Understanding the Complexities of Native Identity

Authors and Collaborators:

• Hilary Manion (Modoc/Klamath/Chippewa), Educator

• Maggie Peters (Yurok/Karuk), NASMC Learning Specialists Humboldt County Office of Education

• Collaborators:

  • Deanna McClung (Modoc/Klamath/Chippewa)

  • Tiana Williams-Claussen (Yurok), Wildlife Department Manager

  • Sequoia Elder (Cherokee/Choctaw), Poet/Artist

  • Video support provided by Joanna Galicha, Graphics & Communications Specialist at Humboldt County Office of Education

Grades: 6-8

Suggested Amount of Time:  1-2 55 minute sessions

Curriculum Themes

• History
• Cultural Strengths
• Law/Government
• Relationship to Place
• Cross Curricular Integration

Learning Goals

• Understand how colonization and assimilation policies disrupted Native cultural practices and identity.
• Recognize that Native identity exists on a spectrum—from deeply traditional to highly assimilated—and that all forms are valid.
• Identify the role of blood quantum laws and why they are considered colonial and exclusionary.
• Analyze a poem about Native identity to interpret personal and collective meaning.
• Reflect on your own identity through the creation of a personal identity map.
• Challenge stereotypes by exploring how Native people express their culture in diverse and personal ways.
• Build empathy and a deeper understanding of Indigenous perspectives through critical discussion and creative expression.

Lesson Overview

This lesson invites middle school students, who developmentally are focused on self discovery and identity, to reflect on stereotypes and simplistic ideas about who Native people are. Using powerful video content from Redbud Resource Group, the lesson helps students explore how Native identity is shaped by history, culture, family, and government policy. Students will examine how colonization, forced assimilation, and the invention of systems like blood quantum have made it harder for some Native people to access their traditions or even be recognized by their own communities. Guided by thoughtfully designed slides, students hear from tribal enrolled and not enrolled Native people testify to their personal identities, engage in youth poetry analysis, and reflect on personal identity mapping activity. Students develop empathy and critical thinking as they reflect on questions like: Who gets to define identity? What happens when your culture has been erased or outlawed? And how do we challenge the harmful belief that identity can be measured by appearance or percentages? Designed to be engaging and accessible, this lesson empowers students to think deeply about identity—both their own and others’—and provides an inclusive, accurate way to teach about contemporary Native experiences.