Highsmith, Carol M. Mission San Miguel Arcangel is a Spanish mission in San Miguel, San Luis Obispo County, California. 2012. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2013633483/.
Students will begin by closely analyzing the photograph of Mission San Miguel Arcángel as a visual artifact of religious and imperial influence in California. They will engage in small-group discussions about how faith-based institutions historically shaped education for Indigenous populations. Then, students will read excerpts from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and reflect on the ways in which Junior's experience parallels the cultural loss, resilience, and identity negotiation experienced by Native communities in mission contexts. Students will write a comparative response connecting the visual and literary texts.
Mission San Miguel Arcángel was founded in 1797 by Franciscan missionaries with the goal of converting and educating the Salinan people. Like other California missions, it functioned as a center of religious instruction and colonial control, shaping the lives of Indigenous communities under Spanish rule.
Source: https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/mission-san-miguel-arc%C3%A1ngel-ca.htm
- How does the visual legacy of California’s missions continue to tell stories about faith, power, and education?
- What purpose did missions like San Miguel Arcángel serve in colonial California?
- How did missionary education affect Indigenous identities and cultures?
- Extension questions: Where do students today still experience tension between cultural identity and institutional education?
- How does The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Alexie) echo or challenge similar themes in a modern context?
ELA Standard
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.2. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it is shaped by specific details.
Social Studies Standard
HSS Standard 10.2.3. Explain how the ideology of the Enlightenment and religious/cultural traditions contributed to the development of empires and revolutions.
Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions of human experience.
- This lesson invites students to examine the enduring impact of missionary education and cultural assimilation through visual and literary analysis. Students will begin by studying a photograph of Mission San Miguel Arcángel from the Library of Congress to identify how architecture communicates power, faith, and colonization. After reviewing a brief historical overview of the mission's purpose and the role of the Franciscans, students will explore the Salinan people's experiences under Spanish rule, especially the use of faith as a form of education and assimilation.
- Next, students will read selected chapters from Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, focusing on the protagonist's journey through a school system that often undermines his cultural heritage. Through Socratic seminars and reflective journaling, students will draw parallels between Junior’s educational experience and that of Native Californians during the mission era. The culminating task will be a comparative analysis in which students use the image and the novel to discuss how education can serve both as a tool of empowerment and as one of oppression. This approach strengthens visual literacy, deepens historical understanding, and encourages empathy through narrative.
Highsmith, Carol M. Mission San Carlos Borroméo del río Carmelo, Carmel Mission, Carmel, California. 2012. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2013630541/.
Historic American Landscapes Survey. Mission La Purísima Concepción, 2295 Purisima Road, Lompoc, Santa Barbara County, CA. 2000. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/ca3954/.