More than Arrowheads: New
Virginia Indian Content in the
2008 Standards of Learning
adopted July 2008
Karenne Wood (Monacan)
Director, Virginia Indian Heritage Program
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
(434) 924-3296
www.virginiaindianprogram.org
Major Themes



American Indians contributed greatly to the
development of the English colony at
Jamestown and have continued to participate
in U.S. history
American Indian peoples were profoundly
affected by European settlement
American Indians continue to live in
Virginia and throughout the U.S.
as modern Americans
STANDARD K.1
The student will recognize that history
describes events and people of other
times and places by
identifying examples of past events in legends,
stories, and historical accounts of Powhatan,
Pocahontas, George Washington, Betsy Ross, and
Abraham Lincoln;
Powhatan: He was an Indian leader when the settlers came to Jamestown. He ruled
over many tribes.
Pocahontas: She was an Indian girl, daughter of Powhatan, who came with her
father’s people to visit the settlers at Jamestown. She worked to help the settlers
receive food from the Indians.

identifying the people and events honored by the holidays of Thanksgiving Day,
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, and Independence Day (Fourth of
July).
Thanksgiving Day: This is a day to remember the sharing of the harvest with the
American Indians. It is observed in November.
What’s Wrong with This Picture?
STANDARD 2.2
 The student will compare the lives and contributions of three American
Indians cultures of the past and present with emphasis on the
Powhatan of the Eastern Woodlands, the Lakota of the Plains, and the
Pueblo peoples of the Southwest.

Essential Understandings
American Indian peoples have lived in Virginia and in other regions of
America for thousands of years. American Indians developed different
cultures because they lived in different environments of North America.
American Indians have made and continue to make contributions to
present-day life.
Changes in American Indian culture
American Indian cultures have changed over time. Today, American
Indians live and work in Virginia and the United States.
STANDARD 2.4
Essential Understandings
 People relate to their environment in
different ways.
The Powhatan lived in the Eastern
Woodlands region.
The Lakota lived in the Plains region.
The Pueblo lived in the Southwest region.
STANDARD 2.4, continued
 The student will develop map skills by
c) locating the regions of the Powhatan, Lakota, and
Pueblo Indians on United States maps;
d) understanding the relationship between the
environment and the culture of the Powhatan, Lakota, and
Pueblo Indians.
STANDARD 3.3
The student will study the exploration of the Americas by
 a)
describing the accomplishments of Christopher
Columbus, Juan Ponce de León, Jacques Cartier, and
Christopher Newport;
 b)
identifying reasons for exploring, the information
gained, and the results of the travels, and the impact of
these travels on American Indians.
Impact of European exploration on American Indians:
 Deadly diseases were introduced.
 Exploration later led to settlement.
 The settlements led to relocation of
the American Indians from their
homeland.
STANDARD VS.2d


The student will demonstrate knowledge of the physical
geography and native peoples, past and present, of Virginia
by
d) locating three American Indian language groups (the
Algonquian, the Siouan, and the Iroquoian) on a map of
Virginia.
STANDARD VS.2f

The student will demonstrate knowledge of the physical geography and
native peoples, past and present, of Virginia by
f) describing how archaeologists have recovered new material
evidence through sites including Werowocomoco and Jamestown.
Werowocomoco was a large Indian town used by
Indian leaders for several hundred years before the
English settlers came. It was the headquarters of the
leader, Powhatan, in 1607.
STANDARD VS.2g


The student will demonstrate knowledge of the physical geography and
native peoples, past and present, of Virginia by
g) identifying and locating the current state-recognized tribes.
STANDARD VS.3g









The student will demonstrate knowledge of the first
permanent English settlement in America by
g) describing the interactions between the English settlers and the
native peoples including the contributions of Powhatan to the survival
of the settlers.
Captain John Smith initiated trading relationships with the native peoples.
The native peoples traded mainly food with the English in exchange for tools, pots,
and copper for jewelry.
The native peoples contributed to the survival of the Jamestown settlers in several
ways.
Powhatan, chief of many tribes, provided leadership to his people and taught the
settlers survival skills.
Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan, served as a contact between the native peoples
and the English.
The native peoples showed the settlers how to plant corn and tobacco.
Over time, the native peoples realized the English settlement would continue to
grow.
The native peoples came to see the settlers as invaders who would take over their
land.
STANDARD VS.5b

