Document Type

Project

Publication Date

Fall 2005

Keywords

Native Americans, Pacific Northwest, Federal policy

Abstract

“Native Americans lost control of their land.. .due to the expansion of a country.” “Indians are now living the kind of lives we expect of 20th century Americans.” Although it would be easy and preferable to believe that the previous two quotes were from the early twentieth century when stereotypes and racialized history were more prevalent, in truth the quotes come from Dale Lambert’s elementary school textbook Washington: A State of Contrast published in 2005. Lambert and many of his contemporaries have continued to treat the history of Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest in a way that discredits their involvement, either by making them absent in the historical text, presenting them as victims of whites and societal advancement, or by portraying Indians as episodes in white history. Lambert’s text therefore presents us with a troubling question: Why has the curriculum and education about Indians remained seemingly unchanged? This seeming stasis within the regional curriculum in many ways is contrary to the slow evolution and progression that occurred within historical scholarship and federal Indian policy, including federal Indian Education policy. Examining curricular change alongside policy and scholarship change demonstrates how far curricular change has lagged behind.

Department

History

Subjects - Topical (LCSH)

Indians of North America--History--Study and teaching; Indians of North America--Government relations--History; Indians of North America--Education--Curricula

Genre/Form

student projects; term papers

Type

Text

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

Rights Statement

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

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