 for Rose Honey’s curriculum, “Indian Boarding Schools Along the Trail.”) 

  1. Learning Objectives
    • Practice interpreting printed political media from the past.
    • Discuss the contexts in which these political cartoons were developed.
    • Consider the influence the media can have on policies and actions that have taken place throughout history.
  1. Entry Questions
    • What is a stereotype? What are some stereotypes that you have read about or seen in the media recently?

Note for educators: Discussing stereotypes can be sensitive, especially for learners in these age groups. Rather than exploring stereotypes that the students may personally relate to, consider discussing stereotypes in a book that was recently explored with the students, or stereotypes that can be found in a television program with which students are familiar.

    • What have you seen in the media (and social media) that is attempting to tell a specific story or relate a specific message? Note for educators: Choose a local news story, or a contemporary commercial and discuss what message is being sent through the video or text. Is there bias? Is the message straightforward, or are there subtleties that tell a story? Who is the target audience for this message?
    • Does the location where you live, or the socio-economic status of your community change the ways that we view news stories or events that take place around us?
  1. Common Core Standards for 6th/7th grade
    • Grade 6-8 English Language Arts Standards: History/Social Studies: http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RH/6-8/
      • ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.2: Key Ideas and Details: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
    • ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.8: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.
    • ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.9: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.
  1. C3 Framework Guiding Principles

Constructing Compelling Questions

    • D1.1.6-8. Explain how a question represents key ideas in the field.
    • D1.2.6-8. Explain points of agreement experts have about interpretations and applications of disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a compelling question.

Constructing Supporting Question

    • D1.3.6-8. Explain points of agreement experts have about interpretations and applications of disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a support question.
    • D1.4.6-8. Explain how the relationship between supporting questions and compelling questions is mutually reinforcing.

Civic and Political Institutions

    • D2.Civ.1.6-8. Distinguish the powers and responsibilities of citizens, political parties, interest groups, and the media in a variety of governmental and nongovernmental contexts.
  1. Activities: Deconstructing Stereotypes

A. Activity 1: Printed Media of the Past

In this activity, students will engage in observation and discussion around how Native Americans have been and are currently represented through printed media. Students will work in groups of 3–5. Each group will be assigned a political cartoon from a specific era and asked to develop responses to the “Group Prompt” section of the Thinking, Listening, Talking document for Lesson 2: Context. Once small groups have had time to engage in discussion, each small group will present what they observed to the larger classroom. Next, the classroom will have a larger discussion facilitated by discussion of the prompts in the “Classroom Prompt” section of the Prompt Document.

Thinking, Listening, Talking

For Lesson 2: Native American Representations Throughout History

Part 1: Small Group Thinking

●      What are three things you notice in this cartoon?

●      What historical events were taking place during the time this cartoon was created (e.g. with Tribes, the U.S. government or in the world)?

●      What is the message that is being conveyed in this media and who is the audience?

●      What kind of evidence is there for the messages that are being conveyed? Do you think that the message is based on information that is accurate?

Part 2: Large Group Listening & Discussing

●      Do these representations change over time? How are they the same or different?

●      Do any of them make you think about going to school or education in general?

●      What are some perspectives that non-Native people may have held in relation to Tribal people during the era of the Lewis and Clark expedition (early 1800s)?

●      What influence do you think these political cartoons had on non-Native people’s understanding of the lives of Native American Tribal people?

B. Activity 2: Persuasion Through Media

Political cartoons illustrate an issue and represent a viewpoint or message about that issue through a simple illustration. Many times, political cartoons utilize humor to strengthen their message. Review the political cartoons from Activity 1 in this lesson. Think about an issue or an event from the past or in the present, and identify a viewpoint about it. Draft an illustration that clearly gets your chosen viewpoint across and share it with your class.

