Native Americans and the American Revolution: Conflict, Resilience, and Legacy
Event staff and presenters meet in preparation for the teach-in.
On Saturday, March 14, educators from across the country gathered online for a day of learning, reflection, and connection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian’s annual Native Knowledge 360° Teach-In, hosted in partnership with Teaching for Change. This year’s theme, Native Americans and the American Revolution: Conflict, Resilience, and Legacy, invited educators to deepen their understanding of Indigenous histories and contemporary voices. Keynote speaker Dr. Scott Manning Stevens (Akwesasne Mohawk Nation) offered a powerful address on the central role of the Haudenosaunee in the American Revolution, while also examining the broader impact of war, resilience, and cultural perseverance for Native communities. His talk highlighted how Native perspectives are essential to a complete understanding of U.S. history.
Building on the keynote, participants joined interactive workshops that drew from the museum’s Essential Understandings Framework, Native Knowledge 360° classroom resources, children’s literature curated by Social Justice Books, and lessons developed by the Zinn Education Project. Sessions offered hands-on strategies for teaching about Indigenous sovereignty, culture, and contributions. Participants left with new resources, fresh ideas, and a strengthened commitment to uplifting Native perspectives in their teaching. Participant quotes:
This was one of the most engaging, thought-provoking, and useful workshops I have attended in a long time. I am excited to explore all of the resources shared. I can see myself implementing these activities today and creating fuller, more impactful programs for the students and teachers I support across California.
SO many useful resources were shared today! I loved the Beyond Loyalists session filled with so many cool ways to widen and deepen the conversation. I’m already thinking of different ways I can use what I learned today in my ELA lessons as well as some of my work in the wider community.
Resources, resources, resources! As an Indigenous woman with mostly Mexica and Lakota teachings, I want to learn more about the teachings and Indigenous histories of Central America. I am looking forward to exploring everything shared today and then sharing with the communities I support.
Beyond Loyalists and Patriots: Black and Native Americans Fight for Their Freedom in the U.S. War of Independence
Recommended audience: Sixth to twelfth grade teachers
This workshop invited participants to reconsider dominant narratives of the American Revolution by centering the experiences of Black and Native peoples. Facilitators Tiferet Ani and Mimi Eisen began with a reflection on how the Revolution is typically taught, using a word cloud to surface common themes like “taxation without representation.” They then introduced a critical examination of the Declaration of Independence’s final grievance, highlighting how it references both enslaved people seeking freedom and Native nations resisting colonial expansion. Participants then explored how the Revolution was not simply a fight for liberty, but also a conflict shaped by competing interests, including the desire for land and the preservation of slavery.
Participants then engaged in an interactive mixer activity, where they analyzed and shared biographies of individuals from the era, emphasizing diverse perspectives and motivations. In breakout groups, they examined how Black and Native people made strategic choices — often aligning with either the British or the colonists — in pursuit of freedom and sovereignty. The debrief discussion highlighted the complexity of these decisions, challenged simplified historical narratives, and underscored the importance of teaching history through multiple perspectives. Educators reflected on how the activity humanizes historical figures, builds critical thinking and literacy skills, and encourages students to question whose freedom was denied. The session concluded with suggestions for classroom implementation, including connecting the lesson to present day struggles.
Identifying Indigenous Narratives in Children’s Books
Recommended audience: Kindergarten to twelfth grade teachers
In the workshop, Debbie Reese guided educators through a critical examination of how Native peoples are represented, or misrepresented, in K–12 literature. Drawing on her work with the American Indians in Children’s Literature website, she emphasized the importance of recognizing Native nations as distinct political entities and challenging stereotypical or incomplete portrayals. Through participant reflection, she highlighted how most educators were taught little to nothing about Native perspectives in major historical events, reinforcing the need to address these absences. Dr. Reese contrasted widely taught myths, such as the “First Thanksgiving,” with more accurate accounts, and underscored how language, authorship, and perspective shape narratives.
