Highsmith, Carol M. Emma Ortega, 75, a participant of Lipan Apache heritage at the Celebrations of Traditions Pow Wow, an official Native American Pow Wow that is part of the annual, month-long Fiesta San Antonio in Texas. 2014. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2014632485/.
Students will look at the picture of Emma Ortega and use visual clues to make inferences about who she is and what she might be dressed for. After discussing their observations, they will have the opportunity to experience the modern-day powwow through books, images, and videos. Students should gain an appreciation for the past and the present of the Native American people. They will also have the chance to reflect on events in their own lives that connect them to their own culture and identity.
Intertribal and intratribal social gatherings filled with song and dance have been a part of Native American culture for centuries, but the tradition of the modern powwow is more recent. These events allow Indigenous Americans to reaffirm their native identities, regardless of whether they reside on a reservation or not. Oftentimes, they are open to the public and allow local residents to become educated about American Indian culture.
Source: https://www.lipanapache.org/LAT/powwows.html
Source: : https://www.lipanapache.org/LAT/powwows.html
- What is it about Emma Ortega’s clothing and stature that gives us insight into her culture and identity?
- Extension Questions
- How do the things we wear connect us to our past and our present?
- Is it important to belong to communities of people who share our cultural backgrounds?
- How do events that center on cultural and religious aspects preserve the history of those who are a part of them?
- Extension Questions
- How might members of Emma Ortega’s community see and understand the powwow, and what she is wearing in a way that those outside the community might not? Is it important to take part in communities of people/events who differ from our own cultural backgrounds?
ELA Standards
4.6.E. Comprehension skills. Make connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, and society.
Social Studies Standard
4.1.D. History. Locate American Indian groups remaining in Texas such as the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo, Alabama-Coushatta, and Kickapoo.
Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
- In small groups, students will be given a copy of the picture of Emma Ortega to discuss (other images from the same series may also be used). Ask them to look closely at their image. Guide them to discuss what they infer from what they see. Questions you might pose to groups needing support to begin or dive deeper:
- What is this person wearing?
- What is she holding?
- What kinds of colors and patterns do you see?
- What do these things remind you of?
- When do you think this picture was taken?
- As a whole group, share what students observed. Keep a list of observations for the class to see. Discuss the inferences that were made, and once students have gone through all the things they noticed and thought, share with them the fact this photo was taken in 2014 at the Celebration of Traditions Pow Wow where Ms. Ortega was a participant of the Lipan Apache heritage. Have students personally reflect on whether or not they think of Native Americans as a part of our present or whether they only think of them as part of our past.
- Show students books, images, and/or videos of a modern powwow (i.e., Powwow Day by Traci Sorrell, Powwow: A Celebration through Song and Dance by Karen Pheasant-Neganigwane, or https://www.powwows.com/main/native-american-information-students-teachers/ )
- In the same way that a powwow connects Native Americans to their culture and identity, ask students to think about an event they participate in with their family that connects them to their own culture or identity. It could be something dealing with their heritage, their religion, or even just a personal family tradition. Have students quickwrite a list of important things related to the event, including setting, food, music, clothing, who is invited, etc.
- Students can describe their event to a partner or the class. Have the students use their ideas to write a personal narrative describing their chosen event. They can bring in a picture or sketch an image from the event to accompany their writing.
Highsmith, Carol M. Emma Ortega, 75, a participant of Lipan Apache heritage at the Celebrations of Traditions Pow Wow, an official Native American Pow Wow that is part of the annual, month-long Fiesta San Antonio in Texas. 2014. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2014632486/.