Lesson Plan Table of Contents
Pipestone Quarry and Westward Expansion: Whose Rock is This Anyway? Lesson Plan
Content Introduction
By examining several primary documents, students will seek to understand the events at Pipestone Quarry and what may have caused them. Pipestone Quarry in Pipestone, Minnesota, bears the mythic red Sioux quartzite called Pipestone or Catlinite. From this sacred rock, peace pipes are wrought for a variety of Plains Indian tribes. Pipestone Quarry is still considered a sacred site by the Indians, and today it is part of the protected lands of the National Park Service. The site is accessible to a regulated number of Native American rock harvesters.
This lesson explores the various positions taken by historians, sociologists, and scholars of comparative literature. How has this sacred rock been treated
- in Native American myth?
- by the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow?
- in treaty?
- in the Supreme Court case?
- in the annual Pipestone Hiawatha pageant?
Choose from the following two organizational options, based on time allowance and the class's maturity:
- Divide the class into groups and let them pursue different themes, to be shared at the end.
- Go through one or all of the themes with the entire class.
Guided Practice
Engage the students by introducing the topic in the following manner: Congratulations! You have been chosen to be part of a research team of top academics in this country. You will use your skills to examine different facets of a top-secret issue in our nation: the historical and social consequences of westward expansion. We will take you to the site of inquiry, the mysterious red Pipestone Quarry in Pipestone, Minnesota, on the beautiful wind-swept prairie, now owned by the National Park Service. Your informed opinions will be appreciated by the anonymous sponsors.
Give a brief lecture on how sociologists, historians, and scholars of comparative literature approach their subjects in different ways.
- Use the vocabulary guide at the end of this lesson plan.
- The purpose of this exercise is to show how history can be interpreted in many ways, depending on the angle from which one looks. Each approach is legitimate but it is always only part of the whole picture.
Independent Practice
Divide the class into groups based on their personal interests. Each group will explore a theme with its own unique problems as outlined below.
- Comparative Literature (This section promotes awareness of the narrative voice.): Longfellowís poem, The Song of Hiawatha, (1855) compared to the Plains Indian creation myths as related by Catlin.
Instruct the students to read the first verse of Henry Wadsworth Longfellowís poem, The Song of Hiawatha, available online at everypoet.com.
- According to the Bible, Moses united 12 tribes of Jews to lead out of Egypt. What is revealed by Longfellowís choice of this specific number of Plains Indian tribes?
- Who is the traditional savior according to Europeans and European Americans at this time? Why and to what purpose does Longfellow use this analogy?
Instruct the students to read the sections of Catlinís Letter 54 discussing Pipestone (use the search mechanism on this site with the keyword "Letter 54").
- How did European Americans view Native Americans at the time Catlin wrote his letters? Is this different from how Longfellow portrays them?
Have the students find a site detailing a Plains Indian creation myth about Pipestone Quarry. They are to look for an authentic (i.e., Indian) narrator of the myth.
- Have them compare this to Catlinís version and filter out the differences.
- Ask the students to compare Longfellowís approach to that of a Native American voice. Ask them to identify similarities and differences. Point out the meaning of "authorial voice" in this context.
- Have the students write a journal entry describing how the voice changes the meaning of the narrative.
- Sociology (This comparison reveals the different social conditions and popular opinions of the respective time, and allows students to explore a narrative, play, and event with a specific audience in mind.): Compare Longfellowís classic poem, The Song of Hiawatha, to the Pipestone Hiawatha pageant in the 1970s as a focal point for civil rights protestors.
Instruct the students to read the first few verses of Longfellowís poem, The Song of Hiawatha. Ask them to pay special attention to the audience Longfellow might be addressing.
- What does he suggest as to the values and interests of his audience?
- What age group might he address?
- What might be their religious background?
Pretend you are casting Hollywood actors for a movie based on Longfellowís The Song of Hiawatha. Which people would you cast in what role and why? This should be a short activity, not taking more than 5 minutes.
