Contact: Sheryl Hayes
Contact: Karenne Wood (Monacan)
Director, Virginia Indian Heritage Program
(703) 338-1652 cell; (434) 924-9946 office
karennewoood@virginia.edu
145 Ednam Drive
Charlottesville, VA
22903-4629
For Immediate Release
November 19, 2008
Charlottesville, VA The Virginia Indian Heritage Program at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (VFH) announces the development of several exciting new resources for K-12 teachers, created to enhance the newly revised Virginia Standards of Learning in the social studies curriculum. Resources include publications, documentary films, and an online presentation to help teachers incorporate changes required by Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL).
This announcement comes during National American Indian Heritage Month, which honors the original peoples of America and their contributions to the past, present, and future. November was officially recognized as American Indian Heritage Month in 1990, when President George H.W. Bush approved the joint resolution declaring its recognition.
Virginia’s Social Studies Standards of Learning have recently undergone major revisions across several grade levels, reflecting a new emphasis on the continuing presence and historical contributions of American Indians in general and Virginia Indians in particular, among other changes. Virginia Indian Heritage Program Director Karenne Wood, a Monacan Indian tribal member and former Chair of the Virginia Council on Indians, served on the panel of educators who revised the SOL’s.
“When we looked at the earlier Standards, we found that where Indians were referenced, the language was entirely in the past tense,” Wood noted. “No wonder children think that all American Indians have died.” In the fourth grade, students will now learn about the continuing and evolving cultures of the Powhatan, Pueblo and Lakota nations as examples of tribes that still exist throughout the U.S. Additional Standard frameworks address not only the accomplishments of European explorers but the effects of those explorations on American Indians over the course of history, the participation by Indians in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, the fact that Virginia Indians were subjected to segregation policies along with African-Americans during the 20th century, and the critical contributions of Navajo code talkers during WWII.
New resources include a PowerPoint presentation created by Wood that incorporates the changes teachers will need to make in their classrooms as the Standards are adopted during 2009 and 2010. These changes include an emphasis, at the kindergarten level, on the pivotal role of Chief Powhatan in the development of the Jamestown colony, as well as the role of his daughter, Pocahontas.
The new PowerPoint will be available on the Virginia Indian Heritage Program website, www.virginiaindianprogram.org, as well as the Virginia Department of Education website, for use as a teacher resource.
A new publication, “Beyond Jamestown: Virginia Indians Past and Present,” is also available for teacher download at http://virginiaindians.pwnet.org/ or in hard copy from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. The booklet contains historical and contemporary information about Virginia tribes along with classroom activities and coloring pages. It was developed by James Madison University, in partnership with the VFH, for the “Beyond Jamestown” exhibit showing at the Art Gallery there. Copies of the publication were distributed this year at the State Fair, along with the 2nd edition of the Virginia Indian Heritage Trail, a popular resource and guidebook published by VFH.
In addition, two new documentary films have been produced by Prince William Network, responding to a new Standard focusing on the importance of Cactus Hill, in Sussex County, as an archaeological site. Artifacts found at the site date back 18,000 years and are 6000 years older than Clovis-era artifacts, previously thought to have been the earliest evidence of human occupation in North America. The films are entitled Ice Age Discoveries and can be accessed through http://iceage.pwnet.org. Wood served as advisor on the films and narrates the documentary.
“For decades, our elders told us that the history written about our people was wrong,” Wood said. “Now we have been given a chance to change that. This is an exciting time for Virginia Indian people.”
Over the next two years, new textbooks will be produced and many resources created or upgraded to address the changes in the Standards of Learning. VFH is proud to be involved, at this early stage, in developing Virginia Indian educational materials for teachers throughout the Commonwealth.
The Virginia Indian Heritage Program includes research about Virginia’s Indians; summer institutes for K-12 teachers; higher education summits to promote educational opportunities for American Indians in Virginia; and a grant program to provide funds for tribes, intertribal groups, museums, and other organizations to implement or improve their interpretation of Virginia Indian history. The Virginia Indian Heritage Program is funded in part by the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, based in Charlottesville, is a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the humanities, and to using the humanities to address issues of broad public concern. In all of its programs, the Foundation works to make scholarship accessible; to promote understanding and discussion of enduring and contemporary issues; and to broaden the range of educational opportunities available to all Virginians.
For more information, contact Karenne Wood at 434-924-9946, or visit the Foundation website at www.virginiafoundation.org.
For further information, contact Sheryl Hayes at 434-924-3296 or Sheryl@virginia.edu