1. Who (and What) Is a Native American?

2. Misconception #1: Many people believe Native Americans consist of one race. This is wrong. There were over 200 nations at the time Columbus came to the Americas!

3. Definition: Nation = Tribe = Peoples A social group bound by a common culture, history and political organization.

4. N.A.s are members of tribes, and that is their primary way of identifying themselves.

5. Misconception #2 is that the Native American population and tradition is dying. This is also wrong.

6. N. A. population has been growing steadily over the past 40 yrs and N
N.A. population has been growing steadily over the past 40 yrs and N.A. traditions are very much alive. Today there are approx. 560 federally recognized tribes in U.S.

7. People’s “knowledge” of Native history and culture usually comes from…?
Western movies and books where the “Red Man” is bloodthirsty, stupid, or drunk.

8. Definition: Native Americans are people who lived in the Americas before the coming of the Europeans. They are indigenous to the Americas.

9. Tribes had their own names, often translating to “The People” or “The Original Ones.” Why do people usually refer to N.A.s as “Indians?”

10. Christopher Columbus, looking for a water passage to India from Spain, stumbled upon the Americas and called the natives “Indians.”

11. Also known as “American Indians,” they are the only ethnic group in the U.S. that must prove it’s ethnicity. Why?

12. Product of relationship w/ government
* Product of relationship w/ government * Often signed treaties w/ gov and were promised special rights * Tribes let go of millions of acres of land in exchange for those rights

13. Where did they come from??? Scientific Explanation:
Ancestors of the first Americans crossed the Bering Strait from Asia.
During Ice Age, 20,000 yrs ago, ancestors were able to walk this path. After the Ice Age it became a waterway.

15. Native peoples have their own answer to the question “Where did we come from?”
N.A. have Creation Myths that explain the creation of the world and its inhabitants.
For many tribal people, the story of their creation is as real as scientific explanation.

16. Definitions
Myth: a traditional story, passed down through the generations, that explains why the world is the way it is. They explain the values and beliefs of a cultural group.
Creation Myth: a particular kind of myth that explains how the universe, the earth, and life on earth began.

17. Earth Divers Emergence Stories
Many Creation Myths involve a Creator or supernatural being who completes the world with the help of an Earth Diver.
Emergence Stories
Tells of the creation, destruction and recreation of many worlds. Only those who were faithful to the Creator’s instructions were spared and journeyed to the next world.

18. Emergence Creation Myth
When the Creator first made humans, he made four kinds, from red, black, white, and yellow clay. But he could not decide who should live here. Whoever lived here must be strong, hardy, and brave.
To decide, Creator devised a test. He commanded that each run through a gauntlet of arrows. The yellow, black, and white clay people, afraid of what might happen, refused. The Creator told them, “You do not have to do this. But you cannot live here, where life will be difficult. I have another place for you; a place that is more pleasant.”
When at last came the turn of the red clay people, they did not hesitate but instead ran through the arrows. When they emerged out the other side, the Creator told them, “You have proven your bravery. This shall be your lands from now on.”
So the Plains Indians have lived there ever since.