- Who will play Gitche Manito?
- How many Native American actors can the students identify?
- Would those actors be chosen for the movie?
- Why or why not?
Have students read the excerpts provided from the National Park Service report entitled Managing the Sacred and the Secular: An Administrative History of Pipestone National Monument by Hal K. Rothman and Daniel J. Holder (Omaha: National Park Service, 1992). As guiding questions, have them consider:
- The role of Hiawatha at Pipestone Quarry.
- The speakerís opinion of the activists who protested the Hiawatha pageant.
After reading both texts, ask the students to write a journal entry exploring the following questions:
- Who is Longfellow's audience?
- Who is the audience of the annual pageant?
- Who is the audience of Rothman and Holder?
- Who is the audience of the protestors at the 1970 pageant?
- Do you agree with the view taken by any of the above?
- History (This exercise allows students to practice reading and interpreting legal documents.): Compare the position represented by speakers before the Supreme Court to that presented by stipulations in the 1858 U.S. treaty with the Yankton Sioux.
Have students read the excerpts provided from the 1926 Supreme Court brief for the United States in The Yankton Sioux Tribe of Indians, Petitioner v. The United States, which includes an introduction to legal issues concerning Pipestone Quarry and excerpts from depositions of Charles H. Burke, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and Raymond T. Bonin, law clerk and member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe, taken in 1927 as evidence for plaintiff presented to the U.S. Court of Claims. Ask the students to discuss the following questions:
- What is the case trying to determine?
- What is the main problem repeatedly addressed by the lawyers?
- What is the cause of the conflict?
- What is Mr. Stormont (counsel for the United States) trying to prove?
- What is Mr. Wise (counsel for the Yankton Sioux Tribe of Indians) trying to prove?
Have the students review the 1858 treaty, available online at the University of South Dakota web site: http://www.usd.edu/iais/siouxnation/treaty1858.html, paying special attention to Article 8. Ask the students to work together as a group to:
- Summarize each article of the document.
- Discuss how the attitudes of the non-Indian public toward American Indians (as a group and as individuals) have changed as revealed in the treaty and in the Supreme Court brief.
Ask the students to write a journal entry describing the advantages and disadvantages of viewing a piece of land as sacred and unconnected to monetary value as opposed to viewing a piece of land as functional or commercial. Form groups that include one representative from each discipline.
- Ask students to explore the National Park Service site specific to Pipestone, which describes the history of the Pipestone area:
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/pipestone/rock.htm
- Have them use the web site, as well as the sources used in other parts of this activity (i.e., Longfellowís poem, the Supreme Court document, the Treaty of 1858, etc.) to identify important events in the history of Pipestone.
Wrap-Up Activity
Have students write journal entries discussing what they found in their groups and what they learned from the multi-disciplinary discussion. Ask them to keep in mind the following themes:
- The value of land and material (what constitutes "value" according to non-Indians, according to Native Americans?).
- The timeline of conflict between Whites and Native Americans at Pipestone Quarry as presented in the documents studied.
Extended Activity
After leading the class through the above themes, assemble a creative timeline as a class or in groups. Point out the dangers of representing history in such a sequential form. Consider including this activity before the "Wrap-Up Activity."
Vocabulary
comparative literature, sociology, history, case study, calumet, connote.
Standards
National Council of Teachers of English:
- Standard 1: Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
- Standard 2: Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.
- Standard 7: Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
- Standard 8: Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
- Standard 9: Students develop an understanding of and respect for diversity in language use, patterns, and dialects across cultures, ethnic groups, geographic regions, and social roles.
- Standard 11: Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
- Standard 12: Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).
National Center for History in the Schools—Historical Thinking (5–12):
- Standard 2: Historical Comprehension
A. Students should be able to identify the author or source of the historical document or narrative and assess its credibility.
B. Students should be able to reconstruct the literal meaning of a historical passage by identifying who was involved, what happened, where it happened, what events led to these developments, and what consequences or outcomes followed.
