The Lakota Indians

For  a group project, our class was assigned to create a classroom lesson and presentation on the American Indians. For my topic, I chose the Lakota Indians of the Great Sioux Nation.
To begin,   I took to the internet to find out what I could about the Lakota's.
What I found was truly interesting and learned a lot doing the project.

To begin, the Lakota's lived on the plains with other Indians such as the Cheyenne and the Oto.

They originally lived in the Rocky Mountains but migrated to what is now North and South Dakota. The Lakota named themselves Lakota which means 'friend.' Like most early tribes, the Lakota's lived off the land and truly used all the resources available. They were smart and very spiritual. Around the time of the Louisiana Purchase, westward expansion was continuing forward. The expansion lead to years of infighting and defense of the land. The Lakota's were very good at fighting. One notable figure in the Lakota's was Crazy Horse. 

Crazy Horse was best known for leading the Sioux against the the U.S. government. 

In 1876,  Crazy Horse led his men into battle against Colonel George Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn. Crazy Horse earned the reputation of a brave and fearsome warrior.

Besides being excellent warriors, the Lakota's were excellent hunters. They were well known for their skill of hunting and utilizing all of the resources available from the land. Bison was their main hunt, often using every bit of the Bison with efficiency. Skin was often used as breach cloth or the use of tee pees. They often hunted deer and were very skilled at fishing.

Besides live game, the Lakota cultivated wild grain and rice. 

Because the Lakota's often migrated, they learned to live in temporary shelters known as tee pees. Tee pees were made of animal skin, often with a hole at the top to allow smoke to billow out if they had a fire inside. The tee pee was designed to fold or roll up and be made portable in case the Lakota's moved again. 

What I found most intriguing was the passing down of customs and traditions. Elders did not write down but rather passed down customs and traditions through story telling. This tradition has continued to the present with the current tribe of the Lakota's.

See our presentation here.

The project was very an eye opening experience. American Indians are an important part of our history and social studies curriculum. It is critical that the history and American Indians remain an important part of our core education in teaching history.