The session then moved into analyzing children’s books. Participants contrasted problematic texts written by non-Native authors with those written by Native authors. Dr. Reese critiqued widely used books like Sign of the Beaver and Twilight for misrepresenting key concepts like treaties and reinforcing stereotypes. She uplifted accurate Native-authored works such as We Are Still Here, If You Lived During the American Revolution, and The Water Walker. Through these examples, she demonstrated how authentic narratives reflect lived experiences, contemporary realities, and community knowledge. Dr. Reese also provided practical strategies for educators, including using critical literacy approaches such as annotating problematic texts with students, applying evaluation tools, and being intentional about book selection. The workshop concluded with a discussion on engaging students in analyzing bias, navigating censorship versus classroom choice, and reinforcing the role of educators in challenging dominant narratives.
Insight: Reading Photographs and Teaching Visual Literacy
Recommended audience: Sixth to twelfth grade teachers
The workshop, led by Emily Moazami and Rachel Menyuk, introduced participants to the concept of visual literacy and the importance of critically “reading” photographs. Drawing on collections from the National Museum of the American Indian, the facilitators emphasized that photographs are powerful primary sources but are not inherently truthful. Through examples, which included manipulated images by Edward Curtis, participants learned how images can reflect bias or staging. Presenters provided attendees with key strategies for analyzing photographs by examining their context, content, and intent. They encouraged educators to look closely at both physical and digital images to uncover layered meanings.
Participants were guided through a practical framework of asking “who, what, when, where, and why” to investigate photographs. Noting how folks can use clues such as clothing, technology, landscape, and written markings to answer their questions. Through interactive breakout activities, attendees practiced applying these skills as “photo detectives,” collaboratively analyzing images and sharing interpretations. The session concluded with resources for accessing archival materials online and encouraged educators to integrate visual literacy into their teaching to foster critical thinking and deeper engagement with history.
Native Women Leading the Way: From Revolution to the Future
Recommended audience: Sixth to twelfth grade teachers
The workshop, led by Caitlin Lochridge, introduced educators to a classroom-ready lesson centered on Native women’s leadership during and after the American Revolution. Using a teaching poster developed by the National Museum of the American Indian, participants explored biographies of three historical Native leaders alongside contemporary Native women who are their descendants. The session provided historical context about Native nations’ complex roles during the American Revolution and emphasized the importance of recognizing women’s leadership roles, such as clan mothers, beloved women, and peace chiefs. Participants also reviewed lesson components including timelines, key terms, and guiding questions designed to help students analyze leadership, decision-making, and the impact of colonial conflict on Native communities.
Educators then took on the role of students, working in breakout groups to analyze one leader using a handout focused on “who, what, when, where, and why.” Groups then shared their findings, highlighting themes such as diplomacy, negotiation, survival strategies, and the diverse perspectives within Native communities. The discussion surfaced how these women made complex political choices to protect their people, sometimes aligning with or mediating between colonial powers. The workshop concluded with reflection, resource sharing, and encouragement for educators to bring these materials into their classrooms to deepen students’ understanding of Indigenous histories, leadership, and the ongoing connections between past and present.
Necessity: Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance
Recommended audience: Sixth to twelfth grade teachers
The workshop, facilitated by educator Suzanna Kassouf, introduced participants to the documentary film Necessity and lesson exploring the intersection of Indigenous rights, environmental justice, and climate activism. Kassouf grounded the session in place-based learning, naming the Indigenous territories she was calling from and framing the film as both a story about threatened waterways and a reflection on how individuals can understand their roles within broader social movements. Participants viewed three clips from the documentary, which highlighted the impacts of tar sands pipelines in the Great Lakes region, concerns about contamination of water and wild rice ecosystems, and the coordinated actions of climate activists who attempted to shut down pipelines as an act of civil disobedience rooted in “necessity” as a legal and moral defense.
