Teaching Teachers about Wampum

Next week I have the privilege of kicking off this year’s America in Class webinars  sponsored by the National Humanities Center.

America in Class is one of the many ways that the NHC promotes the humanities, and they regularly tap former fellows to conduct seminars in their fields of specialty.

Mine is aimed at introducing teachers to some of theintricacies of the Native American-European encounter, as seen through the lens of wampum and its evolution in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It’s been a useful experience to come up with documents and images for about fifteen PowerPoint slides that capture the breadth and nuance of wampum’s history.

I believe I’ve come up with a good plan, though, and hope that teachers also gain some sense of the challenges and rewards of seeking Native voices in sources from the hands of European scribes.