An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Introduction-Chapter 2

1. What was the first law passed by the United States?

2. As of the date of the Introduction, to what number did the Indigenous population drop from 15 million upon the arrival of European colonists?

3. After the initial migration out of Africa over 20,000 years ago, what 3 areas in the Western Hemisphere did humans occupy?

4. In 8000 BCE, what plant was the central focus of the Mayan agricultural and religion?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In 1-2 sentences, what is the general idea behind the “unifying origin story” of the United States, according to the authors?

2. What is the issue with the novel The Last of the Mohicans and the statue The End of the Trail?

3. What do the authors mean when they say the early Europeans had a “culture of conquest”?

Paired Resource

Incredible Inventions by the Ancient Maya

• This video showcases the sophisticated achievements and inventions of ancient Mayan culture, supplementing the author’s argument that early Indigenous civilizations were not “primitive,” as colonialist settlers purported, but quite advanced.
• This video encourages students to View History from an Indigenous Perspective, rather than a colonialist European one.

The Tudor Conquest of Ireland

• This 13-minute History Chronicles video is an overview of England’s conquest of Ireland, the invasion that would serve as a model for the European conquest of the Americas.
• How does the Tudor conquest of Ireland serve as the foundation for America’s Legacy of Colonialist Doctrine? In what ways is the invasion of Ireland similar to European’s colonialist settlement of the United States?

Chapters 3-5

Reading Check

1. Contrary to popular belief, what did most Christians of the time consider Calvinist pilgrims and Puritans in early America to be?

2. In what year did the Puritans found the Massachusetts Bay Colony?

3. What military tactic used by European colonialist settlers is exemplified by spreading smallpox and burning towns?

4. In what year did the new United States gain all territory east of the Mississippi River, south of the Great Lakes, and north of Spanish Florida?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Who are the Ulster Scots?

2. What was the Proclamation Line of 1763?

3. How did the Seneca refer to George Washington and why?

Paired Resource

Historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz on Thanksgiving: “It Has Never Been About Honoring Native Americans”

• In this 5-minute Democracy Now! clip, the author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People concisely describes the problematic origins of Thanksgiving.
• How does this clip help us, as Americans, in Viewing History from an Indigenous Perspective?  

The Future of Competition: US Adversaries and the Growth of Irregular Warfare

• In this piece by the Center for Strategic & International Studies from 2021, the author posits that “irregular warfare will likely define international politics over the next year and beyond.”
• “Irregular warfare,” as discussed in Chapter 4, was a tactic practiced by European colonialist settlers and is still going on today.
• How does “irregular warfare,” as explained in this essay, help further The Legacy of Colonialist Doctrine?

Chapters 6-8

Reading Check

1. How much land did Thomas Jefferson buy from France in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803?

2. In 1830, Andrew Jackson passed what major piece of legislation that led to 86 new treaties that moved 26 Indigenous nations to lands west of the Mississippi River?

3. What European country claimed most of the territory on North America’s Pacific Coast?

4. In what year did the U.S. declare war on Mexico?

5. What activity did General William Sherman promote to enable railroad development?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Describe what happened in the 1832 initiative led by a man named Black Hawk.

2. What effect did books like James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans have upon American culture, according to Dunbar-Ortiz?

3. What is the consequence of General Custer finding gold in the Black Hills in 1874?

Paired Resource

Dumbest U.S. General in History? Custer’s Last Stand

• In this 11-minute clip, The Infographics Show retells the battle known as General Custer’s Last Stand and reveals his pride and blunders.
• How does this alternative version of a pivotal moment in the Civil War help us in Viewing History from an Indigenous Perspective?

“Our Hearts Are Sickened”: Letter from Chief John Ross of the Cherokee, Georgia, 1836

• In this letter written to a friend, Cherokee Chief John Ross reacts to the recently passed Treaty of New Echota, which mandated that the last of the Cherokee Nation relocate from their homes in Georgia to a reservation in Oklahoma. This forced migration from Georgia to Oklahoma is known as the Trail of Tears.
• At the Digital Library of Georgia, you can view photos of the actual letter here.

Chapter 9-Conclusion

1. For what concept is historian Fredrick Jackson Turner best known?

2. What piece of American legislation was passed in the early 1800s that funded missionary schooling for Indigenous people?

3. What was the name of the member of the Sioux Club at San Francisco’s Indian Friendship Center who called for the return of the land of Alcatraz Prison in 1963 to Indigenous ownership?

4. What was the name of the group created by LaDonna Brave Bull Allard in 2016?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Describe one of the several legal battles Indigenous nations fought for their rights between 1872 and 1956.

2. How did cellphone cameras and social media affect the Standing Rock protests?

Recommended Next Reads

The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America

• Mexican historian at University of California Davis Andrés Reséndez debunks the myth that only African slaves faced enslavement in the Americas, shedding light on Indigenous slaves in the Caribbean, central and northern Mexico, and the American Southwest.
• This book builds upon some of the core themes in An Indigenous People’s History of the United States for Young People, including Indigenous Resilience Against Invasion and Genocide and Viewing History from an Indigenous Perspective.
• How might understanding Indigenous people’s enslavement shed new light on our understanding of The Legacy of Colonialist Doctrine?
• The Other Slavery on SuperSummary

The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative

• In this 2003 nonfiction book, Indigenous novelist Thomas King describes the roles storytelling plays in Indigenous people’s tradition, his own life, and the world in general.
• King aims to correct the narrative that Indigenous storytelling is “primitive.”
• The Truth About Stories on SuperSummary