BACK HERE ON EARTH, MOST OF US ARE PREPARING TO CELEBRATE
THANKSGIVING, A NATIONAL DAY OF THANKS AND INDULGENCE. BUT AS MANY
OF YOU HAVE PROBABLY HEARD, THIS TRADITION IS BASED ON A 400 YEAROLD
CELEBRATION BETWEEN PILGRIMS AND NATIVE AMERICANS.
ALTHOUGH THE NATIVE AMERICANS THAT LIVED IN THE UNITED STATES WERE
A DIVERSE GROUP OF TRIBES SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY,
MUCH OF THEIR HISTORY HAS VANISHED AFTER CENTURIES OF FORCED
RELOCATION.
BUT AARON CARAPELLA, A SELF-TAUGHT MAPMAKER FROM OKLAHOMA, HAS
RECLAIMED THEIR HISTORIC GEOGRAPHY, WITH A MAP OF THE UNITED
STATES LIKE NO ONE HAS SEEN BEFORE!
FOR MORE THAN A DECADE, CARAPELLA CONSULTED HISTORY BOOKS AND
LIBRARY ARCHIVES, CALLED UP TRIBAL MEMBERS AND VISITED
RESERVATIONS TO PINPOINT THE LOCATIONS AND ORIGINAL NAMES OF
HUNDREDS OF AMERICAN INDIAN NATIONS BEFORE THEIR FIRST CONTACT
WITH EUROPEANS.
HIS TIRELESS RESEARCH SERVES AS A REMINDER THAT THE HISTORY OF THIS
LAND GOES BACK MUCH FURTHER THAN 1492!
Instructional Links
PDF: NPR, Tribal Nations Map
http://www.npr.org/assets/news/2014/06/Tribal_Nations_Map_NA.pdf
Video: PBS LearningMedia: All About the Holidays, Native American Heritage Month
Word Search: PBS LearningMedia: All About the Holidays, Thanksgiving Vocabulary Word Search
Game: Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indians, Infinity of Nations, Culture Quest
http://www.nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/infinityofnations/culturequest/
eBooks: INFOhio BookFLIX, Giving Thanks & Thanksgiving
https://www.infohio.org/students/er/grade/gk5/item/bookflix?category_id=70
May Need Password
Website Article: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Program, National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month