Council of Fire Reading practice quiz

How has Native American history often been taught?

In this assignment, you will read this passage where a group of Native American Elders, called the Council of Fire argue that Native Americans are not treated fairly in history and then take the practice quiz.

The Council of Fire Reading

Read the Council of Fire Reading about Native American History then take the following practice quiz

• This is information that you need to pass this week's quiz.  Make sure you understand it.
• This is a practice quiz. All practice quizzes for this course are retake-able for an unlimited number of times and are graded as assignments. 

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Here is a narration of the reading Grand Council of Fire.m4a

Grand Council of Fire was a Native American organization that published this argument in 1927 [edited version]

The way American history has been taught is unfair to our people the American Indian. History books call all white victories battles and all Indian victories massacres. The battle with Custer [An American soldier who was killed with all 100 of his men while attacking Native Americans] has been taught to schoolchildren as a fearful massacre on our part. We ask that this, as well as other incidents, be told fairly. If the Custer battle was a massacre, what was Wounded Knee [When US soldiers killed about 250 Native American men, women, and children]?

History books teach that Indians were murderers—is it murder to fight in self-defense? Indians killed white men because white men took their lands, ruined their hunting grounds, burned their forests, and destroyed their buffalo. White men penned our people on reservations, then took away the reservations. White men who rise to protect their property are called patriots—Indians who do the same are called murderers.

White men call Indians treacherous—but no mention is made of broken treaties on the part of the white man. White men say that Indians were always fighting. It was only our lack of skill in white man’s warfare that led to our defeat. An Indian mother prayed that her boy be a great medicine man rather than a great warrior. It is true that we had our own small battles, but in the main we were peace loving and home loving.

White men called Indians thieves—and yet we lived in frail skin lodges and needed no locks or iron bars. White men call Indians savages [a uncivilized person]. What is civilization? Its marks are a noble religion and philosophy, original arts, stirring music, rich story and legend. We had these. Then we were not savages, but a civilized race.

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