Symbols of Freedom
Thousands of years ago, people who would later be called Native Americans traveled from northeast Asia over the Bering Strait and then into North America. Today the Native American is one of our great national symbols. He was the original inhabitant of the land that would become America. He hunted in her lush forests and rode across her great plains. As a symbol, the Native American is pictured as a noble and dignified figure who values nature and who is a steward of the land. He represents strength, wisdom, and courage. He symbolizes the America that European explorers found.
This is page 3 from GGA510 Symbols of Freedom.
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Columbus called the first Native Americans he met Indians because he thought he had reached the East Indies when he first came to the New World.
By the time Europeans came to America, there were a thousand Native American nations in North America. Among these various tribes were the Delaware, Sioux, Cheyenne, Apache, Blackfeet, Seminole, Winnebago, Mohawk, and Hopi.
When Europeans reached the New World, Native Americans lived in the following areas: Eastern Woodlands, Southeast, Southwest, Plains, California, Intermountains, and Northwest Coast.
The sign-language ability of the Native Americans on the Great Plains developed because the tribes there needed to communicate in a common, easily understood language.
Many of our towns, forests, rivers, parks, and twenty-six of our states have Native American names.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, some Plains Native Americans wore beautifully decorated hide shirts that were symbols of courage earned by the individual who bravely fought the enemy battle or who went into enemy camps and stole horses. These shirts were made from hides tanned with animal brains. They had fringes and were decorated with paint, hair, porcupine quills, and later, glass beads. The shirts, in symbols and pictographs, described battles and horse raids of their owners.
Activity Sample:
Famous Chiefs
Unscramble each set of letters to name a famous tribal chief.
