First Read: The First Americans

What is the meaning of “teach them truth about the First Americans” as it is used in Paragraph 1 of the text?

• A. Indians should not be kept out of history books altogether.

• B. History books should acknowledge that the British were murderous and abusive to colonists and Indians alike.

• C. Children should get a school holiday in remembrance of Wounded Knee Massacre.

• D. There should be more unbiased and thorough accounts of Indian history taught in schools.

How does Paragraph 6 add to the development of the text?

We made blankets that were beautiful that the white man with all his machinery has never been able to duplicate. We made baskets that were beautiful. We wove in beads and colored quills, designs that were not just decorative motifs, but were the outward expression of our very thoughts. We made pottery—pottery that was useful and beautiful as well. Why not make school children acquainted with the beautiful handicrafts in which we were skilled? Put in every school Indian blankets, baskets, pottery.

• A. Schools do not put enough focus on developing children’s abilities as artists.

• B. The artistic and societal contributions of Indians are just as noteworthy as their history with warfare.

• C. History books must acknowledge that white men destroyed centuries of Indian artistry.

• D. Americans are hypocritical to put Indian art and crafts in their homes, but not acknowledge where those items came from.

Choose the best sentence to add a descriptive detail to Paragraph 10.

The Indian has long been hurt by these unfair books. We ask only that our story be told in fairness. We do not ask you to overlook what we did, but we do ask you to understand it. A true program of America First will give a generous place to the culture and history of the American Indian.

• A. America First is an idea founded on a racist premise and it must be stopped.

• B. This is why we are declaring war on the city of Chicago.

• C. We do not ask that you discard your own history, rather that you reconsider how you see ours.

• D. Custer is certainly not seen as a hero in the Indian community.

What do the following lines from Paragraph 9 reveal?

Tell your children of the friendly acts of Indians to the white people who first settled here. Tell them of our leaders and heroes and their deeds. Tell them of Indians such as Black Partridge, Shabbona and others who many times saved the people of Chicago at great danger to themselves. Put in your history books the Indian’s part in the World War. Tell how the Indian fought for a country of which he was not a citizen, for a flag to which he had no claim, and for a people that have treated him unjustly.

• A. White men were the first to attack Indians upon their arrival in America.

• B. Indian history could also be better integrated into areas of American history that are already taught.

• C. There are already many positive depictions of Indians in history books to build upon.

• D. America would not have been victorious in World War I without the contributions of Indians.

What is a central idea of the excerpt?

• A. The common images of Indians are unfair and far from the reality of Indian life.

• B. Most American children have no idea that Indians live on reservations.

• C. Indians won more battles against white men than they lost.

• D. Most of the wars fought between white men and Indians were conflicts over Indian artistic creations.

Which statement from the text most strongly supports your answer to Question 5?

• A. “White men penned our people on reservations, then took away the reservations.”

• B. “You tell all white men ‘America First.’”

• C. “Put in every school Indian blankets, baskets, pottery.”

• D. “White men called Indian thieves—and yet we lived in frail skin lodges and needed no locks or iron bars.”

Which of the following inferences is best supported by the text?

• A. Indians believe there should be less teaching of history and more time in school spent creating usable goods.

• B. There is hypocrisy in the uncritical way history books depict the story of America.

• C. White men only killed Indians when Indians attempted to take back their lands.

• D. Indians do not celebrate singular heroes the same way Americans do.

Which statement from the text most strongly supports the answer to Question 7?

• A. “White men rise to protect their property are called patriots—Indians who do the same are called murderers.”

• B. “We sang songs that carried in their melodies all the sounds of nature—the running of waters, the sighing of winds, and the calls of the animals.”

• C. “Tell them of our leaders and heroes and their deeds.”

• D. “We made blankets that were beautiful that the white man with all his machinery has never been able to duplicate.”