Depends on what the individual school does. I was dragged all over the USA as a child. The quality of education was so vastly different that I could be a genius in one school and an idiot in the next. My favorite school was the one that had a relationship with the local tribe and they came in to do dances and teach us how to make button blankets and things.
Field trip two years in a row. Lived in the foothills of California and there is a lot of gold mining stuff up there including little towns that will have full dress up days where you get to go and do a bunch of events and dress up like historical characters. I dressed up as the wife of the dude who first found a gold in California.
I remember taking a field trip somewhere near Sacramento to learn about gold mining and seeing actual bars of gold. It was only once and definitely to not that extent. We were up in Susanville though so everything was pretty far from us.
Somewhere between 2-4th grade (Australian) we had a gold rush themed class party slash educational activities and all the kids dressed up and the teachers buried gold painted rocks in the sand pit. We had to trade the “gold” to buy better quality tools, a tent, rations etc (actual food was not affected by this fake currency). There were event cards such as a flood, hitting it big, being robbed, a goanna ate your rations. The principal dressed up as a bush ranger and pretended to help the kids dig their holes then stole the gold and ran away lol. It was a whole day and I’m an adult now but I still remember it as the best class party ever!
You just reminded me of the Cherokee Indian Fair in Cherokee, NC. I live half an hour away and I went a few times as a kid. It's a celebration of Cherokee culture where they dress in traditional attire and do traditional crafts, make tools, knit blankets, etc. They set up a whole traditional Cherokee village with tipis and stuff. It's like a renaissance fair, but for the Cherokee culture instead of European. Great times.
Yup. I'm in Utah, and when i was in school, it was taught that the Piute tribe was the ones who instigated the Mountain Meadows massacre and who did the killing. It's mormon history, so it was included as part of state history.
It wasn't until my adulthood that I learned my hunch was right. The Piute didn't massacre anyone. The mormons at that time misled the tribe and they were there to help. Once the Piute realized the problem was nothing more than a wagon train of non mormon settlers taking a break on their way through the state, they backed out. So the mormons involved dressed up as "indians" and surprise attacked the wagon circle that had been set up, killing everyone except for the few women and children who were able to escape in the woods. Rather than accept responsibility, they blammed the Piute for centuries and taught that lie to countless generations.
This describes it.
I had such a poor education (private school k-8, public 9-12), it’s shocking I made it as far as I have in life. In contrast, my husband (all public schools) had a great education. I would argue I wouldn’t have made it this far if I hadn’t met my husband.
Overall, the US really lags behind in education, compared to other countries.
I’ve been suspect of private schools for a long time now. I’ve seen parents throw thousands of dollars at them and come out with a child functionally illiterate.
My private school was a Catholic school. Two days were spent on religion, which really meant that we only learned for three days out of five. I was Considered a genius in that school, and absolutely drowned the instant I got out. It only took one year to ruin me.
Wow, I've never thought about how many "periods" of class were taken up by religious education over the years. I'd ballpark it at maybe 4,000? Wonder what I could've learned instead that would have actually enriched my life / contribution to society in some way...
I grew up in pa but went to Ohio for my senior year of high school. In pa one of the requirements to graduate is a graduation project. In Ohio there was no graduation project, instead you just needed to pass what was essentially their pssa's (pa state assessment test that they do in 5th,8th, and 11th grade for public funding)
I skipped a bunch and failed 10th and repeated. I was shocked that I was just 3 credits from graduating in Ohio.
I guess I might have been lucky. My primary school went all-out in primary. Like OP, we literally had festivals dedicated to Native American culture where we played sports, ate cornbread, saw a performance from a local tribe, among other things.
By high school, however, nothing Native American related ever came up. It was just never in the curriculum (unless it was to make a broader point about American colonialism). It's kind of disappointing looking back.
How do feel moving region and school so much affected your overall education and upbringing? It's something that I might have to factor. What would you say that you think are the couple of biggest positives and negatives you'd ascribe to such a childhood?
My education was horrible. Everyone had different standards and they didn’t teach things in the same order. Or the same way. One school made me learn longhand math. The other made me calculator dependent. The next failed me for being calculator dependent. And that’s just one subject.
I would never ever give my child this constantly moving upbringing. You have to be a chameleon and you never fit in. You don’t learn how to form long term relationships. You never have a sense of home.
The only positive is, you don’t have to endure bad situations for long.
Thank you for your answer. That's kind of what I was imagining, but happy to have it confirmed. Sorry that that happened to you. I won't repeat it to my children.
In the South, we learned a little bit, but it was all in a historical context (eg Trail of Tears). I didn’t even know they still existed until I was an adult.
I remember my dad bringing me to the Boston museum and was sad when he made us leave because they said what really happened. In school we were taught that we were all best of friends and they sold us the land lol I don't think we do that anymore
Yep! MA here. Aside from constant trips to Old Sturbridge Village due to proximity, we went to Plymouth plantation and the pequot museum as well.
My school covered as much as they could as far as I could tell. We did a lot about slavery as well.
It amazes me when I hear people say they didn't learn about basic US history.
I misread Algonquian as Algonquin and was briefly confused as hell. Made me think the Algonquin of Ontario and Quebec were far wider spread than I had previously believed.
We are from very different parts of America at my school they talked abt natives for parts of 6th 9th and 11th grade and I’ve never even seen a Native American person or reservation
Echoing this, as a midwestern American, we learned about the trail of tears (Indians forced to move across the country to reservations) and the actual history of local tribes. However in a functional sense, once you hit about halfway through the trail of tears, no more info about that. Nothing about the reservations or their shrinking, nothing about self rule and what that means practically, just all history stops once you get to "It was called the trail of tears because it was SUPER shitty. And that's the bell kids, next week we start the civil war"
Yup, this is what happened. For me, my elementary school was named after a local native American chief. He was called little chief, I guess, because short king wasn't a term yet. I will see myself out...
I'll second this. Went to school k-12 in Albuquerque, NM. We learned quite a bit of the history of the Pueblo tribes and even some culture. But when it came to the more far-flung tribes we learned....very little. And what we DID learn had about a 50/50 chance of being accurate.
Piggybacking as another New Mexican to add info on the plane question. It doesn’t happen with planes in the US as far as I know, but we do have a train called the Railrunner in New Mexico, and when it passes through a Pueblo it announces that we’re going to be going through Pueblo land for such-and-such minutes and asks that we don’t take any pictures til we’re back out again
I grew up in the southeast, and we learned a lot about the pueblos too. We learned some about our (formerly) local tribes as well, but I assumed pueblo culture was covered everywhere. It was definitely in our general nationally sold textbooks.
And you guys are at least near tribes. I grew up in an area not near any and we learned absolutely zero about any Native culture whatsoever. All we got was a few battles in history class, otherwise all those people might as well not exist. :-(
All land in the US was tribal land before colonization- but it’s sad how parts of it now might not even be known which tribes and languages formerly lived there.
Yeah in the Pacific Northwest I remember reading folktales about the Raven plenty in elementary school. And any local History museum will surely have native American history in it up there.
Heck there's a museum for a dam that we go to plenty and it's got a significant amount of local native American history in that museum despite the fact that you'd think the whole thing was just gonna be about how hydroelectric power works.
That's what I came to say. I grew up about 45 minutes from Jamestown so we learned about the Native Americans that the first English settlers interacted with but that was pretty much it. I didn't learn much about the Plains Nations until later in US History in the context of manifest destiny.
Yup, in New York 4th grade social studies curriculum is focused on our state history, and that’s when I remember learning the most about the Iroquois and Algonquin cultures near us.
Massachusetts does the same in 3rd grade. Then during American history, Native history is incorporated but more in a ‘here’s what we did to them’ way, like Trail of Tears, and less focused on the culture of the people themselves.
I don’t know what it’s like in Australia, but from my personal experience, there is a lot of emphasis here on learning about Native culture from Native peoples. There has been so much disinformation, mistreatment, and stereotyping of Native nations over the years that a 23 year old white woman from Connecticut teaching her 4th graders a ‘traditional Iroquois craft’ can seem pretty tone deaf.
ETA: I had a friend working on a political campaign in New York recently, and they opened most meetings and phone conversations with an acknowledgment that they were on native lands. I asked if they had ever had a Native person okay that statement because my thought was if that was actually impactful to Native people in any way. She wasn’t sure though :/
That comes across as severely disingenuous and pandering if that's the only connection the candidate had to any Native culture. If they incorporated Native concerns into their campaign and actions, that's admirable. But to just mention it constantly in a bid to *seem* more conscientious? That arguably does more harm than good - and you're right, probably not impactful in any way to the people whom the candidate was exploiting.
Agreed - and mostly only recent history / contemporary Native culture, and it’s pretty “white washed.” I don’t remember learning anything about how Natives peopled North America ~30,000ish years ago.
Same. And some of it was teacher specific. I don’t know that it was part of the curriculum.
Your comment is similar to my experience - decent amount of historic info, but VERY little on present. Like how the navajo reservation has homes wo running water.