Participants then gathered in small breakout groups and engaged in a mixer activity where each person read about and embodied a real individual connected to the film. The activity surfaced themes of stakeholder complexity, environmental risk versus fossil fuel dependence, and the tension between legality and moral urgency in climate activism. Educators emphasized the value of helping students identify stakeholders in environmental conflicts and using the lesson to foster critical thinking and civic engagement. The facilitator closed by highlighting hope as an active practice grounded in collective action, underscoring the workshop’s broader aim of equipping educators to bring climate justice narratives and place-based learning into their classrooms.
Teaching Critical Taíno History with The Moonlit Vine and Claro de Luna
Recommended audience: Sixth to twelfth grade teachers
In this workshop literacy specialist Michelle Fuentes and author Elizabeth Santiago presented how storytelling can support center Taíno history in the classroom. The session opened with a reflection on the importance of family stories as a gateway to identity and historical understanding. Than Santiago read aloud fromThe Moonlit Vine, which weaves together intergenerational narratives and historical fiction. She discussed her inspiration for the novel, emphasizing the gaps in documented Taíno history and her effort to reconstruct and honor those histories through storytelling, symbolism, and the blending of past and present narratives. Together, facilitators highlighted how the text situates Taíno experiences within broader histories of colonization, survival, and cultural continuity.
Participants were introduced to practical strategies for using the book in literacy, social studies, language learning, and the arts. The presenters shared classroom ready resources such as biography organizers, timelines, and bilingual materials to support diverse learners. Throughout the session, Santiago underscored the importance of teaching Taíno history to challenge narratives of erasure and to affirm that Taíno peoples and cultures are still present today. The workshop concluded with a group discussion of how understanding historical roots can empower students by helping them see themselves as part of ongoing stories of resilience, identity, and collective power.
Teaching Indigenous Central America
Recommended audience: First to twelfth grade teachers
The workshop opened with music and a grounding reflection on the enduring presence of Indigenous peoples across Central America and the broader Americas, emphasizing their ongoing resistance and cultural continuity. Presenter Jonathan Peraza Campos introduced the Teaching Central America project, highlighting the region’s diversity through a focus on Mayan culture, the Popol Vuh creation story, and the central role of corn in Indigenous life. Participants reflected on their own relationships to corn while engaging with the creation narrative, which describes humans as formed from corn. Participants then reflected on how Indigenous knowledge systems integrate spirituality and science, unlike most Western cultures. The session also expanded understandings of indigeneity by introducing the Garifuna as an Afro-Indigenous community shaped by histories of displacement and resilience.
The second half focused on contemporary Indigenous resistance, highlighting activists such as Berta Cáceres and Miriam Miranda and the ongoing struggles against state violence and extractive industries. Participants reflected on land defense, historical erasure, and environmental justice, while exploring classroom applications through shared curricular resources and teaching strategies rooted in storytelling and visual literacy. The workshop concluded with an emphasis on Indigenous futurisms and a closing “In Lak’ech” exercise, reinforcing themes of relationality, mutual respect, and collective responsibility.
Building Foundational Literacy Skills with Contemporary Indigenous and Native American Content
Recommended audience: Early childhood and lower elementary
The workshop brought together educators to explore how early reading instruction can be strengthened through culturally grounded Indigenous-authored texts. Katie Potter of Lee & Low introduced the Drumbeat Decodable Book Collection, a phonics-based early literacy series developed in collaboration with Indigenous Education Press and Good Minds. She highlighted how the books support foundational reading skills while centering Indigenous perspectives, relationships to land, and everyday community life. Potter also shared sample lesson plan structures and guidance on how educators can integrate the texts into multi-lesson instructional sequences that move from decoding skills to comprehension, reflection, and connection to broader curricular themes.
Desi Lynn of the National Indian Education Association expanded the conversation by focusing on the importance of authentic Indigenous representation in curriculum and the responsibility educators have in evaluating children’s literature. She introduced frameworks such as the CRACE tool and the NMAI Native Knowledge 360° worksheet to help assess cultural authenticity, authorship, tribal specificity, and contemporary representation in Indigenous texts. Lynn emphasized that Indigenous stories should be taught across all subject areas and highlighted how harmful or outdated representations can be used as comparison points rather than central materials. Throughout the group discussion, participants underscored the importance of centering Indigenous voices, supporting language and cultural revitalization, and ensuring that literacy instruction affirms Indigenous identity while maintaining reading development.
