dawnland TEACHER’S GUIDE BY DR. MISHY LESSER A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT CULTURAL SURVIVAL AND STOLEN CHILDREN BY ADAM MAZO AND BEN PENDER-CUDLIP COPYRIGHT © 2018 MISHY LESSER AND UPSTANDER PRODUCTIONS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS DAWNLAND TEACHER’S GUIDE TABLE OF CONTENTS REVISED AUGUST 10, 2018 A. INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................................................3 B. PREPARING TO TEACH DAWNLAND .................................................................................................................17 C. THE COMPELLING QUESTION TO SUPPORT INQUIRY .........................................................................................22 D. FIRST INQUIRY: FROM TURTLE ISLAND TO THE AMERICAS ...................................................................................24 OVERVIEW: PEOPLE WHO CALL TURTLE ISLAND THEIR HOME AND WHAT CHANGED WITH OCCUPATION BY EUROPEAN COLONIAL SETTLERS [TWELVE LESSONS] C3 STANDARDS USEFUL RESOURCES TO SUPPORT INQUIRY TALKING POINTS HISTORICAL CONTEXT DIFFERING PERSPECTIVES LEARNING OBJECTIVES SUPPORTING QUESTIONS KEY TERMS BEFORE-CLASS ACTIVITY IN CLASS ACTIVITY *NOT INCLUDED IN THIS BETA VERSION: E. SECOND INQUIRY: INDIGENOUS FAMILIES IN THE ERA OF SETTLER COLONIALISM* OVERVIEW: COLONIAL GOVERNMENT POLICIES TOWARD INDIGENOUS CHILDREN INDENTURED SERVITUDE, BOARDING SCHOOLS, ADOPTION, FOSTERING, INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ACT, NON-COMPLIANCE C3 STANDARDS USEFUL RESOURCES TO SUPPORT INQUIRY TALKING POINTS HISTORICAL CONTEXT DIFFERING PERSPECTIVES LEARNING OBJECTIVES SUPPORTING QUESTIONS KEY TERMS BEFORE-CLASS ACTIVITY IN CLASS ACTIVITY F. THIRD INQUIRY: REBALANCING, INHERITED RESILIENCE, THE WEIGHT OF HISTORY* OVERVIEW: DEFINITIONS AND ORIGINS OF REBALANCING, HISTORICAL AND INTERGENERATIONAL TRAUMA IMPACT OF THE CONCEPTS ON VICTIM SURVIVORS AND THOSE WHO AIM TO HELP THEM EVIDENCE AND IMPLICATIONS OF INHERITED RESILIENCE C3 STANDARDS USEFUL RESOURCES TO SUPPORT INQUIRY TALKING POINTS HISTORICAL CONTEXT DIFFERING PERSPECTIVES LEARNING OBJECTIVES SUPPORTING QUESTIONS KEY TERMS BEFORE-CLASS ACTIVITY IN CLASS ACTIVITY DAWNLAND TEACHER’S GUIDE — TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 G. FOURTH INQUIRY – TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSIONS* OVERVIEW: HIDDEN SECTIONS OF MAINE’S CONSTITUTION NATURE OF TRUTH AND WHO GETS TO DEFINE IT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION WHO WANTS TO RECONCILE AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE? RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRUTH, RECONCILIATION, AND JUSTICE OTHER ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES THAT SUPPORT TRUTH AND RACIAL HEALING C3 STANDARDS USEFUL RESOURCES TO SUPPORT INQUIRY TALKING POINTS HISTORICAL CONTEXT DIFFERING PERSPECTIVES LEARNING OBJECTIVES SUPPORTING QUESTIONS KEY TERMS BEFORE-CLASS ACTIVITY IN CLASS ACTIVITY H. FIFTH INQUIRY – GENOCIDE, RESISTANCE, AND DECOLONIZATION* OVERVIEW: CONCEPTUAL DEFINITIONS USES AND APPLICATIONS GENOCIDE THROUGH CULTURAL DESTRUCTION RESPONSES TO GENOCIDE BY INDIGENOUS PEOPLES: AIM, IDLE NO MORE, NATIVE LIVES MATTER, STANDING ROCK, NOTYOURMASCOT C3 STANDARDS USEFUL RESOURCES TO SUPPORT INQUIRY TALKING POINTS HISTORICAL CONTEXT DIFFERING PERSPECTIVES LEARNING OBJECTIVES SUPPORTING QUESTIONS KEY TERMS BEFORE-CLASS ACTIVITY IN CLASS ACTIVITY DAWNLAND TEACHER’S GUIDE — TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 INTRODUCTION TO TEACHER’S GUIDE Penobscot historian, Maria Girouard, teaches about the Seven Fires Prophecies. “The seventh fire…is a time when the world is be-fouled, when the rivers run bitter with disrespect, the fish become too poisoned to be fit to eat. [W]e live in that time now. [A] period of great hope is prophesied next – the 8th fire, an eternal fire of peace. Some native ancestors call it the great healing – a road of spirituality rather than materialism…. The old traditions say that this new time, this move toward a more harmonious world will begin in the East and will sweep across the continent like the dawn of a new day. So, here we are, perfectly positioned in Wabanaki land where the light from a new day first touches Turtle Island.”1 Figure 1 Turtle Island, Courtesy Shannon Thunderbird. Figure 2 Wabanaki Country, Cartography by Stacy Morin. The Wabanaki,2 the People of the Dawn, have historically lived in what is currently called Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, and New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island (maritime provinces of what is now Canada). The Penobscot are one of the tribal nations in the Wabanaki Confederacy, which also includes the Abenaki, Maliseet, Micmac, and Passamaquoddy.3 Maps of Wabanaki space and place names are a helpful first step to begin the journey toward understanding the relationship between