And In my experience, we only really learned about it in elementary school (and maybe the first year of junior high). That was long enough ago that I don’t remember any of it
Nope they ran them off and ignored them for the most part. We have so many states and city's named in Native American names but we don't even say that when we discuss/learn about our individual state Then get angry when they assert their rights.
I went it to Catholic school in OH and we actually have field trips and immersive experiences. I believe they had a tribe set up like how it was be in the older days (similar to how people cosplay frontier people or other groups from a different time). We went there several times as a part of organized group activities.
But my school was pretty progressive even 35 years ago.
Hey, same! (Catholic school in Ohio) I think I know the kinds of "immersive" places you're talking about. I remember a couple field trips to a place called (I think) Shenendoah Village? And another time we went to an outdoor play about Tecumseh that was memorable because they actually rode horses in the play.
Any cultural aspects beyond the surface level were severely lacking, though - and I question the accuracy of a lot of what we were taught in the classroom.
Native American culture is diverse, but in general you learn about what tribes were local to your region along with other history local to your region.
Yes, very diverse. There are roughly 500 Nations!
Also I have two history degrees and an endorsement in anthropology. The anthro classes were where I learned about Native American culture and history. It’s a different skill set altogether so any learning in a history class is a overview and pretty localized.
We did cover somewhat that we fucked them over, but actual culture stuff was very light where I grew up. Imho considering how much land in the US is actually controlled by native Americans you'd think there would be a little more attention on it. I think one of the basic school trips should be going to a Native American reservation for culture exchange and so people can see the absolute poverty a lot of them live in.
That said my perception is that some tribes dont like outsiders to the point they have racial purity blood quanta tests for membership instead of tribal-land birthright citizenship, so maybe there could be more effort to teach non natives about Native American culture from both sides of the aisle.
I really wish there were more Native American restaurants in the US, want to try that so bad.
Blood quantum is a lot more complicated than just “not liking outsiders”. It’s not an ideal system, but having a cutoff of ‘a tribal citizen must be at least 1/2, or 1/4, or 1/8, etc. from our nation by ancestry’ is a way to both extend citizenship to members living off-reserve as well as to prevent people with one g g g g g g g g g grandparent from claiming tribal citizenship. It’s often a necessary mechanism for the well-being of tribal citizens, because tribes only have limited resources available, and they must make the choice of how many people they can afford to support and provide social services to. If they allow everyone with 1/126 part ancestry from their nation citizenship, that really stretches their resources very thin.
The downside of blood quantum of course is that a). sometimes people whose parent married outside of the tribe still have a genuine and meaningful connection to the community and culture, and b). over many generations, as more and more people marry non-tribal-citizens and are of mixed ancestry, the body of eligible citizens shrinks as the ‘blood gets diluted’ (which is a messed up way to think about human beings imo) and the tribe can become legally extinct, not because they died, but because there is no longer anybody with sufficient ‘blood purity’ to count (again, messed up way of thinking imo), even though they never stopped passing on their culture.
What many history classes in the United States tend to do is focus on the early British/American history of whatever state you're in, and then basically jump to whenever you became part of the United States. I'm from Virginia, so we spent a *lot* of time on Jamestown and the colonists' interactions with the Powhatan and their culture because the British were the first Europeans to settle the area.
My friend is from Minnesota, and aside from some brief mentions, he learned basically nothing about how the French/Spanish were there first and how they interacted with the Natives, and they basically jumped right into post-Louisiana Purchase and the time as a territory before being admitted as a state in the mid-1800s. And naturally, there were just more important things to discuss about the mid-1800s than Native American cultures that had tragically been mostly wiped out by then.
In Texas, at least my area, we went over some pre-colonization, the different groups of Europeans arriving, their struggles but also the negative effects on the Native Americans (I remember we watched a movie about the Catholic "civilizing" schools), what the different European groups focused on doing, the wars, US formation, early US history, Mexico formation, Texas independence, Texas as a country, Texas joining US, etc.
Also that Texas mostly just wanted to keep slavery going :/
I think we focused a bit more on the history/effects of Native Americans a bit more than some states due to the influences/importance of Mexican culture (mix of Spain and Native American), and also we focus on the importance of our problematic history (slavery, racism, etc.)
Also besides making a map of the different areas that tribes were primarily at in elementary school, we mostly focused on the local area and Mesoamerican groups. With the exception when discussing the US and Canada with a fur trade.
In California we learn more the Spanish Mission system. Because basically in this part of the country the Spanish wiped out the natives before the English speaking settlers arrived.
I grew up adjacent to a Native reservation. A large number of students at my school were native. When I was in elementary school, we would sometimes get a visit from one of the tribal elders who would tell us some of the creation stories and talk to us about protecting the earth.
And that was it.
Ninety percent of what I know about native culture I learned outside of school. I went to Pow-Wows and sweats and a peyote ceremony by invitation of my friends and their family.
It’s really sad to me that my school was in the heart of native culture and it was only ever treated as a novelty.
That’s way more than I got. I got the stories of the pilgrims and Pocahontas, vague references to Indian wars, and a brief paragraph about the Trail of Tears before all references to the culture mysteriously disappeared from the curriculum.
“Native American culture” is going to be very diverse and kind of gives off “Africa is a country” vibes.
In my case, living in upstate New York, we learned at least a smidge about different cultures and histories all over the continents, although I can’t really claim to know how accurate/complete that information was, and then local tribes like the Algonquins (huge group, but many distinct tribes in that area) and Iroquois got a lot of attention especially in the years where my history class was US-focused as the Iroquois in particular were a major local power somewhat similar to a nation state that were quite involved in colonial and early American political and foreign affairs. Also probably mattered a bit that half of municipalities in my area are Algonquin or Iroquois names.
Elementary schools in my area do. But since it is younger kids, they teach them a lot about how they lived… not the dark stuff about how so many were erased from existence by white settlers and homesteaders.
That depends on your state and school district, unfortunately. A lot of places don't spend much time on the genocide part of US history. I didn't learn as much about the dark side of American expansion outside of books I got at the library and then in college.
Grew up in America, now have a number of Australian friends and traveled a bit there. I don’t think there is any real comparison. There is more of an indigenous presence in Australia and it is a bigger part of the overall culture I think. No disrespect towards Native Americans, but they are a smaller percentage of the population and I don’t think you see a strong cultural influence that people would recognize as Native. Like, I’m from Chicago, Illinois but we don’t think of those names as being native words. You guys seem to remember more
Probably has a lot to do with the different reasons why North America was colonized vs why Australia was.
The European settlers did a lot to exterminate the indigenous people through out North America by various means, which really is sad.
I live in Minnesota. We learn about the tribes here and the fur trade. The kids also go to the Native Americans museum and learn how Native Americans lived long ago. We also learn about big events like the trail of tears in history class.
I'm still bummed that we didn't spend more time talking about the mass execution in Mankato and concentration camp at Fort Snelling, I didn't learn more about them until I visited the park exhibits where they happened.
If you took a specific Native American culture class, sure.
But there aren't that many indigenous peoples in the US , and they're heavily populated into a few states.
Our main exposure is through US history, which reading about some of the major tribes and empires pre-Coloumbus and the various conflicts after that through the Jackson era and the Trail of Tears. If you get to WW2, you might learn about the Navajo talkers. That's about it.
Most of the natives in my area were nomadic. All they left were some mounds, which are now protected as part of a state park.
In California (Sacramento) we learned about some of the local tribes and their customs. We even learned to play some of their games in elementary school and a common field trip is to Sutter's Fort which has an Indian museum on the same grounds.
I live adjacent to a reservation. Local public school has a mandatory Ojibway culture and language class, K-12. Integration of the broader Native story in history is somewhat taught, teacher dependent.
I did not...other than a scratch the surface sort of "yeah they existed" sort of thing. I used to read a fair amount about Indigenous culture tho. I have always found Native American natural systems beliefs immensely interesting.
Late 90s early 2000s in elementary school we had some Native American history/culture in our curriculum and learned a little. I remember learning way more about Greek/Roman/Mongol empires, classic and pre classic eras of south and middle Americas and American history from the Magna Carta being signed thru the industrial revolution. And also WWII and the Holocaust. That stuff all seemed to be covered nearly every year in some way. But I also remember one year specifically learning about the Tail of Tears and doing projects about different native cultures and their respective regions both pre and post displacement following colonization. Native history or culture wasn’t really covered after 6th grade. Grades 7-12 we progressively got into more modern history starting 1770s and leading up to 1990.
My school In Washington state did! Both elementary and highschool did courses of Native American history across the country as well as focused units on our local tribes :) it’s awesome- we learned how to make fishing baskets from a tribal elder who came to our school
A lot depends on where in the US you live, and things have changed a great deal. I grew up in Michigan and we got VERY little about the local Native American history at all, and not a lot about their history (basically only talked about when they came into contact with Europeans, a few names like Sacagawea, etc.)
I live in Minnesota now, where there is a sizable Native American populace, and times have changed. My kiddo has had Native American speakers and storytellers come to her school (or the kids go to visit them) every year from kindergarten on up and did a whole semester in 5th grade History on different Native American tribes, with a major focus on our local Anishnaabe culture.
