Edwards - ELEMECML 3164 - Teaching Elementary School Social Studies - Research Guides at University of Northern Iowa

Tools from Class

Citation Worksheet
You can make a copy of this document to keep track of the items you use during our library work days.
"Should You Use Black or African American?: A Guide for Journalists" (flowchart image)
We discussed this briefly in class.
Style Guide from "Sum of Us"
Jess Cruz recommends this style guide, which covers a lot of different "what do I call this person/experience/place/thing?" questions with citations.

Our Collections

Rod Library Youth Collection
Books and other resources aimed at children and young adults
Special Collections & University Archives
Start here for two-dimensional primary sources (photos, letters, other documents) and rare books
UNI Museum
Start here for three-dimensional primary sources (objects, clothing, animals, etc.)
UNI Primary Source Sets
This guide contains primary sources from UNI Museum and Special Collections & University Archives at Rod Library, selected for use in PK-12 classrooms.
Fortepan Iowa
Photographs, with a heavy emphasis on Iowa history

Teacher Resources

Primary Source Sets
Free, downloadable primary source sets for K-12 educators, designed with the Iowa Core social studies standards in mind. Some of these sets connect to elections, women's history, the African American experience in Iowa, Meskwaki culture, and immigration and refugees. Browse them all--you may see multiple sets that might help you!
Read Iowa History primary source sets
"Read Iowa History are free and downloadable lessons for K-5 educators that provide easy-to-follow instruction to integrate Primary Source Sets and the Iowa Core Standards for Social Studies and Literacy. The Read Iowa History lessons were developed by the State Historical Society of Iowa and created with a Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) grant from the Library of Congress." A first-grade set focuses on Meskwaki culture; a second-grade set focuses on Buxton, Iowa (a majority-Black town); a third-grade set focuses on immigration to Iowa; and the fifth-grade sets focus on suffrage and school desegregation.
Traveling Trunks (African American Museum of Iowa)
Teachers can request free traveling trunks from the African American Museum of Iowa. They connect to both African and African American history.
Wisconsin First Nations: American Indian Studies in Wisconsin
"Wisconsin First Nations provides educators and pre-service teachers accurate and authentic educational resources for the teaching of the Native Nations of Wisconsin."
Absent Narratives Resource Collection
"Ready-to-use materials created and developed by the Minnesota Humanities Center and its partners"
Classroom Materials from the Library of Congress
These resources include primary source sets, lesson plans, and presentations. There is a lot of content here, so be prepared to browse a bit before you narrow down the right resources for your topic and grade level.

Free Websites

American Indians and Westward Expansion
Educator resources from the State Historical Society of Iowa. Includes links to many primary sources (images, documents, maps)
Meskwaki Nation: About Us: History
Narrative and compilation of quotes telling the story of the Meskwaki Nation, particularly since the nineteenth century
Iowa Pathways: People
This resource from Iowa PBS is aimed at students in grades 5-12, but could also be useful for teachers. There are pathways on this page about "Indian Removal in Iowa" and "African-Americans in Iowa, 1838-2005." (My guess is that this was written in 2005.)
Iowa Women's Archives
The Iowa Women's Archives are at the University of Iowa library. They have sources online that relate to many of the topics for this assignment.

Subscription Resources

An Analysis of Historic-Era Indian Locations in Iowa
Article in the Midcontinent Journal of Archaeology by William E. Whittaker (Office of the State Archaeologist, University of Iowa)
Ecological and Social Transformations and the Construction of Race and Place: A View from Iowa
Article in the Union Seminary Quarterly Review by Daniel T Spencer; discusses both African American and American Indian history in the state

Books in the Youth Collection

These links will take you to some starter searches in our catalog. You can filter by things like publication date and grade level (of interest). You can also do your own searches based on specific people, places, groups, events, etc.

I am happy to help you compare possible books and choose the resources that are right for your lesson. Remember that all sources can serve a variety of purposes:

helping you develop your background knowledge
providing images, quotes, or short selections you can use (with credit) in a lesson
pointing you to other good sources
allowing you to simplify or paraphrase text as you read
serving as a direct read-aloud, literature circle text, choice book, or whole-class independent read

It's hard to construct a single good search to find current, accurate resources about Native experiences in the Midwest. Here are a few book ideas to get you started:

American Indian Rights Movement by Sarah Machajewski
Call Number: Y 323 M

Publication Date: 2016

This short nonfiction book gives an overview of the American Indian Movement (founded and headquartered in Minneapolis) and other civil rights by and for Native people in the United States.
Dreaming in Indian by Lisa Charleyboy (Editor); Mary Beth Leatherdale (Editor)
Call Number: Y 704 D

Publication Date: 2014

"A powerful and visually stunning anthology from some of the most groundbreaking Native artists working in North America today." As with #NotYourPrincess, you may find individual artists and work in this book that connect to your lesson. (Note that this book contains a piece by Joseph Boyden, who has since walked back many of his claims to Indigenous identity after public scrutiny.)
Walking on Earth and Touching the Sky by Timothy McLaughlin; S. D. Nelson (Illustrator); Joseph Marshall (Foreword by)
Call Number: Y 810 W

Publication Date: 2012

"This is an exceptional poetry collection written by Lakota students in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades at Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota."
Amazing Iowa Women by Katy Swalwell
Call Number: Y 920 S

Publication Date: 2018

Meskwaki Tribal Council member, advocate, and artist Adeline Wanatee is profiled in this book.
The Sioux Code Talkers of World War II by Andrea Page
Call Number: Y 940 P

