Course Description
An exploration of Native American history in Appalachia, including the Lenape, Cherokee, Shawnee, and over thirty Indigenous groups, from the arrival of the first humans through the twentieth century. A Native focus in Appalachia reframes typical narratives of colonization and origins of the Manifest Destiny mindset.
Athena Title
Native Appalachia
Pre or Corequisite
HIST 2111 or HIST 2111E or HIST 2111H or HIST 2112 or HIST 2112E or HIST 2112H
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
- By the end of this course, students will gain a deeper understanding of early encounters between Native Americans and Appalachian landscapes, as well as first encounters with Euro-Americans.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to clearly discuss the development of Indigenous Appalachian knowledge systems and the myriad ways Indigenous knowledge shaped American society, culture, and politics in a deeply misunderstood region that has influenced American identity since the eighteenth century.
Topical Outline
- Unit 1 (2 weeks): Archaeology, ecology, oral history, and the earliest people in the Appalachian mountains twelve thousand years ago.
- Unit 2 (3 weeks): Migrations of Native people into and out of the mountains, the formation of Eastern Woodland cultures, and human interactions with the plants, animals, rivers, and peaks of Appalachia.
- Unit 3 (3 weeks): The arrival of Europeans, the westward migration of Native Americans away from colonists and into the mountains, and first encounters with Europeans from De Soto to William Bartram.
- Unit 4 (2 weeks): Tribal politics, ancient enemies, and the utility of different colonizing cultures for powerful Native states in Appalachia. Discussion will emphasize the ways that groups like the Lenape and Cherokee played French, English, and Spanish powers against one another to meet their own goals. These interactions shaped Nation-State formation and international politics in important and under-recognized ways.
- Unit 5 (3 weeks): American Appalachia, the thorough colonization of the Appalachian mountains, the impact of slavery and removal, relationships between white settlers and Native communities, extractive industries, the exchange and appropriation of indigenous knowledge - especially concerning plant medicine - and the ways that mountains provided safe havens for indigenous peoples prior to the Civil War.
- Unit 6 (2 weeks): Appalachian stereotypes, arts and crafts, tourism, and the ways that groups like the Eastern Cherokee continue to shape Appalachian and American society.