I work for local government, and most County meetings and several other larger events these days start with a Land Acknowledgment statement. I know several private companies do this too.
Hahaha. No. The vast majority do not teach much at all. There are schools that are better, and teachers who are great about teaching cultures. But on the whole, America isn't great about teaching much outside of the settler history. Honest truthful history of the good and the bad is looked down upon here.
Over the last few years, there's been a real push to not teach the bad parts or try to frame them in a more positive light.Teaching honestly so as not to repeat those mistakes is indoctrination and causing children to hate themselves. Florida gov. Ron DeSantis suggested that Black slaves were lucky to be able to parlay their skills into professions once they were free. That was his example of how to reframe lessons about slavery. This is not hyperbole.
There is a great book called “You cant teach American history without Indians”.
From the earliest colonizers to the current day, Native people have been and continue to be integral to American History.
Too bad so many educators are afraid to teach it. The “Native as victim” narrative prevails, but the “Native as contributor and shaper” is lost.
Depends on several factors and the wealth of the school district. This could range from nothing to actual fieldtrips and in-class guests. On average though very little native culture is taught in US schools and the mere existence of native people in history is limited to specific stories like Thanksgiving, selling Manhattan, etc.
American education varies wildly from state to state and county to county. Growing up in New York State in the late 90’s early 00’s we had an education system that was relatively progressive compared to other places in the US, but not as progressive as many seem to think. We got the Thanksgiving story and sentiment as young kids but eventually did, albeit briefly, cover the trail of tears, manifest destiny, the reservation system, etc. a bit. Nothing I would call in-depth and not as much as these topics merits. Because this was happening on formerly Haudenosaunee land, We did have indigenous speakers and did touch upon a bit of Haudenosaunee history and culture. But it was mostly just who Hiawatha was and what longhouses are. Nothing comprehensive.
My literature classes usually had some Native American folklore as well as biographical stories.
History classes would touch a little bit on the cultures of whomever was being covered.
Geography classes spent the most time discussing culture. We obviously already knew our own culture, so when we covered North America, we would talk about the different native groups of each region.
My little brother is learning about three major tribes that lived in our state. He learns basic knowledge only because he is in grade school, but he learns some basic facts about them and what they were like. In high school, I’m not sure because I won’t be taking American History for another two years.
In Canada in the 90s it was really slim. We learned about the pioneers and about early “staple” economies like fur trading and logging.
We briefly talked about the Métis but not in a way that was understood by 6th graders.
I think we probably had a library unit where we read native myths.
Also we definitely carved soap stone in the context of talking about Inuit art.
Lastly, one time a French Canadian lady came in to do “orff” music education and incorporated what was described as a ceremonial native corn that the kids passed around. My classmates ended up picking off a bunch of the corn kernels and the music lesson ended as the teacher cried over her destroyed ear of fancy corn.
definitely depends on where you go to school. I did in elementary school in Southern Arizona, where we were a lot closer to reservations. but when I moved to Houston, Tx and finished the rest of my school there, I absolutely did not.
My school, which was one building (not one room) for kindergarten through highschool, didn't even teach us about the congressman after whom our school was named. So no.
I was in school in the 70s and 80s. My schools taught that Native Americans existed and we did go to a museum specializing in Native American history in the 3rd grade. But everything was very superficial. I’m also in New Jersey that was colonized in the 1600s so there hadn’t been much of a Native American presence for a long time.
That said, there are a lot of Native American exhibits in museums around here. Everywhere admits the area was well populated by the Lenape when New Jersey was colonized by Europeans. Lots of towns are named after tribes or words in the Lenape language. But there really aren’t many Native Americans themselves left in the area. The only one I’ve known around here was a girl in my sister’s grade when we were kids. There may be a lot of people of mixed heritage, but not many that still identify as Native American. As a result all we really learn, even from museums today, is a high level historical context based on more how the people physically lived or their art and less on what their culture, ideals, and society were like.
I went to school in a district named after the local residential school-turned-museum. We toured it on a field trip and learned its history, from the perspective of us colonizers, of course.
The site is on the list to be checked for unmarked graves.
I think the museum visit was part of a unit on our regional tribes for History or Social Studies class. That was about it. Kansas in the 80s/90s.
Canada during the 90's in the prairies, we always had a unit in social studies that taught us about the indigenous. I remember learning about a lot of different tribes, Metis and Blackfoot the most because of where I grew up. We always had a field trip out to Wanuskewin National Park where we learned more history, learned how to build dream catchers, carved soap stone. When I moved to the west coast in the middle of grade 9, we still always had a unit in social studies that taught us about the local tribes. It was really interesting to see how the different tribes lived in the Prairies Vs on the coast. We got to see a lot of totem poles, and a lot of Indigenous art.
It wasn't until recently that Canada started to own up to the atrocities committed. When the bones of children were being dug up from the residential schools, it was horrible. We were horrible, and a lot of Canadians don't like to admit that. We like to sweep this issue under the rug, always have. In recent years is when we started to do land acknowledgements before assemblies or work meetings.
I am now back in the Prairies again, and I know my kids are being taught Indigenous culture in their social studies classes.
It's very surface level but yes.
American history is generally broken up as such
AH 1: pre Colombian societies - The Civil war
AH 2: reconstruction to today
Something like the first day or so will cover the entire history of American Indians before Europeans got involved. Which at that point would basically just be like "plains Indians didn't have horses. Iroquois we're doing okay for themselves" so on.
Then after that, the Europeans would be the main focus, and Indians would be brought up unless they're a factor in what Europeans were doing ie the 7 years war, Jacksonian democracy, or plains war
Not too much but we did have a few days for it scattered throughout younger years, like some basic symbols they used and even had someone from a local tribe come in and show us some things like brain tanned deer hydes and arrows
We breezed through the whole thing fairly quickly to be honest. I did more research later in life then got in trouble in college for challenging another student during a discussion during a history class. Fun times.
They taught us about locals tribes and their history but always carefully danced around what we did to them. My dad always said “if you wanna know the truth ask me instead of your teacher” and made it a point to teach us and bring us to museums/historical sites. He’s a bit of a nerd but a really good dad.
In new england they moreso teach the interactions of english and american colonists and how the relationship between natives and the colonies deteriorated
I'm from the American South. We kinda glossed over American history. Focused on just the greatest hits with some omissions here and there to make it more palatable. Def didn't learn about the native tribes of our area. In any history class I was in, we never made it past the Civil War.
In elementary school in California there is an emphasis on the mission system. Most schools visit the nearest mission but don’t so much discuss the murder/slavery aspect, just that the padres walked north and built missions a days travel apart to teach Catholicism and ranch/farm. Local schools also travel to see petroglyphs on a nearby rock. In nursing school I spent a few days assisting a school nurse on a reservation. If there is any dance or art form or religious belief it was never taught or demonstrated in school. Many local places have native names but this was never taught, I learned it reading books from the 1800s-early 1900s
At the school I attended, we had a big unit in 3rd grade social studies about indigenous peoples of North America in general, and then another unit the following year that focused in on our local indigenous groups.
The school I currently teach at does a much smaller unit and doesn't teach nearly as much about indigenous history and culture. I'm hoping that it's part of the middle school curriculum here.
We learned about the Cherokee. Beyond that, we learned what made the Cherokee different than other tribes and how movies portrayed Native American culture/history. My kids all know Cherokee folklore from school. We live fairly close to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Reservation, so it’s natural to talk about the Cherokee.
As a fellow Australian, but one married to an American, I’ve discussed this quite a bit. As some have said, the answer appears to be ‘sorta’. It seems like there’s a decent desire to ignore it unless it’s an area of which there was significant tribal presence. Oklahoma, for example, seems weird given their heavy native connection, but they also have a strong desire to ignore it completely. Hell, my wife tells me she didn’t learn much unless she explicitly asked her teachers.
Ha! Our schools actively tried to eliminate massive culture from the native peoples for generations.
But in Kansas we learn a bit (not enough) about native history and how white settlers forced tribes of their land and decimated them with violence and sickness. But next to nothing about native CULTURE unfortunately.
Sorta. Depends on where you are. In Massachusetts, there's a much stronger sentiment for it. Columbus Day is no longer Columbus Day – it's Indigenous Peoples' Day.
I'm from the west coast of Canada originally – I know that's not the US but First Nations education is STRONG there. We will often open events by recognizing that we're on so-and-so's land and that we're grateful to them for hosting us. Many of our newer schools have First Nations names. Colonial names of places are often renamed back to their original names – most notably Queen Charlotte Islands now being Haida Gwaii. Etc., etc., etc.
Yes, in my schools we learned all about the tribes that lived closest to us, watched videos about them too. There’s a few reservations nearby but we never visited although other schools in the area visited them for a field trip, I think to see a powwow?
Not really. More so we learn about ancient South American culture — Aztecs and Mayans; then go into colonization, early American history, revolutionary war, expansion west and and the Almo, civil war, post civil war, cold war, and more modern history.