  1. Learning Evaluation
    • Formative: Name something in the political cartoon that you were able to quickly understand, and something that you needed to explore more deeply order to interpret its meaning.
    • Formative: Did the message you interpreted from the political cartoon tell a positive or negative story about Native American people?
    • Summative: What is the political and social context for the cartoon that you explored?
    • Summative: How do these political cartoons support or not support policies that have impacted Native American Tribal people throughout history?
  1. Resources for Lesson 2

A. Political Cartoons

i. Ca. 1774. “Liberty Triumphant: or the Downfall of Oppression,” Artist: Henry Dawkins (Dawkins, 1774): https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.50288/

This political engraving, concerning the American “Liberty Triumphant” or “Downfall of Oppression” resistance to the tea tax and the East India Company monopoly, was presumably engraved shortly after the Boston Tea Party and alludes to the “Philadelphia Tea Party.” It depicts the Americans and the British facing each other across the Atlantic Ocean (viewed from the north). British officials line the English shore, discussing the tea crisis and related events. On the North American side Tories do the same, dressed in European garb. American patriots are represented as Native Americans who are aiming their arrows across the Atlantic Ocean, straight at Lord Frederick North’s heart.

ii. 1835. “Andrew Jackson as the Great Father,” Artist: Unknown (Andrew Jackson as the Great Father, 1835): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Great_Father_Andrew_Jackson_(1835).png

In this cartoon, Andrew Jackson has his legs crossed as he sits in an armchair, holding two diminutive Native Americans on his lap. Six diminutive Native Americans sit or stand on the patterned rug at Jackson’s feet, looking up at him. A framed picture of Columbia, holding a spear and with her foot on the head of a fallen foe, hangs on the wall in the background. A table on Jackson’s right holds a scroll, a book, and two quill pens.

iii. 1869. “School for Savages” or “Teaching the Young Idea not to Shoot.” Artist: Frank Bellew (Bellew, 1869): https://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Month=January&Date=16

This Harper’s Weekly cartoon by Frank Bellew criticizes the harsh treatment of Native Americans by General Philip Sheridan. As Americans continued to settle the American West in the decades following the Civil War, the question of Indian policy remained controversial and hotly debated. Few white Americans argued for the Native Americans to retain their traditional customs and lands. Rather, on the one side were those who favored defeating the Indians militarily, even if it meant their extermination; on the other side were those who advocated peaceful relations through the transformation of the Native Americans into educated, Christian, land-owning farmers.

iv. 1870. “Robinson Crusoe Making a Man of His Friday.” Artist: Thomas Nast (Nast, 1870): https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3a03621/

This cartoon is a caricature about the attempts to “civilize” the Native American. In this comic, President Ulysses Grant is Robinson Crusoe and the Native American is His Man Friday. Indian Chief: “Mr. President, we call you here today to offer our fealty to you as our recognized Guardian and Ward, and to pray you, Sir, to continue our Good Friend and Father.” The President: “You are welcome; and in reference to continuing your ‘Good Father,’ as you say, I must answer that I have long thought that the two nations which you represent, and all those civilized nations in the Indian Country, should be their own Wards and Good [unclear]. I am of the opinion that they should become Citizens and be entitled to all the rights [unreadable] – cease to be Nations and become States.”

 v. 2002. “And I’ll be the Indian. With a casino.” Artists: Jeff and Bill Keene (Keene & Keene, 2002): https://publications.newberry.org/digital/indians-midwest/media/family-circus-cartoon.jpg

Two little boys are dressed up. One is dressed as a cowboy and the other is dressed in a tuxedo. The one in the tuxedo is saying, “And I’ll be an Indian… with a casino.” This plays off of the notion of two little boys playing cowboys and Indians, which has its own complex stereotypes built in. This depiction brings in another level of stereotypes about Native people and gambling and attempts illicit discussion around the pros and cons of economic development.

vi. 2002. “But I’m Honoring You, Dude!” Artist Lalo Alcaraz (Alcaraz, 2002): https://pocho.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/savagesmascottoon2002.jpg

The graphic in this cartoon shows a Native American at a sports game looking at an Indian-mascot-garbed sports fan. The sports fan in the mascot garb is proclaiming to the Native American that he is honoring him, while the Native American looks at him with a blank stare on his face.