The student will demonstrate knowledge of the role of Virginia in the
American Revolution by
b) identifying the various roles played by whites, enslaved African
Americans, free African Americans, and American Indians in the
Revolutionary War era, including George Washington, Thomas
Jefferson, and Patrick Henry; , and James Lafayette.
Many American Indians fought alongside both the Virginia
patriots and the British.
Most American Indians east of the Mississippi River were affected by the
war, and many communities were divided over the question of how to
respond to the conflict. Most Native Americans opposed the United States,
since native lands were threatened by expanding American settlement. An
estimated 13,000 warriors fought on the British side; the largest group, the
Iroquois Confederacy, fielded about 1,500 men.
Joseph Brant, Mohawk Chief
STANDARD VS.7c

The student will demonstrate knowledge of the issues that divided our
nation and led to the Civil War by
c) describing the roles played by whites, enslaved African Americans,
and free African Americans, and American Indians.
Most American Indians did not take sides during the Civil War.
However, a number of Pamunkey men served the Union Army as pilots,
including Terrill Bradby, who went on to become a Union spy.
William Terrill Bradby, in dance outfit, photo by De Lancey Gill, 1899. Smithsonian
Anthropological Archives.
STANDARD VS.8b

The student will demonstrate knowledge of the reconstruction of
Virginia following the Civil War by
b) identifying the effects of segregation and “Jim Crow” on life in
Virginia; for whites, African Americans, and American Indians.
“Jim Crow” laws had an effect on American Indians.
“I remember once traveling with my father, and we pulled into a gas station
because I had to go to the bathroom and there was one marked “white”
and one bathroom marked “colored.” I said, “Dad, what do I do?” Chief Stephen Adkins, Chickahominy
STANDARD USI.3a

The student will demonstrate knowledge of how early cultures
developed in North America by
a) describing how archaeologists have recovered material evidence of
ancient settlements including Cactus Hill.

Scientists are not in agreement as to when and how people entered the
Western Hemisphere.

Evidence that humans lived at Cactus Hill as early as 15,000 years ago
makes it one of the oldest sites in North America.
STANDARD USI.3b

The student will demonstrate knowledge of how early
cultures developed in North America by

b) locating where the American Indians lived, with emphasis on
Arctic (Inuit), Northwest (Kwakiutl), Plains (Lakota), Southwest
(Pueblo), and Eastern Woodland (Iroquois).
STANDARD USI.4b (continued)






The student will demonstrate knowledge of European exploration in
North America and West Africa by
b) describing cultural and economic interactions between Europeans
and American Indians that led to cooperation and conflict with
emphasis on the American Indian concept of land.
Areas of conflict
Land
Competition for trade
Differences in cultures
Disease
Language difference
STANDARD USII.4a






The student will demonstrate knowledge of how life
changed after the Civil War by
identifying the reasons for westward expansion, including
its impact on American Indians;
Opposition by American Indians to westward expansion (Battle of Little
Bighorn, Sitting Bull, Geronimo)
Forced relocation from traditional lands to reservations (Chief Joseph, Nez
Percé)
Reduced population through warfare and disease (Battle of Wounded Knee)
Assimilation attempts and lifestyle changes, e.g., reduction
of buffalo population
Reduced their homeland through treaties that were broken
STANDARD USII.4c

The student will demonstrate knowledge of how life changed after the
Civil War by

c) describing racial segregation, the rise of “Jim Crow,” and other
constraints faced by African Americans and other groups in the postReconstruction South;

Racial segregation

Based upon race

Directed primarily against African Americans, but
other groups also were kept segregated

American Indians were not considered citizens
until 1924
"Let us turn a deaf ear to those who would interpret
Christian brotherhood as racial equality."
-- Walter Plecker (1925)
STANDARD WHII.4d

The student will demonstrate knowledge of the impact of the
European Age of Discovery and expansion into the Americas, Africa, and Asia
by
d)
describing the Columbian Exchange and including its impact on native
populations;
Columbian Exchange

Western Hemisphere agricultural products such as corn, potatoes, and
tobacco changed European lifestyles.

European horses and cattle changed the lifestyles of American Indians.

European diseases like smallpox killed many American Indians.
Impact of the Columbian Exchange

Shortage of labor to grow cash crops led to the use of
African slaves.

Slavery was based on race.