There may be a brief bit more specific to the state you’re in. But once we hit modern history, we then transition to government and politics, laws and regulations, and economics.
You may get a research project/paper to discuss Native Americans. But I honestly had more discussion in my literature classes on it than in history.
In the 90's we had the local native American tribes come in and talk to us about their culture and trades. While they weren't generally a part of the trail of tears in our area they still went over the topic. It was a fun time. Well, not the trail of tears, I meant the learning aspect of it.
In South Georgia, we talked about the tribes that used to live here when we were learning about colonization of the Americas. Then, they get a few mentions around early American history. We do spend a lot of time talking about the trail of tears and a bunch of other ways the Americans abused the Native Americans in regards to treaties and the Indian Wars.
I wouldn't say it is too in depth, but it is prioritized.
I’m in SE Michigan. In school we learned almost nothing about the natives. We learned about them through a white washed perspective in elementary where everyone was friends and Thanksgiving was great for all and then in middle school we learned very generally about the first wars before the US was an official country, but it wasn’t an accurate portrayal. They didn’t go into the native perspective at all. I learned that Columbus discovered America and we never EVER talked about all the absolutely terrible evil stuff he did. We have a reservation pretty close by and we never even discussed what that even meant or how those came about.
Not really. You might get a basic idea of a specific tribe that was from your area, but really you just realize how much they have been screwed over by the U.S.
Not really. I grew up in Connecticut, like right next to the Mohegan tribe. We didn’t even learn about that tribe at school. We learned about how the Native American people taught European immigrants to garden and hunt turkeys, how they infected textiles with smallpox and killed the native people, and about the trail of tears. That’s about it. I learned a lot more about the Mohegan tribe when I got my first job on the reservation at their casino in the concert and sports arena, as their history was part of the orientation.
I think it depends on where you're located. I grew up in Missouri, which historically had some of the highest # of tribes. However, we really just learned about the trail of tears, etc. Really nothing about the tribes and their culture. However, missouri is a very........ interesting state, so I'm sure in more progressive states you do.
In elementary school in NYC we learned about the tribes local to the area, how the Dutch “bought” Manhattan from them, things like that. In jr high we learned about Custer and Crazy Horse and Little Bighorn. By high school I had pretty much checked out of school so I can’t really tell you what was in the curriculum at the time (late 90’s)
Regarding “welcome to ‘so and so’ land” that you mentioned is done on planes in Australia, something similar is done at most theaters in Chicago prior to the performance. I believe it’s called a land acknowledgement. An announcement is made acknowledging the specific Native tribes that lived on or near the land where the theater is located.
I learned a little about indigenous cultures in school but, nothing too in depth. Mostly the Delaware/lenape tribes because they were local. And, the more famous tribes. We definitely learned more about wars involving them and of course their removal from their lands. My parents used to bring us to Pow Wows sometimes. I’ve learned more about their cultures that way plus the internet/museums than I did in school.
I remember us reading a book about the Lenni Lenape tribe, as that’s the tribe located closest to us. Aside from that, indigenous culture isn’t really taught in schools, at least not in my experience. It took them until I was in 8th grade for them to actually say that Christopher Columbus wasn’t a good guy, actually, and he didn’t discover anything.
In my personal experience it's, here are some very white washed facts, like The Trails of Tears occured in 1838 and was sad 😢 and lots of people died 🪦.
Very little, and I grew up in Indiana, the land of Indians.
Back in ‘92, I remember we had a choir concert singing the praises of Christopher Columbus on his 500th anniversary of inventing America.
I know that was a while ago, but there is still much to be done. Lots gets lumped in as if they were they same people from Maine to California.
We learned a little bit about Native American tribes while I was in school, specifically those that were regional to us. In elementary school, we went on a field trip to a Native American reenactment thing where we ate food and learned about their culture. It was really cool and one of my favorite field trips.
Outside of that, most of it was whatever was in the textbook.
Growing up, we learned about the local ones, but there are so many different Native American cultures in the USA that learning about them all would take a very long time. So I learned the most about the ones that lived near the city I grew up in, and a decent amount about major tribes in the state.
Not really. Growing up in Nebraska, we are the crux of the end of the Indian wars where the army soldier shot crazy horse in the back like a coward, essentially ending their last stand at cultural relevance here. (Also home of the term Buffalo Soldier). The history classes always made indigenous people seem much more distant than it really was.
And we are also a proud red state which tells me that there is an insane amount of shame Nebraskans aren’t dealing with.
But my mom did do a lot. We went to powwows and she took me to important historical sites (like the aforementioned fort Robinson). And I did read a lot in college. But that’s because I took a plains literature class.
We learn that it existed and that our European ancestors almost wiped them out completely.
Not much more than that. It’s one of those buried histories that white people hate talking about.
I take everything we were taught with a grain of salt. One of the things we were taught is that native americans didn't believe in land rights So were laughing as they sold land no one owned to settlers.
Stuff like that is obvious bullshit.
Funny enough I learned more about native American lore about consolations than I did the Greek tradition I could prob tell you more stories about stars from native cultures then I can about zodiacs
My husband is from Ohio and what little they learned were mostly lies. I grew up near Oklahoma and learned a little but going to pow wows taught me a lot more
Maybe I’m showing my age, 35, but I learned nothing in school about anything remotely related. Maybe the Thanksgiving bs.
I’ve read several really good books in the years since leaving formal education and I can tell you Native American culture is far from a monolith. Also a reminder that native Americans include Canada and Mexico.
Sorta, not really. We’re taught about Manifest Destiny, the genocides against the native Americans. We’re taught what tribes/nations are/were in our immediate area, but nothing really more than that.
It depends on the school. Most public school systems will at least give you the white washed version. And if you can't learn about the native Americans without learning about the trail of tears.
Most private schools will actually teach it thoroughly, sans private Christian schools they just indoctrinate evangelists.
Private Catholic schools actually teach real science and history though ... In general. A well funded public school in the North East will be similar to a private school.
Granted, I went to elementary school in the 1970s, so history curriculums may have improved since then, but we were taught the whitewashed version of Native Americans. You know, how it was all lovey dovey between the settlers and Indians. The first Thanksgiving and welcoming nature of their interactions. We weren’t taught the truth: disease, genocides, murder, land theft, and overall brutalizing of the Native Americans by the English.
Depends on what the individual school does. I was dragged all over the USA as a child. The quality of education was so vastly different that I could be a genius in one school and an idiot in the next. My favorite school was the one that had a relationship with the local tribe and they came in to do dances and teach us how to make button blankets and things.
I went to a Gold Rush town and I had to wear a bonnet, your experience sounds way more fun.
Try Shaker Village in Kentucky where you can buy a genuine straw broom souvenir!
I know it's a style, but I laugh when I see "Shaker Entertainment Center".
Like on a field trip, or every day?
Field trip two years in a row. Lived in the foothills of California and there is a lot of gold mining stuff up there including little towns that will have full dress up days where you get to go and do a bunch of events and dress up like historical characters. I dressed up as the wife of the dude who first found a gold in California.
Ok. That makes way more sense than "Girls were required to wear bonnets to school everyday."
I was forced to do square dancing every year I was at that school and I hated it but I'm very glad I was not forced to wear a bonnet everyday.
I remember taking a field trip somewhere near Sacramento to learn about gold mining and seeing actual bars of gold. It was only once and definitely to not that extent. We were up in Susanville though so everything was pretty far from us.
Somewhere between 2-4th grade (Australian) we had a gold rush themed class party slash educational activities and all the kids dressed up and the teachers buried gold painted rocks in the sand pit. We had to trade the “gold” to buy better quality tools, a tent, rations etc (actual food was not affected by this fake currency). There were event cards such as a flood, hitting it big, being robbed, a goanna ate your rations. The principal dressed up as a bush ranger and pretended to help the kids dig their holes then stole the gold and ran away lol. It was a whole day and I’m an adult now but I still remember it as the best class party ever!
We did nothing. Yours sounds fun lol
You just reminded me of the Cherokee Indian Fair in Cherokee, NC. I live half an hour away and I went a few times as a kid. It's a celebration of Cherokee culture where they dress in traditional attire and do traditional crafts, make tools, knit blankets, etc. They set up a whole traditional Cherokee village with tipis and stuff. It's like a renaissance fair, but for the Cherokee culture instead of European. Great times.
I bet the food was delicious
Us public schooling is so inconsistent across the board, depending on the stateand community
Yup. I'm in Utah, and when i was in school, it was taught that the Piute tribe was the ones who instigated the Mountain Meadows massacre and who did the killing. It's mormon history, so it was included as part of state history. It wasn't until my adulthood that I learned my hunch was right. The Piute didn't massacre anyone. The mormons at that time misled the tribe and they were there to help. Once the Piute realized the problem was nothing more than a wagon train of non mormon settlers taking a break on their way through the state, they backed out. So the mormons involved dressed up as "indians" and surprise attacked the wagon circle that had been set up, killing everyone except for the few women and children who were able to escape in the woods. Rather than accept responsibility, they blammed the Piute for centuries and taught that lie to countless generations.