Native Americans and the American Revolution: Conflict, Resilience, and Legacy
On Saturday, March 14, educators from across the country gathered online for a day of learning, reflection, and connection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian’s annual Native Knowledge 360° Teach-In, hosted in partnership with Teaching for Change. This year’s theme, Native Americans and the American Revolution: Conflict, Resilience, and Legacy, invited educators to deepen their understanding of Indigenous histories and contemporary voices. Keynote speaker Dr. Scott Manning Stevens (Akwesasne Mohawk Nation) offered a powerful address on the central role of the Haudenosaunee in the American Revolution, while also examining the broader impact of war, resilience, and cultural perseverance for Native communities. His talk highlighted how Native perspectives are essential to a complete understanding of U.S. history.
Building on the keynote, participants joined interactive workshops that drew from the museum’s Essential Understandings Framework, Native Knowledge 360° classroom resources, children’s literature curated by Social Justice Books, and lessons developed by the Zinn Education Project. Sessions offered hands-on strategies for teaching about Indigenous sovereignty, culture, and contributions. Participants left with new resources, fresh ideas, and a strengthened commitment to uplifting Native perspectives in their teaching. Participant quotes:
Workshops
Beyond Loyalists and Patriots: Black and Native Americans Fight for Their Freedom in the U.S. War of Independence
Recommended audience: Sixth to twelfth grade teachers
This workshop invited participants to reconsider dominant narratives of the American Revolution by centering the experiences of Black and Native peoples. Facilitators Tiferet Ani and Mimi Eisen began with a reflection on how the Revolution is typically taught, using a word cloud to surface common themes like “taxation without representation.” They then introduced a critical examination of the Declaration of Independence’s final grievance, highlighting how it references both enslaved people seeking freedom and Native nations resisting colonial expansion. Participants then explored how the Revolution was not simply a fight for liberty, but also a conflict shaped by competing interests, including the desire for land and the preservation of slavery.
Participants then engaged in an interactive mixer activity, where they analyzed and shared biographies of individuals from the era, emphasizing diverse perspectives and motivations. In breakout groups, they examined how Black and Native people made strategic choices — often aligning with either the British or the colonists — in pursuit of freedom and sovereignty. The debrief discussion highlighted the complexity of these decisions, challenged simplified historical narratives, and underscored the importance of teaching history through multiple perspectives. Educators reflected on how the activity humanizes historical figures, builds critical thinking and literacy skills, and encourages students to question whose freedom was denied. The session concluded with suggestions for classroom implementation, including connecting the lesson to present day struggles.
Identifying Indigenous Narratives in Children’s Books
Recommended audience: Kindergarten to twelfth grade teachers
In the workshop, Debbie Reese guided educators through a critical examination of how Native peoples are represented, or misrepresented, in K–12 literature. Drawing on her work with the American Indians in Children’s Literature website, she emphasized the importance of recognizing Native nations as distinct political entities and challenging stereotypical or incomplete portrayals. Through participant reflection, she highlighted how most educators were taught little to nothing about Native perspectives in major historical events, reinforcing the need to address these absences. Dr. Reese contrasted widely taught myths, such as the “First Thanksgiving,” with more accurate accounts, and underscored how language, authorship, and perspective shape narratives.
