Native Americans: The Mohicans

Step One: Print out your packet that is attached at the bottom of the page and staple it together! This packet will guide you through our Webquest. Next, Fill out the KW chart and tell me what know and what you want to know about Native Americans! Fill out your follow-along question sheet. There will be questions to complete after each step. Then watch this youtube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmqI6Sz_TR4

Step Two: We often live near rivers and sometimes we are called River Indians. Our houses are called WigWams and they are circular homes made with bent trees and covered with bark or animal hide. Some of us lived in Long houses like the Iroquois. Build your own WigWam using the directions in  your packet! Don�t forget to leave a hole for the smoke at the top!

Step Three: When I was a alive, I was in charge of hunting and fishing. In the Hudson River we have herring, shad, trout, some oyster beds and other fish. I also hunted black bears, deer, moose, beavers, otters, bobcats, mink and other animals. My wife was in charge of farming, the home and the children. Our main crops are corn, squash and beans. In the winter we create and repair utensils, bowls, trapping and hunting gear, baskets and pottery. We also teach the children of the tribe in the winter. They learn many of our oral traditions and stories. They also learn how to live and respect our community. This includes learning their roles in the community and beginning to learn necessary skills. Some of these skills include carving utensils and bowls, creating hunting equipment, pottery making and basket weaving. As a child in the Mohican tribe you will need to learn to weave a basket. Use this link to weave your own basket.

http://spoonful.com/crafts/easy-weave-newsprint-basket

 Step Four: Our tribe has the same values as many other tribes. We value our relationship with nature and tranquility. We work together and depend on one another within our tribe. We cooperate with one another, and are sincere and honest. We also value giving. We give to one another and we also are generous to guests. Oral tradition is the main way that we teach our values.One way that we express these stories is through Wampum belts. Wampum belts are made out of white and purple beads and are used as a form of currency. Follow this link to make your own virtual wampum. Make sure that it tells a story about one of our tribe�s values. Print out your wampum belt and then write a paragraph on the follow-along question sheet that describes the story it is telling and the value that it is teaching in 5 sentences.

http://www.nativetech.org/beadwork/wampumgraph/index.html

Step 5: Now lets drift over to the Europeans. The Europeans have many modern tools and weapons compared to my tribe of Mohicans. They have very different clothes and values. When the Europeans came in contact with us they saw us as uncivilized. We were friendly and generous to them and they took advantage of us. The Europeans value independence, competition, toughness, and dominance. Use the Venn diagram in your packet to compare the European life with the Native American Life.  Use these links to help you:

http://nativeamericans.mrdonn.org/comparison.html

http://www.ducksters.com/history/renaissance/daily_life_in_the_renaissance.php

 Step 6: My tribe became very dependent on the European Fur trade. We were competing with the Mohawks, and the Haudenosaunee for furs. We lost the majority of our hunting land to the Europeans who claimed it by right of discovery. We stopped making many of our traditional items and began using European tools and items such as iron kettles, cloth, guns and colorful glass beads.  We became dependent on these items that we could only get from the trading post. The population of our tribe decreased,because of the many diseases that the Europeans brought with them such as smallpox, measles, and scarlet fever. Many members of our tribe began to think that since the Europeans were prospering in this land that their gods might be greater than ours. This is when we allowed a missionary to come in and build a church. We became known as the Stockbridge Indians, because that was the European named town we were located in. We fought alongside the colonists in the revolutionary war and because of this we were allowed to remain in NY after the war. However, the wealthy land companies were attempting to remove all Indians from New York.  The tribe split and some of us went west to the soon to be Wisconsin area.  We were forced out of our land several times in New York. President Jackson�s Indian Removal Act of 1832 forced the rest of us to go West as well. Many Mohicans died making this journey, some made it to Oklahoma or Kansas and joined other tribes and others rejoined them in Wisconsin.  The Europeans changed our culture. Use the instructions in your packet to make a flipbook to compare our culture before the Europeans and then after the Europeans. Use this link to help you:

http://www.challengerindy.org/Lessons/Native%20Americans/Comparing%20Life.html#Food-

 Step 7: How much did you learn about the Mohican Indians today? Do you want to know more! Complete the post-test KW chart in your packet. To find answers to what you still want to know use these websites:

http://mohican-nsn.gov/Departments/Library-Museum/Mohican_History/origin-and-early.htm

 http://www.bigorrin.org/mohican_kids.htm