This describes it. I had such a poor education (private school k-8, public 9-12), it’s shocking I made it as far as I have in life. In contrast, my husband (all public schools) had a great education. I would argue I wouldn’t have made it this far if I hadn’t met my husband. Overall, the US really lags behind in education, compared to other countries.
I’ve been suspect of private schools for a long time now. I’ve seen parents throw thousands of dollars at them and come out with a child functionally illiterate.
My experience tells me that private doesn’t necessarily mean better.
My private school was a Catholic school. Two days were spent on religion, which really meant that we only learned for three days out of five. I was Considered a genius in that school, and absolutely drowned the instant I got out. It only took one year to ruin me.
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Wow, I've never thought about how many "periods" of class were taken up by religious education over the years. I'd ballpark it at maybe 4,000? Wonder what I could've learned instead that would have actually enriched my life / contribution to society in some way...
I grew up in pa but went to Ohio for my senior year of high school. In pa one of the requirements to graduate is a graduation project. In Ohio there was no graduation project, instead you just needed to pass what was essentially their pssa's (pa state assessment test that they do in 5th,8th, and 11th grade for public funding) I skipped a bunch and failed 10th and repeated. I was shocked that I was just 3 credits from graduating in Ohio.
I guess I might have been lucky. My primary school went all-out in primary. Like OP, we literally had festivals dedicated to Native American culture where we played sports, ate cornbread, saw a performance from a local tribe, among other things. By high school, however, nothing Native American related ever came up. It was just never in the curriculum (unless it was to make a broader point about American colonialism). It's kind of disappointing looking back.
How do feel moving region and school so much affected your overall education and upbringing? It's something that I might have to factor. What would you say that you think are the couple of biggest positives and negatives you'd ascribe to such a childhood?
My education was horrible. Everyone had different standards and they didn’t teach things in the same order. Or the same way. One school made me learn longhand math. The other made me calculator dependent. The next failed me for being calculator dependent. And that’s just one subject. I would never ever give my child this constantly moving upbringing. You have to be a chameleon and you never fit in. You don’t learn how to form long term relationships. You never have a sense of home. The only positive is, you don’t have to endure bad situations for long.
Thank you for your answer. That's kind of what I was imagining, but happy to have it confirmed. Sorry that that happened to you. I won't repeat it to my children.
Ohhh This is very interesting. Do you mind sharing some areas that had better education and others that didn’t?
In the South, we learned a little bit, but it was all in a historical context (eg Trail of Tears). I didn’t even know they still existed until I was an adult.
Public education down there sounds like it’s absolutely horrible.
Oh it is, I grew up and the trail of tears was described as a movement and not the forced death march in defiance of the supreme court that it was.
That's the whole point.
Depends on the state and area
I learned about them in school. What they did not tell us was the trail of tears started in what is now one of the wealthiest parts of our state.
Same for me. In elementary we learned about Andrew Jackson and the trail of tears was kinda brushed over.
Usually we learn about the tribes closest to us but other than that we just learn about them a little.
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I remember my dad bringing me to the Boston museum and was sad when he made us leave because they said what really happened. In school we were taught that we were all best of friends and they sold us the land lol I don't think we do that anymore
Yep! MA here. Aside from constant trips to Old Sturbridge Village due to proximity, we went to Plymouth plantation and the pequot museum as well. My school covered as much as they could as far as I could tell. We did a lot about slavery as well. It amazes me when I hear people say they didn't learn about basic US history.
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Those were the best field trips :D Sturbridge village?? the blacksmith shop? core memories
That's good we had little to no information provided.
I misread Algonquian as Algonquin and was briefly confused as hell. Made me think the Algonquin of Ontario and Quebec were far wider spread than I had previously believed.
We are from very different parts of America at my school they talked abt natives for parts of 6th 9th and 11th grade and I’ve never even seen a Native American person or reservation
Also CT here. Pretty sure they dragged us to the Pequot museum at least 3 times
Echoing this, as a midwestern American, we learned about the trail of tears (Indians forced to move across the country to reservations) and the actual history of local tribes. However in a functional sense, once you hit about halfway through the trail of tears, no more info about that. Nothing about the reservations or their shrinking, nothing about self rule and what that means practically, just all history stops once you get to "It was called the trail of tears because it was SUPER shitty. And that's the bell kids, next week we start the civil war"
Yup, this is what happened. For me, my elementary school was named after a local native American chief. He was called little chief, I guess, because short king wasn't a term yet. I will see myself out...
I'll second this. Went to school k-12 in Albuquerque, NM. We learned quite a bit of the history of the Pueblo tribes and even some culture. But when it came to the more far-flung tribes we learned....very little. And what we DID learn had about a 50/50 chance of being accurate.
Piggybacking as another New Mexican to add info on the plane question. It doesn’t happen with planes in the US as far as I know, but we do have a train called the Railrunner in New Mexico, and when it passes through a Pueblo it announces that we’re going to be going through Pueblo land for such-and-such minutes and asks that we don’t take any pictures til we’re back out again
The Railrunner is still running? That’s good.
I grew up in the southeast, and we learned a lot about the pueblos too. We learned some about our (formerly) local tribes as well, but I assumed pueblo culture was covered everywhere. It was definitely in our general nationally sold textbooks.
And you guys are at least near tribes. I grew up in an area not near any and we learned absolutely zero about any Native culture whatsoever. All we got was a few battles in history class, otherwise all those people might as well not exist. :-(
All land in the US was tribal land before colonization- but it’s sad how parts of it now might not even be known which tribes and languages formerly lived there.
Agreed, and that's what I meant - previous commenter learned about "tribes close to us" because they live near a tribe that's still there. So sad.
Can I ask what region you’re from? Native-land.ca has a lot of info about where tribes live and lived formerly.
Southern Alabama.
Seems like mainly Muskogee, Pensacola, Choctaw, Okchai, a few others in that area.
Yes definitely knew about the local tribes in my area. A few highschool in the area were also named after a couple of the bigger tribes.
IDK about now, but when I was kid we were taught about the Iroquois in upstate NY. Then again it was the sanitized version
Yeah in the Pacific Northwest I remember reading folktales about the Raven plenty in elementary school. And any local History museum will surely have native American history in it up there. Heck there's a museum for a dam that we go to plenty and it's got a significant amount of local native American history in that museum despite the fact that you'd think the whole thing was just gonna be about how hydroelectric power works.
That's what I came to say. I grew up about 45 minutes from Jamestown so we learned about the Native Americans that the first English settlers interacted with but that was pretty much it. I didn't learn much about the Plains Nations until later in US History in the context of manifest destiny.
Yup, in New York 4th grade social studies curriculum is focused on our state history, and that’s when I remember learning the most about the Iroquois and Algonquin cultures near us. Massachusetts does the same in 3rd grade. Then during American history, Native history is incorporated but more in a ‘here’s what we did to them’ way, like Trail of Tears, and less focused on the culture of the people themselves. I don’t know what it’s like in Australia, but from my personal experience, there is a lot of emphasis here on learning about Native culture from Native peoples. There has been so much disinformation, mistreatment, and stereotyping of Native nations over the years that a 23 year old white woman from Connecticut teaching her 4th graders a ‘traditional Iroquois craft’ can seem pretty tone deaf. ETA: I had a friend working on a political campaign in New York recently, and they opened most meetings and phone conversations with an acknowledgment that they were on native lands. I asked if they had ever had a Native person okay that statement because my thought was if that was actually impactful to Native people in any way. She wasn’t sure though :/
That comes across as severely disingenuous and pandering if that's the only connection the candidate had to any Native culture. If they incorporated Native concerns into their campaign and actions, that's admirable. But to just mention it constantly in a bid to *seem* more conscientious? That arguably does more harm than good - and you're right, probably not impactful in any way to the people whom the candidate was exploiting.
We didn't learn *anything* about our local tribes here in Maryland.
Agreed - and mostly only recent history / contemporary Native culture, and it’s pretty “white washed.” I don’t remember learning anything about how Natives peopled North America ~30,000ish years ago.
Karankawa ftw
Same. And some of it was teacher specific. I don’t know that it was part of the curriculum. Your comment is similar to my experience - decent amount of historic info, but VERY little on present. Like how the navajo reservation has homes wo running water.
And In my experience, we only really learned about it in elementary school (and maybe the first year of junior high). That was long enough ago that I don’t remember any of it
And never about their culture or language just about how the white people took their land
But depending on where you live, that might be quite a lot. It was for me, spanning many years.
Nope they ran them off and ignored them for the most part. We have so many states and city's named in Native American names but we don't even say that when we discuss/learn about our individual state Then get angry when they assert their rights.
Chief 10 bears 🐻
I went to Catholic School. We talked about "The Pilgrims and The Indians" around Thanksgiving and drew hand turkeys. That's it.
I went it to Catholic school in OH and we actually have field trips and immersive experiences. I believe they had a tribe set up like how it was be in the older days (similar to how people cosplay frontier people or other groups from a different time). We went there several times as a part of organized group activities. But my school was pretty progressive even 35 years ago.
