Last updated: December 19, 2024
Lesson Plan
Distanced and Displaced Lesson Plan
The Kiowa and Comanche nations meet for the Medicine Lodge Treaty, 1867.
Smithsonian/J. Howland, Harper's Weekly
- Grade Level:
- Middle School: Sixth Grade through Eighth Grade
- Subject:
- Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 60 Minutes
- State Standards:
- 8th SS1.1.a. Use and interpret documents and other relevant primary and secondary sources pertaining to US history from multiple diverse perspectives. SS.1.2.c. Examine the causes and effects of the territorial, political, and economic expansion of the US
- Additional Standards:
- 8th SS 1.2.b. Evaluate continuity/change over the course of US history by examining various eras and determining major sources of conflict/compromise both in Colorado and across the nation. Including...the Indian Removal Act, Sand Creek Massacre
- Thinking Skills:
- Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts.
Essential Question
1. What factors caused Cheyenne and Arapaho homelands to be reduced and relocated to Oklahoma?
2. Name five tribes whose homelands are on the Great Plains.
Objective
Compare U.S. political maps today with Native American land maps prior to westward expansion. Trace the cession of homelands resulting from U.S. treaties with Native American nations through the perspective of George Bent.
Background
Intro:
Bent’s Fort began as a trading post in the southern plains on Cheyenne and Arapaho homelands during the 1830s. People who visited the post were either from regional Native American tribes or were U.S. and Mexican traders and merchants traveling along the Santa Fe Trail between Santa Fe (then Mexico) and Independence, MO. The trade at Bent’s Fort centered on the buffalo robe market. Cheyenne and Arapaho members hunted and processed the buffalo into large, warm robes to be exchanged for other useful goods like fabrics, cookware, tools, and food staples. The buffalo robes along with other trade goods were bundled and put on wagons for distribution to the northeastern U.S., Mexico, and beyond. Understanding tradition, setting, and the economic role of Southern Plains nations in environmental preservation and resource extraction is key to understanding the causes leading to relocation off their homelands.
Preparation
Materials Needed:
- Distanced and Displaced Narrative and Vocabulary
- Distanced and Displaced Activity Page
- Tribal lands map image
- Online access to the following maps: plainstribes.jpg (accessed Dec. 2024), nomadictribalmovement.jpg (accessed Dec. 2024), Native-Land.ca | Our home on native land (accessed Dec. 2024)
Materials
Main text for Distanced and Displaced lesson which contains the writings of George Bent who grew up in the southern plains to witness and take part in the factors leading up to Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho nation relocation.
Download Distanced and Displaced Narrative and Vocabulary
Map of tribal lands during the 1800s showing the region surrounding Bent's Fort and labeling various Native American nations' homelands.
Companion map activity to lesson to estimate the distance between Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho homelands in southeastern Colorado and their relocated reservation in Oklahoma.
Download Distanced and Displaced Activity Page
Spanish version companion map activity to lesson to estimate the distance between Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho homelands in southeastern Colorado and their relocated reservation in Oklahoma.
Download Distanciado y Desplazado
Lesson Hook/Preview
Display or pass out copies of the “tribal lands map.” Compare this map with the one shown on the “Distanced and Displaced” Activity Page. Both maps show the same area. Ask group, "What differences do you notice?" (Possible answers include: boundary lines are drawn differently, boundaries on the tribal lands map are not squared off, the tribal lands map gives the name of the tribe that lived there rather than state names, the Arkansas and Platte River are the same, there are many more regions noted in the tribal map.)
Follow up by asking, “Why has our U.S. map changed?” Accept logical answers.
Procedure
Activity
1. View the following online maps as a group either by classroom screen or individual laptop: plainstribes.jpg and nomadictribalmovement.jpg
2. Compare these two maps and discuss what they suggest regarding Native American "territory" or political boundaries. (They are fluid because of traditional and seasonal tribal movement.)
3. Notice the where the Kiowa and Comanche arrows on the tribal movement map intersect (approximate area of Bent's Fort at the Arkansas River).
4. Ask group, "How easy would it be to fill out a blank map for Native American nations?" (Answer: "Difficult, since the nations were moving and also difficult since various movements changed over time")
5. Go to https://native-land.ca
6. Zoom in to find the region surrounding Bent’s Fort. Discover what peoples lived in the area. (Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, Ute, etc.) Toggle “languages.”
7. Notice the variety of languages spoken by Native Americans living in the southern plains.
8. Toggle “treaties” to find the Medicine Lodge Treaty or type the name of the treaty in the search bar.
9. Read the paragraph at the top of the “Distanced and Displaced” Activity Page, which shows the sketch of the Medicine Lodge Treaty to introduce the lesson.
Lesson
1. Pre-read the vocabulary words and definitions before assigning the reading of the Distanced and Displaced narrative.
2. Prompt students to read for at least three factors which led to Native Americans being displaced.
3. After reading, discuss the factors leading to Native American displacement. Provide opportunities to discuss fairness, national sovereignty, citizenship, and rights. Reinforce how Native American displacement was a component of westward expansion.
4. Assign "Distanced and Displaced Activity Page." Answers to Activity page are approximately 430 miles and 36 days.
5. Summarize key points and pass out Exit Ticket.
Vocabulary
Cession – formally giving up rights to property or territory
Treaty – an official agreement between nations
Westward expansion – movement of mostly Anglo settlers into the western territories of the United States in order to benefit from the land and its resources
Displaced – a person or object moved from its original or proper place
Depletion – reduction in the amount of something
Irreparable – unable to be repaired
Stage lines – routes for mail or passenger travel that were run by stagecoach companies
Massacre – the killing of a number of helpless and unresisting human beings
Dog Soldier – One belonging to a Cheyenne military society for the resistance against American westward expansion
Indian agent – an individual authorized to interact with Native American tribes on behalf of the U.S. government
Reservation – an area of land set aside for Native American occupation
Assessment Materials
Distanced and Displaced Exit TicketAssessment Exit Ticket for Distanced and Displaced Lesson containing its two essential questions.
1. What factors caused Cheyenne and Arapaho homelands to be reduced and relocated to Oklahoma?
2. Name five tribes whose homelands are on the Great Plains.
Assessment Exit Ticket containing the two essential questions for Distanced and Displaced Lesson.
Rubric/Answer Key
Possible answers to Exit Ticket essential questions:
1. What factors caused Cheyenne and Arapaho homelands to be reduced and relocated to Oklahoma?
- depletion of land and game
- disease
- military presence
- breaking of treaties
- it was one of the goals of US westward expansion
2. Name five tribes whose homelands are on the Great Plains.
- Cheyenne
- Arapaho
- Kiowa
- Comanche
- Ute
- Jicarilla Apache
- Kiowa Apache
- Pawnee
Supports for Struggling Learners
Select small groups or pairs to read narrative text aloud. Read narrative to whole group aloud. Use reading strategies (context clues, underlining, re-reading, etc.)
Provide individual and enlarged copies of maps.
Assign Exit Ticket assessment in pairs.
Enrichment Activities
Social/Emotional Enrichment:
Discuss the dilemmas George Bent faced as an ethnically mixed person who identified with his Cheyenne heritage. From this narrative, what courageous or compromising actions stand out? Why do you think he stayed with his Cheyenne family? What did he lose or risk losing by doing so? Even though his work as Indian agent ended with the removal of his tribe from their homelands, consider if it was worth it for George to attempt peace with the U.S. government. Why or why not? In what ways have you sought to make peace between people even though it didn’t work the way you wanted?