The Depiction of Native Americans in Recent (1991–2004) Secondary American History Textbooks: How Far Have We Come?

This study examined 15 secondary American history textbooks to evaluate their accuracy in depicting Native Americans as a follow-up to studies by Costo and Henry (1970) Costo, R. and Henry, J., eds. 1970. Textbooks and the American Indian, The Indian Historian Press. [Google Scholar] and Loewen (1995) Loewen, J. 1995. Lies my teacher told me: Everything your American history textbook got wrong, New York: The New York Press. [Google Scholar]. The criteria embodied an authenticity guideline based upon the Five Great Values with a rating scale between 1 (lowest) and 5 (highest). The results indicate that only three of the textbooks rated above average. Though generally the textbooks have improved in quantity of cultural information, better treatments must be pursued that reflect more accurate and comprehensive accounts. The challenge lies in assisting educators' acquisition of knowledge and familiarity with Native cultures as they are depicted in textbooks, an endeavor that will further assist these teachers in adopting and utilizing proper textbooks. Tony R. Sanchez is an associate professor of middle school social studies at The University of Toledo. His research interests include multicultural education, ethnic depictions in instructional materials, and the hero concept in character education. Notes NOTE 1. In order to establish interscorer reliability, a detailed presentation of the Values and their numerous subcategories was given to fifteen educators at a Purdue University teacher's conference on March 1, 1997. The educators were asked to utilize the authenticity guideline to evaluate twenty trade books and related instructional materials. A forum featuring the results indicated that the guideline produced consistent evaluations across the boards. A second presentation to a 27-teacher elementary school faculty on April 5, 1997 produced the same consistent results. Subsequent workshops conducted by the author involving textbooks have not only yielded consistency but have also promoted an interest in learning about Native cultures and their accurate depictions in the classroom. The interesting aspect, as noted in the paper, has been the varied and flexible uses of the score sheet by practitioners in determining specific numerical ratings. Content/construct validity of the guideline was established by Professor Jill May, an expert on children's literature who has published several pieces on Native Americans, and Dr. Gayle Reiten, who first introduced me to the Values through her mentor and friend, Art Raymond, the Director of Indian Program Development and Native history instructor at the University of North Dakota. Dr. Raymond used the framework of the Great Values in his teaching. The origins of the Great Values are based upon the work of Dr. John F. Bryde in a now out-of-print book entitled Modern Indian Psychology (1971 Bryde, J. 1971. Modern Indian psychology, Pierre: University of South Dakota Press. [Google Scholar]). Dr. Reiten has frequently used my revised guideline in her capacity as an administrator in a Bureau of Indian Affairs school in New Mexico.