C. Students should be able to identify the central question(s) the historical narrative addresses and the purpose, perspective, or point of view from which it has been constructed.
D. Students should be able to differentiate between historical facts and historical interpretations but acknowledge that the two are related; that the facts the historian reports are selected and reflect therefore the historianís judgement of what is most significant about the past.
E. Students should be able to read historical narratives imaginatively, taking into account what the narrative reveals of the humanity of the individuals and groups involved—their probable values, outlook, motives, hopes, fears, strengths, and weaknesses.
F. Students should be able to appreciate historical perspectives—(a) describing the past on its own terms, through the eyes and experiences of those who were there, as revealed through their literature, diaries, letters, debates, arts, artifacts, and the like; (b) considering the historical context in which the event unfolded—the values, outlook, options, and contingencies of that time and place; and (c) avoiding "present-mindedness," judging the past solely in terms of present-day norms and values.
I. Students should be able to draw upon visual, literary, and musical sources including: (a) photographs, paintings, cartoons, and architectural drawings; (b) novels, poetry, and plays; and (c) folk, popular and classical music, to clarify, illustrate, or elaborate upon information presented in the historical narrative.
- Standard 3: Historical Analysis and Interpretation
A. Students should be able to compare and contrast differing sets of ideas, values, personalities, behaviors, and institutions by identifying likenesses and differences.
B. Students should be able to consider multiple perspectives of various peoples in the past by demonstrating their differing motives, beliefs, interests, hopes, and fears.
C. Students should be able to analyze cause-and-effect relationships bearing in mind multiple causation including (a) the importance of the individual in history; (b) the influence of ideas, human interests, and beliefs; and (c) the role of chance, the accidental and the irrational.
D. Students should be able to draw comparisons across eras and regions in order to define enduring issues as well as large-scale or long-term developments that transcend regional and temporal boundaries.
E. Students should be able to distinguish between unsupported expressions of opinion and informed hypotheses grounded in historical evidence.
F. Students should be able to compare competing historical narratives.
H. Students should be able to hold interpretations of history as tentative, subject to changes as new information is uncovered, new voices heard, and new interpretations broached.
- Standard 4: Historical Research Capabilities
A. Students should be able to formulate historical questions from encounters with historical documents, eyewitness accounts, letters, diaries, artifacts, photos, historical sites, art, architecture, and other records from the past.
B. Students should be able to obtain historical data from a variety of sources, including: library and museum collections, historic sites, historical photos, journals, diaries, eyewitness accounts, newspapers, and the like; documentary films, oral testimony from living witnesses, censuses, tax records, city directories, statistical compilations, and economic indicators.
- Standard 5: Historical Issues–Analysis and Decision-Making
F. Students should be able to evaluate the implementation of a decision by analyzing the interests it served; estimating the position, power, and priority of each player involved; assessing the ethical dimensions of the decision; and evaluating its costs and benefits from a variety of perspectives.
United States History Standards:
- Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801–1861)
Standard 1B (5–12): The student is able to investigate the impact of trans-Mississippi expansion on Native Americans. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
Standard 1B (7–12): The student is able to compare the policies toward Native Americans pursued by presidential administrations through the Jacksonian era. [Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas]
Standard 1B (7–12): The student is able to explain and evaluate the various strategies of Native Americans such as accommodation, revitalization, and resistance. [Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas]
- Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States (1870–1900)
Standard 4A (7–12): The student is able to identify and compare the attitudes and policies toward Native Americans by government officials, the U.S. Army, missionaries, and settlers. [Interrogate historical data]
Standard 4A (7–12): The student is able to evaluate the legacy of 19th-century federal Indian policy. [Hypothesize the influence of the past]
- Era 9: Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)
Standard 4A (5–12): The student is able to evaluate the agendas, strategies, and effectiveness of various African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans, and Native Americans, as well as the disabled, in the quest for civil rights and equal opportunities. [Explain historical continuity and change]
|
