Native American Culture
What crops did Native American tribes cultivate? Name one.
Example answers: beans, squash, tomatoes, potatoes.
It is estimated (2016) that 60% of the global food supply is based on crops originally grown in North America (source History.com)
Name 2 impacts of Native American discrimination that continue today.
significantly lower median incomes, lower homeownership, increasing health disparities, and twice the level of poverty
Name an innovation from Native Americans.
Protective goggles, baby bottles, birth control, corn, rubber, cable suspension bridges, mouthwash, syringes, kayaks, hammocks, oral contraceptives, genetically modified food crops and analgesic medications.
The Catawba tribe fought with the South Carolina government but were forced to lands called __
Reservations
How is Native American tradition passed on?
Oral tradition and experiential learning
What are some important values to Native Americans? (Name 1)
Family, community (every action influences the rest of the people in the community), life, physical places held as sacred, and the cosmos (thought of as living womb dictated by powerful spiritual "Great force").
What were some of the rights denied to Native Americans? Name 2.
Not given full citizenship, discriminatory access to voting polls, could not travel, human rights, exclusion, free speech
Around 50 present day medicines are made from Native American ___
Plants / Plant extract
What is a tool that was used by Native Americans to hunt?
Spears, fishhooks, awls
How many Native American languages are there in the US? (Within 50 gets the points)
Approximately 175
How are gender roles divided? Explain in a couple of sentences.
Some tribes were matrilineal whereas others were patrilineal. Women and men were considered equals and divided their tasks differently. Generally women were responsible for farming and gathering and men were responsible for hunting and fishing.
What was the Indian Removal Act?
- Allowed for the Trail of Tears - forced migration of Cherokee people (NC, TN, AL) where about 1/4 of the people died.
A Canadian and Ojibwe novelist, short story writer, and journalist that brings attention to the footprint that the residential school system left on the Native community. "Indian Horse", a movie based on his novel, is now streaming on Netflix.
Richard Wagamese
How long ago did people start to live in the now known as NC area?
12,000 years ago
Name one of the top 3 largest tribes in the US
Cherokee Nation, Navajo Nation, Choctaw Nation
What is the significance of Native American children to their families?
They are considered sacred and are incredibly important to the life of the tribe. The entire community educates the children and don't use physical punishment. They teach lessons through stories and experiences. Children are also taught to look up to elders in the community whose roles they want to fill.
Native Americans were enlisted as "code talkers" to transmit important information in the Navajo language. Some tribes had up to 70% participation in the war efforts.
The first Native American female to receive a medical degree.
Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte
A groundbreaking doctor in the 19th century representing the Omaha tribe, she attended university and went on to study at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania.
She was the only doctor for more than 1,200 people across more than 400 miles.
North Carolina is home to 8 recognized tribes. Name 2.
Eastern Band of Cherokee (Tribal lands in the Mountains including the Qualla Boundary)
Coharie (Sampson and Harnett counties)
Lumbee (Robeson and surrounding counties)
Haliwa-Saponi (Halifax and Warren counties)
Sappony (Person County)
Meherrin (Hertford and surrounding counties)
Occaneechi Band of Saponi Nation (Alamance and surrounding counties)
Waccamaw-Siouan (Columbus and Bladen counties)
Name a word in English that came from the Algonquian language.
Chipmunk, pecan, skunk, hickory, squash, toboggan
What is the significance of land to Native Americans?
The land represents their identity. They feel respect and reverence for Mother Earth and the land is very important to the life that Native Americans lead, including agriculture, hunting, and storytelling.
90% of Native Americans died from illnesses including (Name 1)
Measles, smallpox, tuberculosis
Which mathematical concept was invented by the Mayans of Mexico?
Zero
What is the Metrolina Native American Association?
It was organized in the early 1970s by a group of American Indian families who met in each other’s homes with the goal of assisting native people in the area to stay connected. The MNAA Board of Directors has seven members, elected at large, who serve three-year, staggered terms. (Source UNC American Indian Center)
The US Constitution was modeled after:
Iroquois "Great Law of Peace" that Benjamin Franklin drew many arguments from