Text: Gorsline, D.W. & Gorsline, M. (1978). Native american indians. New York, NY: Random House Publishing.
Synopsis: Learn all about different tribes of North American Indians from the Pueblos to the Plains Indians. This book describes the different kinds of homes they lived in, the food they ate, and the crafts they made.
Author Information: No information found.
Genre: Nonfiction
Interest Level: K-2
Reading Level: Fourth Grade
Francisco Coronado. Juan de Oñate. William Becknell. Kit Carson. Jedediah Smith. Bent's Old Fort. Fort Union. Fort Larned. Fort Dodge. Raton Pass. Glorieta Pass.
Names resounding with history, lore, enterprise, bravery and honor; conjuring up images of treks and trading posts, stagecoaches and scouts, gunfights and gold seekers, cowboys and cavallery regiments, blizzards and buffalo herds, Indians armed to their teeth, army forts, dust, mud, heat, and just about every other cliché in the book of Western storytelling. And, of course, the name that connects them one and all: that of the Santa Fe Trail, the 900 mile-long famous trade route linking Missouri and Kansas with the West until the advent of the railroad in 1880.
Read more on my own website, ThemisAthena.info.
Did you know that the squash blossom necklace, probably the most recognizable of all Navajo jewelry designs, was an innovation only introduced during the 1870s? That most of the pottery produced in Isleta Pueblo is made by only two families? That the famous Zuñi cluster jewelry didn't begin to emerge until the 1920s, when turquoise became more readily available for jewelry making? That symbols included in Native American art were often commissioned by traders, who would then concoct a "meaning" for those symbols to please their non-Western buyers? That jewelry was pawned on the Navajo Reservation as late as 1976? That permanent sandpainting art – in contrast to those paintings actually created during a Navajo healing ceremony – didn't emerge until the 1950s and often includes alterations from the paintings' religious meanings to protect the maker from illness? That basket weavers sometimes travel as far as 50 or 100 miles to gather specific plants, but that an hour's work generally earns them no more than a dollar or two in wages? That American coins were barred from being used in silversmithing in the 1890s, but Mexican silver pesos continued to be used for another 40 years, to only then be replaced by sterling silver; that however the Indians never mined the silver used in their jewelry themselves? That the Hopi have well over 200 different katsinas (kachinas), all of which have distinctive meanings? That Native American artists now use materials from as far away as the Kalahari and Siberia in jewelry making? That even today, a tribe's revenue from its crafts averages no more than 1 – 20% of its total income?
"I am here.
I am here, now.
I have been here, always."
Edmund J. Ladd (Zuñi).
In 1989, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe, NM, began to put together a project designed to present Native American culture, traditions, and contemporary life from an Indian point of view: not looking in from the outside but looking out from the inside, not analyzing in the way of anthropologists but giving its Indian contributors themselves a place to raise their manifold voices. The process thus begun resulted in a fascinating permanent exhibition presenting all aspects of Native American life from its historic origins to modernity, from arts and crafts to farming and hunting, and from the sacred to the secular (if that distinction applies at all, for there is a profoundly spiritual element to every single act performed over the course of the day). Endowed with a multitude of exhibits – many of them of priceless value – and using traditional displays as well as a multimedia approach combining various audiovisual tools, from its inception the exhibition rested on one inimitable centerpiece: the multi-timbred choir of the First People's very own voices.
Bearing the same title as the exhibition and illustrated by numerous photos, "Here, Now, and Always" provides an additional forum for these voices and sends them out into the world at large. "Listen carefully. Let the stories carry you to the center created by each Native community. Here, at the intersection of sky and earth, you will find the Southwest's people," the museum's former archeology curator, Sarah Schlanger, is quoted at the end of the introductory text to the book's first part, "Ancestors." And thus, the book's Diné (Navajo), Hopi, Zuñi, Apache, Tohono O'odham (Pima) and manifold Pueblo contributors become messengers of their respective peoples; talking about Earth Mother, Sun Father, Changing Woman, Spider Woman and Spider Man, Salt Woman, the Great Spirit, the formation of the first clans and their wanderings, the sacred places marking their world and the meaning of home and community, the interrelation of the elements and man's interaction with them, the significance of clay, salt, corn, and tobacco, of minerals and precious stones, and of farming and hunting, the cycles of life, time, and the seasons, the importance of language, oral tradition, and sacred ceremonies in cultural preservation, and obstacles overcome and new challenges arising.
Read more on my own website, ThemisAthena.info.
This is quite cool booK. It is in a card format and each card has pictures and lots of information.There is information on 50 Native American tribes, where they live, language, dress, food and many other things. I really enjoyed reading this and I learned so much. There are so many Native American tribes and they were all different in their own ways. It was interesting to read about each one and also see pictures of some of the clothing they wore. This is really a good book and I think it would be good for anyone who wants to learn some about Native Americans.
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