European plantation system in the Caribbean and the
Americas destroyed indigenous economics and damaged
the environment.
STANDARD VUS.2 (continued)

The student will describe how early European exploration and
colonization resulted in cultural interactions among Europeans,
Africans, and American Indians.

The explorations and settlements of the English in the American colonies
and Spanish in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, often
led to violent conflicts with the American Indians. The Indians lost their
traditional territories and fell victim to diseases carried from Europe. By
contrast, French exploration of Canada did not lead to large-scale
immigration from France, and relations with native peoples were often
more cooperative. The growth of an agricultural economy based on large
landholdings in the Southern colonies and in the Caribbean led to the
introduction of slavery in the New World. The first Africans were brought
against their will to Jamestown in 1619 to work on tobacco plantations.
STANDARD VUS.6b (continued)



The student will demonstrate knowledge of the major events during
the first half of the nineteenth century by
b) identifying the economic, political, and geographic factors that led
to territorial expansion and its impact on the American Indians;
The belief that it was America’s “Manifest Destiny” to stretch from Atlantic
to Pacific provided political support for territorial expansion.
During this period of westward migration, the American Indians were
repeatedly defeated in violent conflicts with settlers and soldiers and
forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands.
They were either forced to march far away from
their homes (the “Trail of Tears,” when several
tribes were relocated from Atlantic Coast states
to Oklahoma) or confined to reservations.
STANDARD VUS.8a (continued)

The student will demonstrate knowledge of how the nation grew and
changed from the end of Reconstruction through the early twentieth
century by
a) explaining the relationship among territorial expansion,
westward movement of the population, new immigration, growth of
cities, and the admission of new states to the Union;
The forcible removal of the American Indians from their
lands would continue throughout the remainder of the
19th century as settlers continued to move west following
the Civil War.
STANDARD VUS.8d

The student will demonstrate knowledge of how the nation grew and
changed from the end of Reconstruction through the early twentieth
century by
d) identifying the causes and impact of the Progressive Movement,
including the excesses of the Gilded Age, child labor and antitrust laws,
the rise of labor unions, and the success of the women’s suffrage
movement;
Reconstruction through the early twentieth century was a time of
contradictions for many Americans. Agricultural expansion was
accomplished through wars against the Plains Indians, leading to new
federal Indian policies.
Student body assembled on the grounds of Carlisle Indian Industrial School, 1880s
STANDARD VUS.11c
The student will demonstrate knowledge of World War II by

c) describing the role of all-minority military units, including the
Tuskegee Airmen and Nisei regiments;
Additional contributions of minorities

Communication codes of the Navajo were used
(oral, not written language; impossible for the
Japanese to break).
Stereotypes & Misrepresentations





“Real” Indians and their
cultures vanished years ago
Indians as icons: “noble savage,”
environmentalist, warrior, mascot, squaw
“All Indians were alike”: lived in tipis, etc.
“Indians were simple and primitive people”
To be Indian today, you must be “pureblooded,” have “high cheekbones,” speak a
Native language, etc.
No Shortage of Stereotypes
Thanksgiving Considerations




Please note that Native peoples have been farming in Virginia for more
than 900 years and celebrating the harvest that long. The “First
Thanksgiving” was only “first” for the English colonists, who would have
starved if nearby tribes hadn’t fed them.
Please teach students that American Indian foods, including corn, potatoes,
tomatoes, etc., have transformed human health globally by providing
balanced nutrition, previously unavailable to all but the very rich.
Please stress Native cultures’ ingenuity and innovation rather than
“adaptation.” Please don’t make lists of “gifts the Indians gave us.”
Please do not encourage students to make crafts that are not culturally
authentic. Appropriate activities might include making cornhusk dolls or
leather pouches, studying Native games such as lacrosse, or growing a class
garden using corn, beans and squash. Paper headdresses and vests, “war
paint,” rubber tomahawks, etc., do not convey respect for Native cultures.
Teaching Respect for Native Peoples
Resources




“Virginia’s First People, Past and Present,” Virginia
Department of Education, virginiaindians.pwnet.org
The Virginia Indian Heritage Program,
www.virginiaindianprogram.org
Oyate, a national educational clearinghouse,
www.oyate.org
National Museum of the American Indian,
www.nmai.si.edu
© VFH 2008. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used without permission. Contact Virginia Indian Heritage Program, VFH, 145 Ednam
Drive, Charlottesville, VA 22903.