“Native Americans in New England” National Endowment for the Humanities Professors Alice Nash and Neal Salisbury, Directors University of Massachusetts July 7 to July 27, 2013 Final Project Cover Sheet Project Title: ___”It’s Complicated”__________________________________________________ Summer Scholars: _____Rachel Baker and Rob Boutilier_____________________________________ Essential question(s) for the unit and/or lesson: -What happened BEFORE the US History I frameworks begin? -How can socio-cultural, political, and economic differences lead to separation, violence, oppression, and racism? -What happens when several different peoples are competing for the same physical space? Learning objectives (skills, content and attitudes) for the lesson: -Students will be able to evaluate how history and bias are represented through historical maps (and begin to question sources). -Students will be able to analyze primary sources to make inferences about historical events and compare and contrast multiple perspectives on the same historical event. -Students will be able to create (the rough draft of) a map that conveys the complex network of several different European communities and several different tribes in Colonial America. -Students will understand that it was not just “the English versus the Indians” in Colonial America, but rather, a complex network of several different European communities and several different tribes interacting, competing, and allying. Overview of lesson: Context: The Massachusetts frameworks for US History I begin with what most textbooks called the “road to the Revolution,” including the French and Indian War, Stamp Act, etc. This means that students have not learned about the Colonial Period since fifth grade! We created this lesson to be part of a Colonial America mini unit which will take place at the beginning of a US History I course. This mini unit will serve as a time for students to build background information, skills, and enduring understandings that will be essential to their success in the rest of the course. Students will begin the unit by reviewing the thirteen English colonies and using primary sources and images to compare and contrast the different regions (culture, geography, economies, etc.). However, it is imperative that students understand that the English were not alone in the land that is now the United States of America, nor was it just the English competing for land with “the Indians.” There was a complex system of tribes that had experienced both friendship and hostility with one another long before Europeans arrived. Similarly, the English were not the only Europeans attempting to “settle” this “new” land. Different European nations competed for land, resources, and for alliances with the very tribes that already inhabited this land. Combine several distinct tribes with competing European powers, and you get quite a complex web of interactions, alliances, trade networks, and even wars. In this lesson, students will not only examine specific illustrations and events which prove the complexity of these interactions and relationships, but they will also compare and contrast sources on the same topics/events and begin to question the validity of any historical source! As this lesson comes so early on in the course, it is a perfect time to introduce the topic of historiography and the idea that there is no one history, no one truth. Students will learn that both history, and the student of history, are quite complicated! Learning Activities: This lesson will take place over the course of two class periods (three for shorter periods) and will center around maps as representations of different perspectives in history. Students will compare and contrast different maps of Colonial America and note their observations of the specific components included in some maps and left off of others (different indigenous tribes, different European colonists, details such as how many tribes are included, etc.). They will work in partners and groups and use specific protocols to compare and contrast primary source images and documents from the Pequot Massacre and the Deerfield Raid. This will enable them to practice primary source analysis, and also (hopefully) develop their own understanding of how complicated the relationships were between several European colonial groups and several distinct tribes. After the analysis, students will participate in a fishbowl discussion (where 4-5 students discuss at once, but new students can “tap in/tap someone out” to join in the conversation) revisiting the big question and the maps. Students will discuss the complicated nature of the relationships/interactions between peoples in Colonial America and will discuss the following questions about the maps: 1) Which map is most true/accurate to what really happened? 2) Which components would you include if producing a “most” accurate map? 3) Why did some maps leave out certain components? Groups will then create a rough draft of a map that includes components of their choice to make the map more “complete” or “accurate” than the maps we viewed at the beginning of class. To hold students personally responsible, they will also individually complete an “exit ticket” or “exit slip,” where they have to explain why they think certain components (ideas/names/locations) were left off of the earlier maps. However, they have to convey the “problem” that causes these things to be left off by writing down the problem in the form of a hashtag (Twitter style - brief and to the point). Historical background (brief content context for fellow teachers): American history classes taught in America (especially in the Northeast) tend to place an emphasis on the “Original 13 colonies.” In Massachusetts, the US History I frameworks begin (chronologically) with the “road to the Revolution.” However, there were other Europeans “settling” this “new” land alongside the English. And of course, there were hundreds of tribes of indigenous peoples who had been living in this “new” land for thousands of years and existed in extremely advanced, civilized communities. Combine the complicated relationships between all of these distinct tribes and the competition for land and resources among European colonizers, and you get quite a web of complex interactions. This lesson is focused on historical maps, the 1637 Pequot Massacre and the 1704 Raid on Deerfield as evidence of these complicated interactions and relationships. Historical Maps: The maps in “category A” will be maps that show the least information – and basically just include the English colonists and a few Indian tribes. The maps in “category B” will be maps that portray some of the other European nations colonizing the space that is now the United States. The maps in “category C” are focused on Native American tribes and where they were located before colonization. Most maps in categories A and B are from around 1750 (for consistency), whereas the maps from category C seem to be based on tribal locations prior to colonization (there was much movement after colonization began). Therefore, the combining of these maps is a bit anachronistic. However, in examining them together, we believe that students may begin to be able to analyze which European groups may have encountered which Native American groups. They will begin to see more of the story of the complex interactions between the Europeans and the “Indians.” Pequot Massacre: Death and destruction in the 1630s among the tribes of what would become Connecticut defy belief. Estimates of 90% casualties among Native Americans from European-borne diseases created tremendous turmoil among various tribes. Trade with Europeans further destabilized the area. Europeans avidly traded metal goods for furs. Besides pots and pans, knives, hatchets, muskets, and ammunition led to essentially 17th century arms race in America. Tribes that were able to obtain weaponry and alliances gained security and economic advantage. Destabilization proceeded at lightening pace. In 1630, Massachusetts Bay colonists arrived along the Connecticut coast and river valley. By 1638, the Pequot tribe largely surrendered. The English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch competed with each other economically and militarily in large part because they were neighbors. Likewise with the Mohegans, Nipmucs, Narragansetts, and Pequots. Competition for limited resources as well as complicated histories of prior wars and insults infect Europe even today. The tribes of southern New England shared similarly fluid animosity and alliance. As the Dutch and English increasingly competed for territory and trade further pressure and competition occurred among the Indians. The Puritans of Massachusetts Bay, in an attempt to monopolize the fur trade in the area realized that the Pequot were the most powerful tribe and that due to the nature of previous wars and competition that a large alliance with neighboring tribes could be established. In 1636, excuses for an attack on the Pequot appeared with the murders of several Puritan invaders into Pequot territory. The Puritans allied with Nipmuc, Narragansett, and Mohegan tribes against the Pequot. Atrocities occurred on both sides, but the most prominent event was the shooting and burning alive of hundreds of Pequot on May 26, 1637 – an event that is commonly known as the “Mystic Massacre” and was a major factor in the near annihilation of the Pequot tribe. Raid on Deerfield: On February 29, 1704 t French and Indian forces attacked the English