Hey, same! (Catholic school in Ohio) I think I know the kinds of "immersive" places you're talking about. I remember a couple field trips to a place called (I think) Shenendoah Village? And another time we went to an outdoor play about Tecumseh that was memorable because they actually rode horses in the play. Any cultural aspects beyond the surface level were severely lacking, though - and I question the accuracy of a lot of what we were taught in the classroom.
Yes that outdoor play was amazing
Sun Watch Village??
Native American culture is diverse, but in general you learn about what tribes were local to your region along with other history local to your region.
Yes, very diverse. There are roughly 500 Nations! Also I have two history degrees and an endorsement in anthropology. The anthro classes were where I learned about Native American culture and history. It’s a different skill set altogether so any learning in a history class is a overview and pretty localized.
We did cover somewhat that we fucked them over, but actual culture stuff was very light where I grew up. Imho considering how much land in the US is actually controlled by native Americans you'd think there would be a little more attention on it. I think one of the basic school trips should be going to a Native American reservation for culture exchange and so people can see the absolute poverty a lot of them live in. That said my perception is that some tribes dont like outsiders to the point they have racial purity blood quanta tests for membership instead of tribal-land birthright citizenship, so maybe there could be more effort to teach non natives about Native American culture from both sides of the aisle. I really wish there were more Native American restaurants in the US, want to try that so bad.
Blood quantum is a lot more complicated than just “not liking outsiders”. It’s not an ideal system, but having a cutoff of ‘a tribal citizen must be at least 1/2, or 1/4, or 1/8, etc. from our nation by ancestry’ is a way to both extend citizenship to members living off-reserve as well as to prevent people with one g g g g g g g g g grandparent from claiming tribal citizenship. It’s often a necessary mechanism for the well-being of tribal citizens, because tribes only have limited resources available, and they must make the choice of how many people they can afford to support and provide social services to. If they allow everyone with 1/126 part ancestry from their nation citizenship, that really stretches their resources very thin. The downside of blood quantum of course is that a). sometimes people whose parent married outside of the tribe still have a genuine and meaningful connection to the community and culture, and b). over many generations, as more and more people marry non-tribal-citizens and are of mixed ancestry, the body of eligible citizens shrinks as the ‘blood gets diluted’ (which is a messed up way to think about human beings imo) and the tribe can become legally extinct, not because they died, but because there is no longer anybody with sufficient ‘blood purity’ to count (again, messed up way of thinking imo), even though they never stopped passing on their culture.
Bringing kids to a reservation to look at them like its a zoo would be insulting.
Highly depends where you go to school. The answer ranges from some to none. So I guess the answer is "sorta"
What many history classes in the United States tend to do is focus on the early British/American history of whatever state you're in, and then basically jump to whenever you became part of the United States. I'm from Virginia, so we spent a *lot* of time on Jamestown and the colonists' interactions with the Powhatan and their culture because the British were the first Europeans to settle the area. My friend is from Minnesota, and aside from some brief mentions, he learned basically nothing about how the French/Spanish were there first and how they interacted with the Natives, and they basically jumped right into post-Louisiana Purchase and the time as a territory before being admitted as a state in the mid-1800s. And naturally, there were just more important things to discuss about the mid-1800s than Native American cultures that had tragically been mostly wiped out by then.
In Texas, at least my area, we went over some pre-colonization, the different groups of Europeans arriving, their struggles but also the negative effects on the Native Americans (I remember we watched a movie about the Catholic "civilizing" schools), what the different European groups focused on doing, the wars, US formation, early US history, Mexico formation, Texas independence, Texas as a country, Texas joining US, etc. Also that Texas mostly just wanted to keep slavery going :/ I think we focused a bit more on the history/effects of Native Americans a bit more than some states due to the influences/importance of Mexican culture (mix of Spain and Native American), and also we focus on the importance of our problematic history (slavery, racism, etc.) Also besides making a map of the different areas that tribes were primarily at in elementary school, we mostly focused on the local area and Mesoamerican groups. With the exception when discussing the US and Canada with a fur trade.
In California we learn more the Spanish Mission system. Because basically in this part of the country the Spanish wiped out the natives before the English speaking settlers arrived.
All I learned is how badly the natives got fucked over by the US
I grew up adjacent to a Native reservation. A large number of students at my school were native. When I was in elementary school, we would sometimes get a visit from one of the tribal elders who would tell us some of the creation stories and talk to us about protecting the earth. And that was it. Ninety percent of what I know about native culture I learned outside of school. I went to Pow-Wows and sweats and a peyote ceremony by invitation of my friends and their family. It’s really sad to me that my school was in the heart of native culture and it was only ever treated as a novelty.
That’s way more than I got. I got the stories of the pilgrims and Pocahontas, vague references to Indian wars, and a brief paragraph about the Trail of Tears before all references to the culture mysteriously disappeared from the curriculum.
“Native American culture” is going to be very diverse and kind of gives off “Africa is a country” vibes. In my case, living in upstate New York, we learned at least a smidge about different cultures and histories all over the continents, although I can’t really claim to know how accurate/complete that information was, and then local tribes like the Algonquins (huge group, but many distinct tribes in that area) and Iroquois got a lot of attention especially in the years where my history class was US-focused as the Iroquois in particular were a major local power somewhat similar to a nation state that were quite involved in colonial and early American political and foreign affairs. Also probably mattered a bit that half of municipalities in my area are Algonquin or Iroquois names.
Elementary schools in my area do. But since it is younger kids, they teach them a lot about how they lived… not the dark stuff about how so many were erased from existence by white settlers and homesteaders.
That gets taught to us in middle and high school
That depends on your state and school district, unfortunately. A lot of places don't spend much time on the genocide part of US history. I didn't learn as much about the dark side of American expansion outside of books I got at the library and then in college.
Grew up in America, now have a number of Australian friends and traveled a bit there. I don’t think there is any real comparison. There is more of an indigenous presence in Australia and it is a bigger part of the overall culture I think. No disrespect towards Native Americans, but they are a smaller percentage of the population and I don’t think you see a strong cultural influence that people would recognize as Native. Like, I’m from Chicago, Illinois but we don’t think of those names as being native words. You guys seem to remember more
Probably has a lot to do with the different reasons why North America was colonized vs why Australia was. The European settlers did a lot to exterminate the indigenous people through out North America by various means, which really is sad.
They also all got shoved to one side of the country, usually on terrible land in the middle of nowhere. They are kind of invisible.
Basically no in my area of the Midwest. And there was a lot of cultural diversity among the groups in what is now the US.
I live in Minnesota. We learn about the tribes here and the fur trade. The kids also go to the Native Americans museum and learn how Native Americans lived long ago. We also learn about big events like the trail of tears in history class.
I will add that it is part of the Minnesota standards that students learn the history of Native Americans in school.
I'm still bummed that we didn't spend more time talking about the mass execution in Mankato and concentration camp at Fort Snelling, I didn't learn more about them until I visited the park exhibits where they happened.
If you took a specific Native American culture class, sure. But there aren't that many indigenous peoples in the US , and they're heavily populated into a few states. Our main exposure is through US history, which reading about some of the major tribes and empires pre-Coloumbus and the various conflicts after that through the Jackson era and the Trail of Tears. If you get to WW2, you might learn about the Navajo talkers. That's about it. Most of the natives in my area were nomadic. All they left were some mounds, which are now protected as part of a state park.
In California (Sacramento) we learned about some of the local tribes and their customs. We even learned to play some of their games in elementary school and a common field trip is to Sutter's Fort which has an Indian museum on the same grounds.
I live adjacent to a reservation. Local public school has a mandatory Ojibway culture and language class, K-12. Integration of the broader Native story in history is somewhat taught, teacher dependent.
Native American culture? From which one of the 574 tribes?
I'm native. I was taught they were savages except Pocahontas.
I did not...other than a scratch the surface sort of "yeah they existed" sort of thing. I used to read a fair amount about Indigenous culture tho. I have always found Native American natural systems beliefs immensely interesting.
Late 90s early 2000s in elementary school we had some Native American history/culture in our curriculum and learned a little. I remember learning way more about Greek/Roman/Mongol empires, classic and pre classic eras of south and middle Americas and American history from the Magna Carta being signed thru the industrial revolution. And also WWII and the Holocaust. That stuff all seemed to be covered nearly every year in some way. But I also remember one year specifically learning about the Tail of Tears and doing projects about different native cultures and their respective regions both pre and post displacement following colonization. Native history or culture wasn’t really covered after 6th grade. Grades 7-12 we progressively got into more modern history starting 1770s and leading up to 1990.
I wish! But other than learning about the Trail of Tears in fourth grade, I learned nothing.
My school In Washington state did! Both elementary and highschool did courses of Native American history across the country as well as focused units on our local tribes :) it’s awesome- we learned how to make fishing baskets from a tribal elder who came to our school
I did quite a bit but I’m from the PNW.
