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!