Grade 9

Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, WHIS 9066, Camden Family Portrait, circa 1857-1859

California Policy: Training and Working Native Peoples

This unit reviews a brief history of the 1850 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians—a law that allowed for the legal enslavement of California Indian children and adult “vagrants.” Students will watch a short 13-minute film (optional), review a brief timeline of California history (orienting them to the American period) and read and analyze primary source excerpts of the 1850 Act with a discussion on the 1860 amendment. Post lecture discussion will ask students to ponder if California was indeed a “free state”. Lesson includes an optional worksheet and recommends additional resources including articles, a podcast episode and further homework activities.

"Alcatraz Island." Wikimedia Commons. Accessed Jan 29, 2025. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alcatraz_Island_-_panoramio_%283%29.jpg.

“We Hold the Rock,” Native Activism on Alcatraz

RH.9-10.9

This lesson introduces students to the history of American Indian activism in California and the occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969-1971. This lesson provides a historical context of resistance on Ohlone homelands since colonial invasion and examines Native activism in the 1970s to demonstrate Native peoples' relationship to their homelands, their fraught legal relationship with the United States, and their prior existing and more legitimate sovereignty. This lesson expands on students’ knowledge of history, their critical thinking skills, and media literacy skills by inviting them to examine primary sources with interactive activities. Essential Questions: Where is Alcatraz island? Whose homeland is it part of? What factors led to the Native American reclamation and occupation of Alcatraz? How was the Native American occupation of Alcatraz depicted in the media at the time it was happening? What were some dissenting views and opinions of the occupation of Alcatraz amongst Native peoples? What is the lasting significance of Native activism on Alcatraz for Native peoples in California and beyond? Practices: The teacher must understand the importance of highlighting intertribal political activism on occupied California Indian homelands. The teacher must be prepared to actively engage students with questions and coach them through how to read primary sources critically. Learning Targets for students: I can understand that newspapers and news reels are crafted narratives rather than objective truths. I can work with a group to be creative and imagine alternative headlines from different points of view. I can create useful and thorough notes after reading a personal narrative of an historic event.

“NO GO!”: California Indian Activism & Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association 1988

This lesson would take approximately two class sessions to complete. The lesson introduces students to the Lyng v. NICPA 1988 Supreme Court case and the California Indian peoples who sought to protect their homelands from extractive timber via the G-O road. This lesson supports students’ growing media literacy skills by coaching them through evaluating a website that features primary sources related to the GO Road while also showing them how to interrogate sources as researchers. This lesson also encourages students to think creatively by engaging them in a creative writing exercise intended to help them relate to the lesson by evoking the landscape of the High Country. And finally, this lesson develops students’ political interests and engagement by encouraging them to examine their own values and passions through protest art, a vital part of the Native resistance to the G-O Road. The teacher must understand the inconsistencies in legal protections for Native peoples. The teacher must be prepared to actively guide students through creative practice and online research. Essential questions include: What does religious freedom mean for Indigenous peoples who live under settler state occupation? What are the contradictions and limits of the first amendment? What are extractive industries? What are some examples of Native peoples defending their homelands in the 21st century?

California Indian Cooking: Bodega Bay Crab Louis

This lesson introduces students to the concept of food sovereignty through a Miwok and Pomo elder’s personal narrative about Indigenous foods. This lesson encourages students to think about traditional foods and reflect on how robust food systems have contributed to Native Americans’ health and abilities to resist settler colonial violence. The handouts for this lesson help students connect to the subject of food sovereignty by providing them with a first person narrative that describes food, familial bonds, American history and California Indian history simultaneously. This lesson also expands students’ culinary skills by providing a recipe and cooking activity. Essential Questions: How did the Bodega Bay Miwok and Dry Creek Pomo practice food sovereignty prior to colonial invasion? How are Native food systems threatened by U.S. settler colonial occupation? What are some examples of traditional California Indian foods? How do Native people innovate their traditional foods? Why is sharing recipes important? Students will: Engage in active close reading by annotating a personal narrative. Complete a hands-on cooking activity as part of their lesson on food sovereignty. Create a meal with Indigenous foods. The teacher must: Understand the political and cultural significance of food sovereignty for Native peoples. Be prepared to actively engage students in close reading and coach them through building annotation skills.

California Indian Astronomy

This lesson introduces students to the fascinating topic of California Indian astronomy. The lesson covers some of the historical, political, and social context necessary for understanding Indigenous peoples’ relationship to the stars. The lesson also touches on the significance of space exploration and “discovery” to settler states such as the U.S. and Canada and links it to the ongoing occupation and exploitation of Indigenous homelands using examples from Hawai’i. The lesson covers 3 key terms, 2 versions of a Hupa origin story, and includes a creative in-class activity where students will get the opportunity to create their own star stories and constellations.

“Gambling Tray.” Photo Courtesy of Stephanie Lumsden

Northern California Indian Basketry

In this lesson students will be introduced to Northern California Indian basketry. The lesson covers the cultural, political and historical significance of basketry to California Indians in the northern part of the state. These lessons cover many of the cultural uses of basketry as well as the traditional ecological knowledge that is foundational to this world class artform. As part of the historical context necessary for understanding the significance of basketry, students will also learn about the violence that settler regimes of property and agribusiness have done to the land and the practice of basket weaving. While the lessons focus on Pomo and Ohlone perspectives and features photos of Hupa/Karuk/Yurok/Wiyot basketry, the main takeaways about basketry can also be applied to other tribal nations in northern California. The lesson covers 3 key terms, includes a 13 minute video and think, pair & share activity, and an in-class poetry reading activity paired with a large class discussion. The goal of this lesson is for students to begin to think of basketry not as a depoliticized art, but as a site of resistance and resurgence for California Indian peoples.