Publication Date: 2017

"In World War II, code making and code breaking reached a feverish peak. The fabled Enigma cipher had been broken, and all sides were looking for a secure, reliable means of communication. Many have heard of the role of the Navajo Code Talkers, but less well-known are the Sioux Code Talkers, who used the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota dialects. Told by the great-niece of John Bear King, who served in the First Cavalry as a Sioux Code Talker, this informative title explores not only the importance of the indigenous peoples to the war but also their culture and values."
#NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women by Lisa Charleyboy (Editor); Mary Beth Leatherdale (Editor)
Call Number: Y 971 N

Publication Date: 2017

This anthology features writing and artwork by dozens of Indigenous women from North American. You may find inidividual pieces or images that you want to connect to your lesson. Biographical information about all contributors is included, which can help you locate regional connections.
Deadly Aim: The Civil War Story of Michigan's Anishinaabe Sharpshooters by Sally M. Walker
Call Number: Y 973 W

Publication Date: 2019

"Sally M. Walker explores the extraordinary lives of Michigan's Anishinaabe sharpshooters. These brave soldiers served with honor and heroism in the line of duty, despite enduring broken treaties, loss of tribal lands, and racism. Filled with fascinating archival photographs, maps, and diagrams, this book offers gripping firsthand accounts from the frontlines. You'll learn about Company K, the elite band of sharpshooters, and Daniel Mwakewenah, the chief who killed more than 32 rebels in a single battle despite being gravely wounded. Walker celebrates the lives of the soldiers whose stories have been left in the margins of history for too long with extensive research and consultation with the Repatriation Department for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, the Eyaawing Museum and Cultural Center, and the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinaabe Culture and Lifeways."
Buffalo Bird Girl by S. D. Nelson
Call Number: Y 978 N

Publication Date: 2012

"
Traces the childhood, friendships and dangers experienced by Buffalo Bird Woman, a Hidatsa Indian born in 1839, whose community along the Missouri River in the Dakotas transitioned from hunting to agriculture." Author/illustrator S.D. Nelson is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
Red Bird Sings: The Story of Zitkála-Šá, Native American Author, Musician, and Activist by Gina Capaldi; Q. L. Pearce
Call Number: Y B ZIT

Publication Date: 2011

"Zitkála-Šá [a Yankton Dakota woman] finds that she can sing through her music, but also by writing stories and giving speeches and being an activist for Native American rights."
Bowwow Powwow by Brenda J. Child; Jonathan Thunder (Illustrator); Gordon Jourdain (Translator)
Call Number: YE CHI

Publication Date: 2018

"When Uncle and Windy Girl attend a powwow, Windy watches the dancers and listens to the singers. She eats tasty food and joins family and friends around the campfire. Later, Windy falls asleep under the stars. Uncle's stories inspire visions in her head: a bowwow powwow, where all the dancers are dogs. In these magical scenes, Windy sees veterans in a Grand Entry, and a visiting drum group, and traditional dancers, grass dancers, and jingle-dress dancers -- all with telltale ears and paws and tails." This book has text in both English and Ojibwe. The author and illustrator are both Red Lake Ojibwe, and the translator is from the Lac La Croix First Nation.
Johnny's Pheasant by Cheryl Minnema; Julie Flett (Illustrator)
Call Number: YE MIN

Publication Date: 2019

"Johnny spies a pheasant which he believes is sleeping and his Grandma fears is dead, but they learn they were both wrong when the pheasant departs, leaving behind a gift." Cheryl Minnema is a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, and Julie Flett is Cree-Métis.

Stacks Books

OneSearch (Rod Library)
Rod Library's online library catalog.

The Indians of Iowa by Lance M. Foster
Call Number: Online access

Publication Date: 2009

Lance Foster (Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska) introduces 25 different American Indian groups with ties to Iowa.
Invisible Hawkeyes by Lena M. Hill; Michael D. Hill
Call Number: Online access

Publication Date: 2016

This book focuses on African American students at the University of Iowa between the 1930s and the 1960s.

Special Collections & University Archives Books

These are some suggested books from various SC&UA book collections for the Black Experience in Iowa and Immigration / Migration topics. This list is not comprehensive, but hopefully it helps you get started with your research to develop lesson plans.

Lost Buxton by Rachelle Chase; Leo E. Landis (Foreword by)
ISBN: 9781467124386

Publication Date: 2017-01-09

Buxton, Iowa, was an unincorporated coal mining town, established by Consolidation Coal Company in 1900. At a time when Jim Crow laws and segregation kept blacks and whites separated throughout the nation, Buxton was integrated. African American and Caucasian residents lived, worked, and went to school side by side. The company provided miners with equal housing and equal pay, regardless of race, and offered opportunities for African Americans beyond mining. Professional African Americans included a bank cashier, the justice of the peace, constables, doctors, attorneys, store clerks, and teachers. Businesses, such as a meat market, a drugstore, a bakery, a music store, hotels, millinery shops, a saloon, and restaurants, were owned by African Americans. For 10 years, African Americans made up more than half of the population. Unfortunately, in the early 1920s, the mines closed, and today, only a cemetery, a few foundations, and some crumbling ruins remain.
Buxton by Dorothy Schwieder; Joseph Hraba; Elmer Schwieder
ISBN: 0877458529

Publication Date: 2003-09-03

From 1900 until the early 1920s, an unusual community existed in America's heartland. It was the largest unincorporated coal-mining community in Iowa and the majority of its 5000 residents were African Americans - unusual for a state which was over 90 per cent white.
Oak Hill : a portrait of black life in Cedar Rapids, Iowa by Smith, Eric A
ISBN: 9780978577292

Publication Date: 2006

Introduction -- Where is Buxton, