Good afternoon,
Many librarians and teachers write, asking for
reliable sources on American Indian culture,
history, etc. They seek these resources in order
to support student research projects.
As many of you know, there are a LOT of materials
available on American Indians, but, many (I'd say
most) are outdated and/or biased in ways that
continue to present American Indians as victims,
savages, or tragic heroes. I'm really glad people
are seeking other materials. As the population of
American Indians grows, particularly those in
positions/places to effect change in curriculum
(either by writing books, doing research, or
planning curriculum), we'll see more and more
positive change, and (hopefully) a decrease in
stereotypical information (like the 'Indian' way
of saying 'hello' I wrote about yesterday).
So! Here's my suggestion on how to proceed.
There are two excellent encyclopedias, both
published in the 90s, both infused with the work
of Native scholars, and more updated viewpoints
of Native peoples. Both have entries written by
Native scholars, political leaders, tribal
leaders. Each entry is supported with "for
further reading." Order each one for your
library. When a class is doing a particular
research project, look it up in both
encyclopedias. See what the entry says, who wrote
it, and what their sources were. The two are:
Davis, Mary B. (1996) Native America in the
Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishing Inc.
Hoxie, Frederick E. (1996) Encyclopedia of North
American Indians. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
ALSO, get these three books. They are also
excellent and teachers/librarians/students will find them helpful.
Francis, Lee. (1996) Native Time: A Historical
Time Line of Native America. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin
Champagne, Duane. (1994) Chronology of Native
North American History. Detroit: Gale Research
Champagne, Duane. (1994) Native America: Portrait
of the Peoples. Detroit: Visible Ink Press
ALSO, go to Lisa Mitten's website. Lisa is in the
American Indian Library Association, and
maintains a webpage with links to homepages of
Native Tribes/Nations. Those maintained BY the
tribe are marked with a drum icon. Here's her page:
http://www.nativeculturelinks.com/nations.html
FINALLY, if using the web, make sure students go
to Elaine Cubbins website. She, too, is in the
American Indian Library Association. Her page is
about evaluating webpages with Native content.
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~ecubbins/webcrit.html
All these resources are on my blog/resource page.
The encyclopedias and books are at the bottom of
my recommended books list, and the websites are
listed in the section of my page called
"Excellent Websites about American Indians." My page is here:
http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com
Debbie
Debbie A. Reese (Nambé Pueblo)
Assistant Professor, American Indian Studies
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Native American House, Room 2005
1204 West Nevada Street, MC-138
Urbana, Illinois 61801
Email: debreese@uiuc.edu
Internet Resource & Blog:
http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/
Native American House: http://www.nah.uiuc.edu
TEL 217-265-9885
FAX 217-265-9880
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