Do's and Don'ts When Teaching about Native Americans

This is a fantastic list of some “do’s and don’ts” when teaching about Native Americans. Originally published by oyate.org. I highly encourage you to check out oytate.org for book ideas and resources. (This is a great breakdown about how to look for stereotypes in books: http://oyate.org/index.php/resources/41-resources/how-to-tell-the-difference)

• Do present Native peoples as appropriate role models with whom a Native child can identify. 
• Don’t single out Native children, ask them to describe their families’ traditions, or their people’s cultures. 
• Don’t assume that you have no Native children in your class. Don’t do or say anything that would embarrass a Native child.
   
• Do look for books and materials written and illustrated by Native people. 
• Don’t use ABC books that have “I is for Indian”‘ or “E is for Eskimo.” Don’t use counting books that count “Indians.” Don’t use story books that show non-Native children “playing Indian.” Don’t use picture books by non-Native authors that show animals dressed as “Indians.” Don’t use story books with characters like “Indian Two Feet” or “Little Chief.”

• Do avoid arts and crafts and activities that trivialize Native dress, dance, or ceremony. 
• Don’t use books that show Native people as s*v*ges, primitive craftspeople, or simple tribal people, now extinct.
   
• Don’t have children dress up as “Indians,” with paper bag “costumes” or paper-feather “headdresses.” 
• Don’t sing “Ten Little Indians.” 
• Don’t let children do “war whoops.” 
• Don’t let children play with artifacts borrowed from a library or museum. 
• Don’t have them make “Indian crafts” unless you know authentic methods and have authentic materials.
   
• Do make sure you know the history of Native peoples, past and present, before you attempt to teach it. 
• Do present Native peoples as separate from each other, with unique cultures, languages, spiritual beliefs, and dress. 
• Don’t teach “Indians” only at Thanksgiving. 
• Do teach Native history as a regular part of American history.
   
• Do use materials which put history in perspective. 
• Don’t use materials which manipulate words like “victory,” “conquest,” or “massacre” to distort history. 
• Don’t use materials which present as heroes only those Native people who aided Europeans. 
• Do use materials which present Native heroes who fought to defend their own people.
   
• Do discuss the relationship between Native peoples and the colonists and what went wrong with it. 
• Don’t speak as though “the Indians” were here only for the benefit of the colonists. 
• Don’t make charts about “gifts the Indians gave us.”
   
• Don’t use materials that stress the superiority of European ways, and the inevitability of European conquest. 
• Do use materials which show respect for, and understanding of, the sophistication and complexities of Native societies.
   
• Do use materials which show the continuity of Native societies, with traditional values and spiritual beliefs connected to the present. 
• Don’t refer to Native spirituality as “superstition.” 
• Don’t make up Indian “legends” or “ceremonies.” Don’t encourage children to do “Indian” dances.
   
• Do use respectful language in teaching about Native peoples. 
• Don’t use insulting terms such as “brave,” “squ*w,” “papoose,” “Indian givers,” “wild Indians,” “blanket Indians,” or “wagon burners.”
   
• Do portray Native societies as coexisting with nature in a delicate balance. Don’t portray Native peoples as “the first ecologists.”
   
• Do use primary source material — speeches, songs, poems, writing — that show the linguistic skill of peoples who come from an oral tradition. 
• Don’t use books in which “Indian” characters speak in either “early jawbreaker” or in the oratorical style of the “noble savage.”
   
• Do use materials which show Native women, Elders, and children as integral and important to Native societies. 
• Don’t use books which portray Native women and Elders as subservient to warriors.
   
• Do talk about lives of Native peoples in the present. 
• Do read and discuss good poetry, suitable for young people, by contemporary Native writers. 
• Do invite Native community members to the classroom. Do offer them an honorarium. Treat them as teachers, not as entertainers. 
• Don’t assume that every Native person knows everything there is to know about every Native Nation.

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Published by Oyate, ©1998 Oyate, 2702 Mathews St., Berkeley, CA 94702.