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW)

This lesson covers sensitive material and should be treated with care. Give ample warning to the students because colonial gender violence is part of this lesson. This lesson introduces students to the historical context and contemporary reality of missing and murdered Indigenous women, or MMIW. Importantly, this lesson focuses on MMIW not as an “epidemic” nor as the cumulative result of a few bad actors. Rather, the lesson treats MMIW as an outcome of structural violence directly related to ongoing U.S. settler-colonial occupation of Indigenous homelands. In this lesson students will participate in active note taking with help of a handout while the teacher presents the slide show and facilitates large class discussion. Students will also watch a short 6 minute film featuring the poem “American Arithmetic” by Mojave poet Natalie Diaz and participate in a think, pair, share activity that will help them process this difficult topic. As the film and Diaz’s poem make clear, police violence against Native people, particularly in California, is a significant element of MMIW and therefore part of this lesson. Essential Questions: What does MMIW mean? Why are Native women and Two-Spirit people targeted for violence? How do state actors like the police contribute to MMIW? Students will: Paraphrase main ideas from the lesson while taking notes. Analyze a short film featuring Mojave Poet Natalie Diaz’s poem, “American Arithmetic,” by participating in a think, pair & share activity. Describe MMIW as a result of ongoing settler-colonial occupation. The teacher must: Understand that MMIW is a structural issue not an interpersonal one. Be prepared to actively engage students’ difficult questions and reactions to the sensitive subject matter of the lesson.

Native Americans and Reproductive Justice

This lesson introduces students to the history of Indian Health Services in the U.S. as it relates to reproductive justice and the involuntary sterilization of Native women during the 1970s. This lesson supports students as they learn critical thinking skills by relating issues of health and wellness to colonization. This lesson also provides students with the chance to collaborate with one another to define key terms pertaining to the topic of reproductive justice. Essential Questions: What is reproductive justice and what is its relationship to Native American peoples? What is the history of the Indian Health Service? Why is reproductive justice an important concept for Native Americans and all people? Students will: Demonstrate their understanding of key terms by participating in a gallery walk activity with their classmates in small groups. Paraphrase important concepts by actively listening to the lecture. Reflect on the lesson and evaluate the significance of reproductive justice for Native Americans by completing the gallery walk handout. The teacher must: Understand that the historical context of reproductive health for Native peoples is essential to discussions of health and wellness. Be prepared to actively engage students’ personal experiences and family stories about sterilization, out adoptions, and general health.

. Keppler, “Indian Policy - A House of Cards” 1881

U.S. Federal Indian Policies during the 19th-20th Century

HSS 11.11, HSS 11.11.6

This lesson introduces students to some of the most significant Federal Indian policies in the U.S. during the 19th and early 20th century. The lesson focuses on three eras of Federal Indian law; the removal and reservation era, the assimilation era, and the limited tribal self-rule era. This brief lesson spans 120+ years of Federal Indian law and is intended to introduce students to key concepts related to the complex legal relationship between Native American nations and the United States. The lesson consists of a lecture about the historical context of the law, a chronological timeline of the laws and policies presented, a video, and an in-class word matching activity designed to help students study the contents of the lesson. The teacher must understand that the law is not a neutral entity for Native people nor anyone else and that the passage of time has not lessened the impact of these laws on Native peoples’ lives. While many Native people study law in order to mitigate the harms of Federal Indian policies, the law has always been a tool of settler-colonialism when wielded by the U.S. The teacher must be prepared to actively engage students in a complex and difficult discussion about the legislative function of the U.S. settler state. Essential Questions: Who is most detrimentally impacted by Federal Indian policies? What are some of these impacts? How can we understand Federal Indian policies differently and interpret the law as a function of U.S. settler-colonialism? What is at stake for Native American people in terms of Federal Indian policy?

Federal Indian Policies of Termination and Relocation in California

This lesson introduces students to the federal Indian policies of termination and relocation enacted against Native American peoples by the U.S. government in the 1950s. This era of federal Indian policy is often referred to as the Termination Era. This lesson focuses on a few federal Indian policies enacted by the U.S. through the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the 1950s and their impacts on Native American peoples, as well as some of the context of those policies. This lesson focuses on House Resolution 108 passed in 1953, The Indian Relocation Act of 1956, the Rancheria Termination Act of 1958, and to a lesser extent Public Law 280 also passed in 1953. The lesson plan includes one brief large-group reading and discussion activity, and an independent reading and annotation activity after a brief lecture and video clip. This lesson builds on important student skills such as annotating sources and participating in large group discussions. This lesson also encourages students to think about the long life of a law and its material impacts on living people. Essential Questions: When and why did the U.S. federal government enact policies of Indian termination and relocation? How were California Indians negatively affected by termination? What are some of the lasting impacts of termination and relocation? How did Native people in urban relocation centers make community? Students will: Remember government policies of Indian termination and relocation in the 20th century by actively listening and note-taking. Identify historical and legal government decisions that eroded tribes' political authority on their homelands by critically reading and annotating an article on the topic. Develop an understanding of how the U.S. extended its political reach over tribes in the 20th century by examining historical newspaper articles from a digital archive. The teacher must: Understand that federal Indian policies have had lasting impacts on contemporary Native American people. Be prepared to actively engage with students’ questions and observations as they walk them through primary sources from a digital archive.

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