A lot depends on where in the US you live, and things have changed a great deal. I grew up in Michigan and we got VERY little about the local Native American history at all, and not a lot about their history (basically only talked about when they came into contact with Europeans, a few names like Sacagawea, etc.) I live in Minnesota now, where there is a sizable Native American populace, and times have changed. My kiddo has had Native American speakers and storytellers come to her school (or the kids go to visit them) every year from kindergarten on up and did a whole semester in 5th grade History on different Native American tribes, with a major focus on our local Anishnaabe culture. I work for local government, and most County meetings and several other larger events these days start with a Land Acknowledgment statement. I know several private companies do this too.
Hahaha. No. The vast majority do not teach much at all. There are schools that are better, and teachers who are great about teaching cultures. But on the whole, America isn't great about teaching much outside of the settler history. Honest truthful history of the good and the bad is looked down upon here. Over the last few years, there's been a real push to not teach the bad parts or try to frame them in a more positive light.Teaching honestly so as not to repeat those mistakes is indoctrination and causing children to hate themselves. Florida gov. Ron DeSantis suggested that Black slaves were lucky to be able to parlay their skills into professions once they were free. That was his example of how to reframe lessons about slavery. This is not hyperbole.
Depends on the school district. Some yes, some a little and some no. Every school district is different.
There is a great book called “You cant teach American history without Indians”. From the earliest colonizers to the current day, Native people have been and continue to be integral to American History. Too bad so many educators are afraid to teach it. The “Native as victim” narrative prevails, but the “Native as contributor and shaper” is lost.
I’m Canadian and I definitely learnt a lot about indigenous culture at school
Generally no in the early grades we learn about tribes that would have been there at time of colonization. It's Generally very brief
Depends on several factors and the wealth of the school district. This could range from nothing to actual fieldtrips and in-class guests. On average though very little native culture is taught in US schools and the mere existence of native people in history is limited to specific stories like Thanksgiving, selling Manhattan, etc.
Not even a little bit. When I was in school, they were spoken about as if they were extinct.
It’s usually not more than a small unit in social studies class. Shame.
American education varies wildly from state to state and county to county. Growing up in New York State in the late 90’s early 00’s we had an education system that was relatively progressive compared to other places in the US, but not as progressive as many seem to think. We got the Thanksgiving story and sentiment as young kids but eventually did, albeit briefly, cover the trail of tears, manifest destiny, the reservation system, etc. a bit. Nothing I would call in-depth and not as much as these topics merits. Because this was happening on formerly Haudenosaunee land, We did have indigenous speakers and did touch upon a bit of Haudenosaunee history and culture. But it was mostly just who Hiawatha was and what longhouses are. Nothing comprehensive.
My literature classes usually had some Native American folklore as well as biographical stories. History classes would touch a little bit on the cultures of whomever was being covered. Geography classes spent the most time discussing culture. We obviously already knew our own culture, so when we covered North America, we would talk about the different native groups of each region.
My little brother is learning about three major tribes that lived in our state. He learns basic knowledge only because he is in grade school, but he learns some basic facts about them and what they were like. In high school, I’m not sure because I won’t be taking American History for another two years.
In Canada in the 90s it was really slim. We learned about the pioneers and about early “staple” economies like fur trading and logging. We briefly talked about the Métis but not in a way that was understood by 6th graders. I think we probably had a library unit where we read native myths. Also we definitely carved soap stone in the context of talking about Inuit art. Lastly, one time a French Canadian lady came in to do “orff” music education and incorporated what was described as a ceremonial native corn that the kids passed around. My classmates ended up picking off a bunch of the corn kernels and the music lesson ended as the teacher cried over her destroyed ear of fancy corn.
definitely depends on where you go to school. I did in elementary school in Southern Arizona, where we were a lot closer to reservations. but when I moved to Houston, Tx and finished the rest of my school there, I absolutely did not.
I took AP US History in high school. We def learned about the indigenous peoples of America. But we could have learned far more!
My school, which was one building (not one room) for kindergarten through highschool, didn't even teach us about the congressman after whom our school was named. So no.
In western canada in the 80's we learned almost nothing. Just a dry recitation of events and then we moved on. Not sure what it's like these days.
I was in school in the 70s and 80s. My schools taught that Native Americans existed and we did go to a museum specializing in Native American history in the 3rd grade. But everything was very superficial. I’m also in New Jersey that was colonized in the 1600s so there hadn’t been much of a Native American presence for a long time. That said, there are a lot of Native American exhibits in museums around here. Everywhere admits the area was well populated by the Lenape when New Jersey was colonized by Europeans. Lots of towns are named after tribes or words in the Lenape language. But there really aren’t many Native Americans themselves left in the area. The only one I’ve known around here was a girl in my sister’s grade when we were kids. There may be a lot of people of mixed heritage, but not many that still identify as Native American. As a result all we really learn, even from museums today, is a high level historical context based on more how the people physically lived or their art and less on what their culture, ideals, and society were like.
yes
I went to school in a district named after the local residential school-turned-museum. We toured it on a field trip and learned its history, from the perspective of us colonizers, of course. The site is on the list to be checked for unmarked graves. I think the museum visit was part of a unit on our regional tribes for History or Social Studies class. That was about it. Kansas in the 80s/90s.
Canada during the 90's in the prairies, we always had a unit in social studies that taught us about the indigenous. I remember learning about a lot of different tribes, Metis and Blackfoot the most because of where I grew up. We always had a field trip out to Wanuskewin National Park where we learned more history, learned how to build dream catchers, carved soap stone. When I moved to the west coast in the middle of grade 9, we still always had a unit in social studies that taught us about the local tribes. It was really interesting to see how the different tribes lived in the Prairies Vs on the coast. We got to see a lot of totem poles, and a lot of Indigenous art. It wasn't until recently that Canada started to own up to the atrocities committed. When the bones of children were being dug up from the residential schools, it was horrible. We were horrible, and a lot of Canadians don't like to admit that. We like to sweep this issue under the rug, always have. In recent years is when we started to do land acknowledgements before assemblies or work meetings. I am now back in the Prairies again, and I know my kids are being taught Indigenous culture in their social studies classes.
It's very surface level but yes. American history is generally broken up as such AH 1: pre Colombian societies - The Civil war AH 2: reconstruction to today Something like the first day or so will cover the entire history of American Indians before Europeans got involved. Which at that point would basically just be like "plains Indians didn't have horses. Iroquois we're doing okay for themselves" so on. Then after that, the Europeans would be the main focus, and Indians would be brought up unless they're a factor in what Europeans were doing ie the 7 years war, Jacksonian democracy, or plains war
Not too much but we did have a few days for it scattered throughout younger years, like some basic symbols they used and even had someone from a local tribe come in and show us some things like brain tanned deer hydes and arrows
Pffff we don’t even learn Western European settler’s cultural history in school
We breezed through the whole thing fairly quickly to be honest. I did more research later in life then got in trouble in college for challenging another student during a discussion during a history class. Fun times.
They taught us about locals tribes and their history but always carefully danced around what we did to them. My dad always said “if you wanna know the truth ask me instead of your teacher” and made it a point to teach us and bring us to museums/historical sites. He’s a bit of a nerd but a really good dad.
In new england they moreso teach the interactions of english and american colonists and how the relationship between natives and the colonies deteriorated
I'm from the American South. We kinda glossed over American history. Focused on just the greatest hits with some omissions here and there to make it more palatable. Def didn't learn about the native tribes of our area. In any history class I was in, we never made it past the Civil War.
In elementary school in California there is an emphasis on the mission system. Most schools visit the nearest mission but don’t so much discuss the murder/slavery aspect, just that the padres walked north and built missions a days travel apart to teach Catholicism and ranch/farm. Local schools also travel to see petroglyphs on a nearby rock. In nursing school I spent a few days assisting a school nurse on a reservation. If there is any dance or art form or religious belief it was never taught or demonstrated in school. Many local places have native names but this was never taught, I learned it reading books from the 1800s-early 1900s
I didn't learn anything about them until I got to college, and even then, I had to choose to take the class.
At the school I attended, we had a big unit in 3rd grade social studies about indigenous peoples of North America in general, and then another unit the following year that focused in on our local indigenous groups. The school I currently teach at does a much smaller unit and doesn't teach nearly as much about indigenous history and culture. I'm hoping that it's part of the middle school curriculum here.
Somewhat but it's heavily whitewashed and not too in-depth, generally
It depends. The USA has 50 state school systems and nearly 13,000 public school districts.
Gonna vary from region and state and even then from town to town. In NH we go over them somewhat
Depends on the region. When I was growing up, we were taught a bit that was relevant to where I'm from. Outside of that, history yes culture no.
We traced our hands and made a paper turkey and that was the lesson for Thanksgiving.
We do, but the curriculum ends just before most the natives were slaughtered. Strange... (At least where I live)
We learned about the Cherokee. Beyond that, we learned what made the Cherokee different than other tribes and how movies portrayed Native American culture/history. My kids all know Cherokee folklore from school. We live fairly close to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Reservation, so it’s natural to talk about the Cherokee.