The session then moved into analyzing children’s books. Participants contrasted problematic texts written by non-Native authors with those written by Native authors. Dr. Reese critiqued widely used books like Sign of the Beaver and Twilight for misrepresenting key concepts like treaties and reinforcing stereotypes. She uplifted accurate Native-authored works such as We Are Still Here, If You Lived During the American Revolution, and The Water Walker. Through these examples, she demonstrated how authentic narratives reflect lived experiences, contemporary realities, and community knowledge. Dr. Reese also provided practical strategies for educators, including using critical literacy approaches such as annotating problematic texts with students, applying evaluation tools, and being intentional about book selection. The workshop concluded with a discussion on engaging students in analyzing bias, navigating censorship versus classroom choice, and reinforcing the role of educators in challenging dominant narratives.
Insight: Reading Photographs and Teaching Visual Literacy
Recommended audience: Sixth to twelfth grade teachers
The workshop, led by Emily Moazami and Rachel Menyuk, introduced participants to the concept of visual literacy and the importance of critically “reading” photographs. Drawing on collections from the National Museum of the American Indian, the facilitators emphasized that photographs are powerful primary sources but are not inherently truthful. Through examples, which included manipulated images by Edward Curtis, participants learned how images can reflect bias or staging. Presenters provided attendees with key strategies for analyzing photographs by examining their context, content, and intent. They encouraged educators to look closely at both physical and digital images to uncover layered meanings.
Participants were guided through a practical framework of asking “who, what, when, where, and why” to investigate photographs. Noting how folks can use clues such as clothing, technology, landscape, and written markings to answer their questions. Through interactive breakout activities, attendees practiced applying these skills as “photo detectives,” collaboratively analyzing images and sharing interpretations. The session concluded with resources for accessing archival materials online and encouraged educators to integrate visual literacy into their teaching to foster critical thinking and deeper engagement with history.
Native Women Leading the Way: From Revolution to the Future
Recommended audience: Sixth to twelfth grade teachers
The workshop, led by Caitlin Lochridge, introduced educators to a classroom-ready lesson centered on Native women’s leadership during and after the American Revolution. Using a teaching poster developed by the National Museum of the American Indian, participants explored biographies of three historical Native leaders alongside contemporary Native women who are their descendants. The session provided historical context about Native nations’ complex roles during the American Revolution and emphasized the importance of recognizing women’s leadership roles, such as clan mothers, beloved women, and peace chiefs. Participants also reviewed lesson components including timelines, key terms, and guiding questions designed to help students analyze leadership, decision-making, and the impact of colonial conflict on Native communities.
Educators then took on the role of students, working in breakout groups to analyze one leader using a handout focused on “who, what, when, where, and why.” Groups then shared their findings, highlighting themes such as diplomacy, negotiation, survival strategies, and the diverse perspectives within Native communities. The discussion surfaced how these women made complex political choices to protect their people, sometimes aligning with or mediating between colonial powers. The workshop concluded with reflection, resource sharing, and encouragement for educators to bring these materials into their classrooms to deepen students’ understanding of Indigenous histories, leadership, and the ongoing connections between past and present.
Necessity: Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance
Recommended audience: Sixth to twelfth grade teachers
The workshop, facilitated by educator Suzanna Kassouf, introduced participants to the documentary film Necessity and lesson exploring the intersection of Indigenous rights, environmental justice, and climate activism. Kassouf grounded the session in place-based learning, naming the Indigenous territories she was calling from and framing the film as both a story about threatened waterways and a reflection on how individuals can understand their roles within broader social movements. Participants viewed three clips from the documentary, which highlighted the impacts of tar sands pipelines in the Great Lakes region, concerns about contamination of water and wild rice ecosystems, and the coordinated actions of climate activists who attempted to shut down pipelines as an act of civil disobedience rooted in “necessity” as a legal and moral defense.
Participants then gathered in small breakout groups and engaged in a mixer activity where each person read about and embodied a real individual connected to the film. The activity surfaced themes of stakeholder complexity, environmental risk versus fossil fuel dependence, and the tension between legality and moral urgency in climate activism. Educators emphasized the value of helping students identify stakeholders in environmental conflicts and using the lesson to foster critical thinking and civic engagement. The facilitator closed by highlighting hope as an active practice grounded in collective action, underscoring the workshop’s broader aim of equipping educators to bring climate justice narratives and place-based learning into their classrooms.
