Honoring Indigenous Peoples’ Day

In recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day this week, teachers crafted different activities to introduce students to the stories and cultural contributions of the Indigenous communities that are woven throughout our history.

Upper School English teacher Patricia Dowcett presented Indigenous literature to her junior American Experience class with the novel The Round House by Louise Erdrich and her senior AP Literature class with Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko.

“Introducing students to Native American authors gives them the opportunity to look at history from a new perspective,” said Mrs. Dowcett.

For hands-on activities, both classes played the traditional “moccasin game” where one player hides an object in one of several moccasins and a player from the other team guesses which one contains the object. The hider attempts to distract the other team by singing and banging drums. The player looking for the object wages sticks and if guessed correctly, winnings are doubled; if incorrectly, all wages are lost.

 

The classes concluded with a small feast of cultural foods such as fry bread, which symbolizes resilience and perseverance in Indigenous cultures.