Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Shawnees, a midwest tribe whose numbers included the now legendary Tecumseh. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two–longish, perhaps in need of editing down to something simpler–sentences with two comprehension questions.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on animism. This is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. The first of these two sentences, duty obliges me to mention, is quite long and might be best rewritten, especially for emergent and struggling readers.
While this ethic–I hesitate to call it a religion because of its manifest respect for the material, natural world, something Christians, for example, tend to dismiss as paganism–is global in scope, I post it here during National Native American Heritage Month 2025 because the indigenous peoples on this continent, virtually to a one, were animists in some manner or another.
Incidentally, I particularly like the turn of phrase “so-called primitive people” in this document.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
Until I read this reading on St. Augustine, Florida, I was unaware, as the text’s first sentence points out, that St. Augustine “…is the oldest continuously occupied settlement established by Europeans in the United States.” You probably already know, given the theme of this month’s posts, that indigenous peoples in Florida didn’t fare well after the arrival of the Spanish in that state. In fact, they suffered the same devastation as the Taino in the Caribbean.
If you’re interested in this, Raoul Peck, in his series Exterminate All the Brutes, documents all of this compellingly–to say the very least.
In any event, here is the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that attends the reading above. This reading ties in with the the material below: the British briefly gained control of Florida in 1763 after the French and Indian War. Then, during the American Revolution, Spain sided with the Americans and consequently regained possession of Florida. The state became territory of the United States in 1821 under the terms of the Adams-Onis Treaty.
If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Pocahontas. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of three sentences and three comprehension question. Just the basics on this important, but misunderstood, figure in American history.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
OK, moving right along on this chilly November morning: Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Sacajawea. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of one long sentence (which could be easily broken into two) and two comprehension questions.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
This week’s Text, in observance of the second week of National Native American Heritage Month 2025, is this reading on the French and Indian War along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. You most likely already know this, but it’s worth mentioning that this conflict is also known as the Seven Years War.
And, as the Wikipedia article (which you’ll find in the hyperlink under the last three words in the preceding paragraph) points out, this was a Great Power conflict, global in scope. I expect that this conflict will remain a part of most secondary social studies curricula.
If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Custer’s Last Stand. This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of four–longish–sentences and four comprehension questions.
I don’t know if you’ve ever read the novel Little Big Man by Thomas Berger, or seen the fine film adaptation starring Dustin Hoffman, but both were obsessions in my high school crowd a couple of centuries ago. I mention them on the chance you might be interested in seeing a dramatic recreation of George Armstrong Custer’s last moments on this earth. The film shows you–vividly. Dare I admit I have always found that scene satisfying?
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“American Indian Religions, South: Religious beliefs and practices of the indigenous peoples of South America. The ancient Andean civilizations of the Chimu and Inca had highly developed religions. The Inca religion combined complex ceremonies, animistic beliefs, belief in objects having magical powers, nature worship, and sun worship. The Incas build monumental temples, occupied by priests and Chosen Women. Priests conducted divination, and sacrifices were offered on every important occasion. Human sacrifice was offered when the need was extreme. In present-day South America, as many as 1,500 distinct native cultures have been described, and religious beliefs vary greatly. Creation mythologies are of first importance, often describing the origin of the first world and its fate as well as the creation and destruction of subsequent worlds. Ceremonial initiation into adulthood is widely practiced, both for males and females, with the initiation ceremony of acting out events from the dawn of creation. Initiations are also used to mark the ascent of individuals into positions of religious authority, with priests, diviners, and spirit mediums playing special roles. The shaman specializes in inducing states of ecstasy, controlling the passage of the soul out of and back into the body. Ritual fires, musical instruments (especially the rattle), esoteric languages, and sacred songs may demonstrate the shaman’s command of invisible powers. Christianity has come to be a strong component of folk belief among many native peoples, but it continues to be interpreted in the light of local tradition, and elements of traditional religion continue to survive.”
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Hiawatha. Most people, if they’re aware of Hiawatha at all, probably received that awareness by way of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, “The Song of Hiawatha.” I vaguely recall reading “The Song of Hiawatha” in grade school, but Longfellow is more memorable to me as one of the suits in the old card game of “Authors.”
Incidentally, the Wikipedia page for “The Song of Hiawatha” suggests that Longfellow based some of the material in the poem on conversations with an Ojibwe man named George Copway, whose story interested me enough to mention him here.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“American Indian Religions, North: Religious beliefs and practices of the indigenous peoples of North America. They are characterized by a conviction that spirit moves through all things, animate and inanimate, and the living are intimately connected with the souls of the dead. They discover recognizable things in the world of animals, plants, trees, as well as in natural features such as mountains, lakes, and clouds. Because North American religions were so highly localized, it is impossible to determine how many have existed, and their beliefs have varied widely. Whereas Iroquois elders speak of a perfectly wise and good Creator who planned the universe, the Koyukon envision the creator as a Raven, a trickster god who is only one of many powerful spirits. Whereas nearly all Navajo ceremonies are performed on behalf of individuals in response to specific needs, most Pueblo ceremonies are performed communally and scheduled according to the cycles of nature. However, all native North American religions share certain features: ancestral lands and locally sacred spots are important; access to some knowledge is restricted, and initiation is required to acquire it; kinship obligations are central; the oral tradition includes narratives that record human interaction with nonhuman powers; and generosity is a religious act. Contact with Europeans led to development of new religious movements, including the Ghost Dance tradition and the Native American Church.”
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
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