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Index
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Acknowledgments
Dedication
Contents
Foreword: Kevin Gover, Director, National Museum of the American Indian
Introduction: Wilma Mankiller, Former Principal Chief, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
American Indian Cultures
Do Indians celebrate Thanksgiving?
What is the importance of music to Native people?
What musical instruments do Native people play?
What did Indians use for paint and dye?
What are kachina dolls? What are they used for?
Did all tribes have totem poles? Does anyone still carve them?
Do Indians make art?
How do I know if something I purchase is really made by an American Indian artist or tribe?
Why are there different spellings for words— such as tipi and teepee— in Native American languages?
What is a powwow?
Did American Indians invent lacrosse?
What was the first game ever played with rubber balls?
Did early Mesoamericans practice human sacrifice during their ball games?
Did any Indians practice cannibalism?
What did Indians really smoke in those peace pipes?
What is “counting coup”?
Do Indians do rain dances?
Are dream catchers an authentic tradition?
Why are most Indian ceremonies and dances off-limits to non-Native audiences?
What is the Native American religion?
How can I find a shaman (or medicine man) who will teach me?
Do Indians have funerals?
Was Tonto a real Indian?
Why did carved wooden Indians stand outside cigar stores?
How authentic are contemporary movies that try to tell stories from a Native perspective?
Time, Continuity, and Change
Where did Indians come from? How did they get to the Americas?
How many Indians lived in the Western Hemisphere when Columbus arrived?
Is it true that Indian languages are now extinct?
Did Indians have alphabets and writing before contact with Europeans?
Did Indians really help the European settlers?
Is it true that Pocahontas saved John Smith from execution?
Is it true that Indians sold Manhattan for twenty-four dollars worth of beads and trinkets?
Did Europeans purposely use smallpox to kill Indians?
Was Sacagawea really all that important to the Lewis and Clark Expedition?
What happened to white people captured by Indians?
Is it true that white people invented scalping, or did the practice originate with Native Americans?
People, Places, and Environments
What is the relationship of Native Americans to the environment?
Were the Americas a vast, untouched wilderness when Europeans arrived?
Did Native peoples and European colonists have different perspectives about land?
Do Alaska Natives really have hundreds of words for snow?
Did Indians really use smoke signals? Do they today?
Did Native Americans use sign language?
What kinds of foods do Indians eat?
Before contact with Europeans, did Indians make all their clothing from animal skins?
Is it true that Native people used all parts of the animal?
Is it true that Native Americans hunted a great number of large animals to extinction?
Why do Indians wear feathers? Why are eagle feathers important to Indians?
How did Native Americans acquire horses?
Where did Native people get glass beads to decorate their clothing?
Do Native American parents still put their babies in cradleboards? Are the cradleboards comfortable?
Are Indians more prone to certain diseases than the general population? Why?
What are the rates of alcoholism, drug addiction, and suicide among American Indians?
Do all Indians live in tipis?
Individual Development and Identity
What is the correct terminology: American Indian, Indian, Native American, or Native?
Should I say tribe or nation?
Why do many tribes have more than one name?
How do I prove my Indian ancestry and enroll in my tribe?
Did Native American tribes have royalty?
Why is the word squaw offensive?
Why is the word Eskimo sometimes offensive?
What’s wrong with naming sports teams Indians, Braves, etc.?
What is the origin of the term redskin? Why is it offensive?
Why do some people believe there are no “real” Indians left?
Why are coming-of-age ceremonies important?
How have Native Americans viewed sexuality and gender?
Why do some Native people not like having their photo taken?
Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
Before the arrival of formal schools, how were Indian children taught?
Why did the U.S. government force Indian children into boarding schools?
What distinct roles did men and women play in Native communities?
Why was the Navajo language chosen for military code in World War II? Were all Indian “code talkers” Navajo?
How did some tribes get a reputation as warlike and others as peaceful?
Did any Indian groups practice polygamy?
Power, Authority, and Governance
What are the Indian populations of the United States, Canada, and Latin America?
How many Indian tribes are officially recognized in the United States today? Why is recognition important?
Why didn’t Indian tribes band together to fight off Europeans?
What was the Iroquois Confederacy and how did it contribute to democracy?
Are Indians U.S. citizens?
Did Native Americans own slaves?
Did women serve as chiefs and leaders of Native American tribes?
Can Indians leave the reservations? Why do reservations still exist?
Why do American Indians run casinos?
What happens to the revenue from Indian casinos?
Do the rich casino tribes help out the poor tribes?
Why is there still poverty on some reservations?
What benefits do Indians receive from the U.S. government?
Do Indians have to pay taxes?
Do Indians have to follow state hunting and fishing regulations?
Do museums have to give back everything in their collections that was taken from tribes without permission?
Science, Technology, and Society
What were some of the accomplishments of Native Americans at the time Europeans first arrived in the Western Hemisphere?
Did Indians have mathematics before contact with Europeans?
How did foods native to the Americas influence global cuisines?
Who really built the mounds?
Further Reading
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