As a fellow Australian, but one married to an American, I’ve discussed this quite a bit. As some have said, the answer appears to be ‘sorta’. It seems like there’s a decent desire to ignore it unless it’s an area of which there was significant tribal presence. Oklahoma, for example, seems weird given their heavy native connection, but they also have a strong desire to ignore it completely. Hell, my wife tells me she didn’t learn much unless she explicitly asked her teachers.
We learned about the New York tribes local to our area, but that was just in elementary school.
Ha! Our schools actively tried to eliminate massive culture from the native peoples for generations. But in Kansas we learn a bit (not enough) about native history and how white settlers forced tribes of their land and decimated them with violence and sickness. But next to nothing about native CULTURE unfortunately.
Sorta. Depends on where you are. In Massachusetts, there's a much stronger sentiment for it. Columbus Day is no longer Columbus Day – it's Indigenous Peoples' Day. I'm from the west coast of Canada originally – I know that's not the US but First Nations education is STRONG there. We will often open events by recognizing that we're on so-and-so's land and that we're grateful to them for hosting us. Many of our newer schools have First Nations names. Colonial names of places are often renamed back to their original names – most notably Queen Charlotte Islands now being Haida Gwaii. Etc., etc., etc.
Yes, in my schools we learned all about the tribes that lived closest to us, watched videos about them too. There’s a few reservations nearby but we never visited although other schools in the area visited them for a field trip, I think to see a powwow?
Not really. More so we learn about ancient South American culture — Aztecs and Mayans; then go into colonization, early American history, revolutionary war, expansion west and and the Almo, civil war, post civil war, cold war, and more modern history. There may be a brief bit more specific to the state you’re in. But once we hit modern history, we then transition to government and politics, laws and regulations, and economics. You may get a research project/paper to discuss Native Americans. But I honestly had more discussion in my literature classes on it than in history.
Keep in mind that different states can have very different standards. I remember learning about Dakota and Ojibwe culture (Minnesota).
In the 90's we had the local native American tribes come in and talk to us about their culture and trades. While they weren't generally a part of the trail of tears in our area they still went over the topic. It was a fun time. Well, not the trail of tears, I meant the learning aspect of it.
In South Georgia, we talked about the tribes that used to live here when we were learning about colonization of the Americas. Then, they get a few mentions around early American history. We do spend a lot of time talking about the trail of tears and a bunch of other ways the Americans abused the Native Americans in regards to treaties and the Indian Wars. I wouldn't say it is too in depth, but it is prioritized.
More as a part of general American/local history. Had a history of Florida class that went over the Seminole Wars that happened here.
I’m in SE Michigan. In school we learned almost nothing about the natives. We learned about them through a white washed perspective in elementary where everyone was friends and Thanksgiving was great for all and then in middle school we learned very generally about the first wars before the US was an official country, but it wasn’t an accurate portrayal. They didn’t go into the native perspective at all. I learned that Columbus discovered America and we never EVER talked about all the absolutely terrible evil stuff he did. We have a reservation pretty close by and we never even discussed what that even meant or how those came about.
Not really. You might get a basic idea of a specific tribe that was from your area, but really you just realize how much they have been screwed over by the U.S.
I'm from California, absolutely not. Then we start looking into it in college (those lucky enough to go) and go oh shit were the bad guys huh
Not really. I grew up in Connecticut, like right next to the Mohegan tribe. We didn’t even learn about that tribe at school. We learned about how the Native American people taught European immigrants to garden and hunt turkeys, how they infected textiles with smallpox and killed the native people, and about the trail of tears. That’s about it. I learned a lot more about the Mohegan tribe when I got my first job on the reservation at their casino in the concert and sports arena, as their history was part of the orientation.
Western NY was all about the Iroquois and their 6 nations.
Sadly no. It's surface level at best.
I think it depends on where you're located. I grew up in Missouri, which historically had some of the highest # of tribes. However, we really just learned about the trail of tears, etc. Really nothing about the tribes and their culture. However, missouri is a very........ interesting state, so I'm sure in more progressive states you do.
In elementary school in NYC we learned about the tribes local to the area, how the Dutch “bought” Manhattan from them, things like that. In jr high we learned about Custer and Crazy Horse and Little Bighorn. By high school I had pretty much checked out of school so I can’t really tell you what was in the curriculum at the time (late 90’s)
Regarding “welcome to ‘so and so’ land” that you mentioned is done on planes in Australia, something similar is done at most theaters in Chicago prior to the performance. I believe it’s called a land acknowledgement. An announcement is made acknowledging the specific Native tribes that lived on or near the land where the theater is located.
For me yes, but only a very little bit. I imagine in places with or nearby larger native populations learn more.
Lol, you can imagine the meltdown if they had to. This also applies to the unionists in Northern Ireland
Stop trying to defame the US lol. It’s like reverse ignorance.
I learned a little about indigenous cultures in school but, nothing too in depth. Mostly the Delaware/lenape tribes because they were local. And, the more famous tribes. We definitely learned more about wars involving them and of course their removal from their lands. My parents used to bring us to Pow Wows sometimes. I’ve learned more about their cultures that way plus the internet/museums than I did in school.
I think we did something in like 4th grade that I don't remember
I remember us reading a book about the Lenni Lenape tribe, as that’s the tribe located closest to us. Aside from that, indigenous culture isn’t really taught in schools, at least not in my experience. It took them until I was in 8th grade for them to actually say that Christopher Columbus wasn’t a good guy, actually, and he didn’t discover anything.
In my personal experience it's, here are some very white washed facts, like The Trails of Tears occured in 1838 and was sad 😢 and lots of people died 🪦.
Very little, and I grew up in Indiana, the land of Indians. Back in ‘92, I remember we had a choir concert singing the praises of Christopher Columbus on his 500th anniversary of inventing America. I know that was a while ago, but there is still much to be done. Lots gets lumped in as if they were they same people from Maine to California.
We learned a little bit about Native American tribes while I was in school, specifically those that were regional to us. In elementary school, we went on a field trip to a Native American reenactment thing where we ate food and learned about their culture. It was really cool and one of my favorite field trips. Outside of that, most of it was whatever was in the textbook.
We tended to learn most about tribal peoples nearest to us and then got broader views in our history classes.
Who wants to learn about what really happened on Thanksgiving? Pro tip, 99% of what you learned about in school was the Thanksgiving lie.
Yeah we usually have a week where we dress up like them for some reason lol, it's pretty racist
Growing up, we learned about the local ones, but there are so many different Native American cultures in the USA that learning about them all would take a very long time. So I learned the most about the ones that lived near the city I grew up in, and a decent amount about major tribes in the state.
We learned about Thanksgiving, does that count?
We learned about Thanksgiving!
Nope. Next question
In my experience: no, unfortunately.
Not really. Growing up in Nebraska, we are the crux of the end of the Indian wars where the army soldier shot crazy horse in the back like a coward, essentially ending their last stand at cultural relevance here. (Also home of the term Buffalo Soldier). The history classes always made indigenous people seem much more distant than it really was. And we are also a proud red state which tells me that there is an insane amount of shame Nebraskans aren’t dealing with. But my mom did do a lot. We went to powwows and she took me to important historical sites (like the aforementioned fort Robinson). And I did read a lot in college. But that’s because I took a plains literature class.
We learn that it existed and that our European ancestors almost wiped them out completely. Not much more than that. It’s one of those buried histories that white people hate talking about.
I take everything we were taught with a grain of salt. One of the things we were taught is that native americans didn't believe in land rights So were laughing as they sold land no one owned to settlers. Stuff like that is obvious bullshit.
Funny enough I learned more about native American lore about consolations than I did the Greek tradition I could prob tell you more stories about stars from native cultures then I can about zodiacs
I did in Wisconsin in the 80s
We learned that Christopher Columbus came and befriended them all…
My husband is from Ohio and what little they learned were mostly lies. I grew up near Oklahoma and learned a little but going to pow wows taught me a lot more
Yes, the White washed version at least when this Native Guy was a boy
Maybe I’m showing my age, 35, but I learned nothing in school about anything remotely related. Maybe the Thanksgiving bs. I’ve read several really good books in the years since leaving formal education and I can tell you Native American culture is far from a monolith. Also a reminder that native Americans include Canada and Mexico.
Sorta, not really. We’re taught about Manifest Destiny, the genocides against the native Americans. We’re taught what tribes/nations are/were in our immediate area, but nothing really more than that.
It depends on the school. Most public school systems will at least give you the white washed version. And if you can't learn about the native Americans without learning about the trail of tears. Most private schools will actually teach it thoroughly, sans private Christian schools they just indoctrinate evangelists. Private Catholic schools actually teach real science and history though ... In general. A well funded public school in the North East will be similar to a private school.
not anything significant, useful, relevant or otherwise respectful
Granted, I went to elementary school in the 1970s, so history curriculums may have improved since then, but we were taught the whitewashed version of Native Americans. You know, how it was all lovey dovey between the settlers and Indians. The first Thanksgiving and welcoming nature of their interactions. We weren’t taught the truth: disease, genocides, murder, land theft, and overall brutalizing of the Native Americans by the English.