Teaching kids about Indians

[lovmelovmycats]

My daughter's kindergarten class has a field trip planned to a nature center to go through a 90 min program called "Native Americans in Delaware: Young Lenape

Comments

[rime_r]

I'd definitely talk to both the nature center and the teacher, yeah, and ask them what they teach/what they intend to teach about the things you mentioned, e.g. that Lenape people still exist, that they were and are victims of genocide and forced displacement, etc. They're not likely to change their curriculum, for the future, without people confronting them about it

[rime_r]

Actually, it occurs to me that maybe you could try contacting a tribal member *before* the trip and express your concerns and ask what they think you should do.

[lovmelovmycats]

I intend to ask the nature center people if they have had any contact with the tribe in Oklahoma. And if they have not, I think I should probably try to contact somebody from the tribe via their website, to let them know this program is going on, in case they aren't aware.

[romp]

"Their dependence on nature." As if the whites circa the 1600s were not dependent on nature.

I hadn't caught that--excellent point. Ironic even, given it was the Europeans who were starving and struggling, faced with a frightening wilderness that threatened their souls.

Going along seems the best path to me. You can clarify things for your daughter, ask good questions in front of the class (like, where are the Lenape now?), and suggest good resources for the nature centre.

Depending on the material, it might be cool to share the work of Lenape authors.

[sanguinity]

Lenape authors: also try nativeauthors.com (search on Lenape).

[aelf]

I got some pointers to excellent resources and ideas when I asked a similar question here: http://debunkingwhite.livejournal.com/891546.html

[lovmelovmycats]

Thanks for linking to that. I am sorry I did not browse back a little ways to see your post, before I posted. Good links there'd.

[sanguinity]

Not all Lenape were removed; some stayed, but are consequently not federally recognized. Just from a quick search: The Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania. Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Indians of New Jersey. And that doesn't seem to be a complete list, either, but I'd rather you did this research than me.

So, "once walked this land" would be inaccurate, as well. And there are local Lenape that this nature center should be talking to, too.

This is a pretty typical bit of history, btw: those who are removed get to retain recognition as being "real", while those who evade removal (and I've come to expect that there are always people who evaded removal) have to spend a lot of energy thereafter convincing others that they, too, are "real". (It doesn't help, either, that the things one has to do to successfully evade removal until the present day are also strongly inconsistent with the things one has to have been doing to qualify for federal recognition

[spacehawk]

I'd ask that when/if you ask questions in front of the class, presume in your wording that there are self-identified Lenape kids in the room. This excursion might be headtrippy enough on them without people talking about them as if they're not there.

I second this suggestion.