Supporting and Inspiring Native Youth: Chapter 5

Your Resources: Curriculum

  • Essential Understandings

    Native Knowledge 360° is the National Museum of the American Indian’s national initiative to inspire and promote improvement of teaching and learning about American Indians.

    Its publication “Essential Understandings About American Indians” provides a framework for understanding the rich and diverse cultures, histories, and contemporary lives of Native peoples.

    Many states have published their own “Essential Understandings” guides that detail regional history and context about Indigenous tribes.

    1. National Museum of the American Indian (2018). Native Knowledge 360°. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved from: http://www.nmai.si.edu/nk360/
  • Examples of Survivance

    Acts of survivance are instances that display the active presence of Indigenous peoples today. These can take on various media (storytelling, dancing, drawing, filmmaking, etc.), as well as participation in activism or social movements.

    Learn and be informed about local examples of survivance and sovereignty that may inspire Native youth. Some examples include:

    • Work from contemporary Native artists, filmmakers, or writers
    • Legislative efforts
    • Language revitalization movements
    • Environmental advocacy efforts
  • Examples of Survivance (continued)

    Organizations and tribal networks:

    • American Indian Science and Engineering Society
    • National Indian Education Association
    • Northwest Indian Language Institute

    Native leaders, authors, scholars, athletes, etc.:

    • Shoni Schimmel (Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation) is a star WNBA player
    • Tara Houska (Ojibwe) is a tribal rights attorney and former advisor to Bernie Sanders
    • Gyasi Ross (Blackfeet/Suquamish) is an author, storyteller, lawyer, and dad
    • Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe, aka Ojibwe) ran for vice president on the Green Party ticket with Ralph Nader and is an environmentalist, political activist, and economist
    • Lyle Thompson (Onondaga) is a lacrosse player
    • Chief Caleen Sisk of the Winnemem Wintu
    • Hopi citizen Diane Humetewa is the first Native American woman to serve as a U.S. District Court judge
    • John Herrington (Chickasaw) is the first Native tribal member to go into space
    • Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee) is a champion for American Indian rights and has helped Native peoples recover more than 1 million acres of land
    • Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox) was an Olympic gold medalist
    • Tony Johnson (Chinook) is chairman of the Chinook Nation
  • Incorporating Strengths And Traditions

    The National 4-H Council serves Native communities in 11 states reaching over 1,000 Native youth a year. Mentoring programs are intentionally designed to incorporate the strengths and traditions of the community.

    • With the help of community members, a 4-H group on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation started their own business, Sioux Imagine, where they create goods including embroidered clothing, beaded jewelry and pottery to sell at state fairs and on the reservation¹.
    • In Fairbanks, Alaska, mentees and their mentors visited the Sirius Sled Dog Tours (operated by one of the program’s mentors) to learn about the care and management of sled dogs. Mentees got to learn how to harness and prepare the dogs and got the chance to practice steering a sled¹.
    1. National Mentoring Resource Center (2016). Balancing Structure and Flexibility to Provide Successful mentoring in Native Communities.

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Your Resources: Application

Supporting and Inspiring Native Youth

  1. The Landscape
  2. Critical Mentoring
  3. Your Identity
  4. Native Youth Identity
  5. Your Resources
  6. Call to Action

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