Teaching Critical Taíno History with The Moonlit Vine and Claro de Luna
Recommended audience: Sixth to twelfth grade teachers
In this workshop literacy specialist Michelle Fuentes and author Elizabeth Santiago presented how storytelling can support center Taíno history in the classroom. The session opened with a reflection on the importance of family stories as a gateway to identity and historical understanding. Than Santiago read aloud from The Moonlit Vine, which weaves together intergenerational narratives and historical fiction. She discussed her inspiration for the novel, emphasizing the gaps in documented Taíno history and her effort to reconstruct and honor those histories through storytelling, symbolism, and the blending of past and present narratives. Together, facilitators highlighted how the text situates Taíno experiences within broader histories of colonization, survival, and cultural continuity.
Participants were introduced to practical strategies for using the book in literacy, social studies, language learning, and the arts. The presenters shared classroom ready resources such as biography organizers, timelines, and bilingual materials to support diverse learners. Throughout the session, Santiago underscored the importance of teaching Taíno history to challenge narratives of erasure and to affirm that Taíno peoples and cultures are still present today. The workshop concluded with a group discussion of how understanding historical roots can empower students by helping them see themselves as part of ongoing stories of resilience, identity, and collective power.
Teaching Indigenous Central America
Recommended audience: First to twelfth grade teachers
The workshop opened with music and a grounding reflection on the enduring presence of Indigenous peoples across Central America and the broader Americas, emphasizing their ongoing resistance and cultural continuity. Presenter Jonathan Peraza Campos introduced the Teaching Central America project, highlighting the region’s diversity through a focus on Mayan culture, the Popol Vuh creation story, and the central role of corn in Indigenous life. Participants reflected on their own relationships to corn while engaging with the creation narrative, which describes humans as formed from corn. Participants then reflected on how Indigenous knowledge systems integrate spirituality and science, unlike most Western cultures. The session also expanded understandings of indigeneity by introducing the Garifuna as an Afro-Indigenous community shaped by histories of displacement and resilience.
The second half focused on contemporary Indigenous resistance, highlighting activists such as Berta Cáceres and Miriam Miranda and the ongoing struggles against state violence and extractive industries. Participants reflected on land defense, historical erasure, and environmental justice, while exploring classroom applications through shared curricular resources and teaching strategies rooted in storytelling and visual literacy. The workshop concluded with an emphasis on Indigenous futurisms and a closing “In Lak’ech” exercise, reinforcing themes of relationality, mutual respect, and collective responsibility.
Building Foundational Literacy Skills with Contemporary Indigenous and Native American Content
Recommended audience: Early childhood and lower elementary
The workshop brought together educators to explore how early reading instruction can be strengthened through culturally grounded Indigenous-authored texts. Katie Potter of Lee & Low introduced the Drumbeat Decodable Book Collection, a phonics-based early literacy series developed in collaboration with Indigenous Education Press and Good Minds. She highlighted how the books support foundational reading skills while centering Indigenous perspectives, relationships to land, and everyday community life. Potter also shared sample lesson plan structures and guidance on how educators can integrate the texts into multi-lesson instructional sequences that move from decoding skills to comprehension, reflection, and connection to broader curricular themes.
Desi Lynn of the National Indian Education Association expanded the conversation by focusing on the importance of authentic Indigenous representation in curriculum and the responsibility educators have in evaluating children’s literature. She introduced frameworks such as the CRACE tool and the NMAI Native Knowledge 360° worksheet to help assess cultural authenticity, authorship, tribal specificity, and contemporary representation in Indigenous texts. Lynn emphasized that Indigenous stories should be taught across all subject areas and highlighted how harmful or outdated representations can be used as comparison points rather than central materials. Throughout the group discussion, participants underscored the importance of centering Indigenous voices, supporting language and cultural revitalization, and ensuring that literacy instruction affirms Indigenous identity while maintaining reading development.
Posted: February 12, 2026