Wabanaki people and their homeland.4 DAWNLAND TEACHER’S GUIDE — INTRODUCTION 3 If the move toward a more harmonious world starts in the East, surely a sign of this beginning is the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission (MWTRC). Figure 3 Hermon, Me -- February 12, 2013 -- The five commissioners of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Matthew Dunlap, gkisedtanamoogk (cq), Carol Wishcamper, Gail Werrbach, and Sandra White Hawk (left to right). Credit: Bangor Daily News Upstander Project’s documentary film,Dawnland , tells the story of the TRC and the individuals who testified before it. This five-part guide was written for those who want to use the film to teach about the MWTRC, the conditions that summoned its creation, and the promise it holds for others who seek truth and justice. Dawnland may not surprise some who grew up in Indian Country, but it will likely shock those raised elsewhere. It is our hope that viewers of the film and users of this guide will find answers to the question: What is the relationship between the taking of the land and the taking of the children? We also hope they come away understanding why Native peoples, especially mothers and grandmothers, pushed long and hard for passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a federal law signed by President Carter in 1978, and why Wabanaki community members, parents, social workers, tribal leaders, and their allies created a truth commission in Maine (MWTRC) to address harms caused by repeated violations of ICWA. Figure 4 Washington, D.C. April 8, 1974 U.S. Senate Hearings 1974 on Indian child welfare. Cheryl DeCoteau was one of many Native parents to testify. This hearing led to the passage of the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act. Credit NBCUniversal. DAWNLAND TEACHER’S GUIDE — INTRODUCTION 4 Figure 5 April 8, 1974, Washington, D.C. U.S. Senate Hearings on Indian child welfare. Credit NBCUniversal. Figure 6 The Indian Child Welfare Act, 1978. From 2012 – 2015 the MWTRC gathered testimony about experiences in child welfare from Wabanaki people and those who worked in the child welfare system. The MWTRC represents a creative and courageous response to child welfare policies and practices that caused incalculable emotional, social, and cultural harm to generations of Wabanaki parents and children. To do justice to their stories, we need to engage with the history of Indigenous peoples in North America, especially in New England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This swath of history, usually taught from only one perspective—that of English colonial settlers—is the focus of our first inquiry. We aim to disturb those who knew only one interpretation and leave them full of questions and concern. This guide was created to help teachers get the most out of the documentary film,Dawnland, and its companion short films. It is tightly bound to the films and aims to help connect the dots between the viewing and learning processes. The inquiries suggest how scenes from Dawnland and the lessons in the guide best interact. DAWNLAND TEACHER’S GUIDE — INTRODUCTION 5 Figure 7 Dawnland co-directors Ben Pender-Cudlip and Adam Mazo filming on the reservation of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Motahkomikik (Indian Township) in Passamaquoddy Territory. The guide is based on the following assumptions: many students in what is currently the United States, especially those who did not grow up with a connection to tribal nations, learn about Indigenous peoples briefly in the early grades, and then not again until high school, if that. They also “learn” from films, sports events, cartoons, and the like. In many cases what students learn reinforces tired and destructive stereotypes, such as this one reported by a teacher in New York in 2016 at an Upstander Project workshop: “Native Americans: are they even real people?” The erasure of Native peoples from the dominant narrative is a key pillar of settler colonialism and has been ongoing for hundreds of years.5 It contributes to a mainstream belief that Native peoples belong only to the past, especially in New England, home to hundreds of Algonquian-speaking tribal nations. This guide aims to help readers locate their place in this history, which is why the lessons begin with historical context for enhanced understanding. Lessons indicate the corresponding C3 Standards and comments that reflect differing perspectives: the view “from the shore” and the view “from the boat.” We are grateful to gkisedtanamoogk, teacher / colleague / friend and former co- chair of the MWTRC for sharing this critical analytical framework at the Upstander Academy for Intellectual Humility at the University of Connecticut in 2016. The author of this guide grew up only learning the view from the boat, that is, of the European colonial newcomers and settlers who occupied Turtle