4th Quarter Project

4^th Quarter Project

Greetings 8^th Grade! The following post is for your 4^th quarter project. We will be looking into the cultures and experiences of several different Native American tribes during the first half of the nineteenth century (1800 – 1850).

Due: Wednesday, April 24^th

Assignment:

This is a creative writing assignment for which you will be taking on the role of a teenage Native American during America’s expansion westward. You will need to create three “journal” entries – please make sure these are typed, not hand-written, and stapled together. Each journal entry should be one page, double-spaced (approximately 250 words). Imagine that you are living with your tribe and are dealing with white American settlers trying to remove you from your land.

Research one of the following tribes: Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, or Seminole. You will need to use this research to answer the following questions about your tribe:

1)      Were they religious? If so,

2)      What kinds of gods did they worship?

3)      What kind of food did they eat?

4)      What did they wear?

5)      What were their families like (what were the roles of mom, dad, children, etc.)

6)      What did your tribe go through as American settlers, supported by the American government, took over your land?

Treat these journal entries like a diary (and don’t forget to indicate what tribe you belong to!). You can include dates if you wish. The questions above should be answered indirectly within your journal entries. For example, you wouldn’t say, “I am a Choctaw and I wear animal skins.” Instead, as with a diary, you might write about the events of your day, and while doing so you might mention that your “father and brother arrived with animal skins after their hunt, which we will use to make clothing.”

You MUST use at least two internet sources (no “WikiAnswers” or “Yahoo Answers”) and include your sources in a Bibliography. Leave a comment on the blog if you have any questions.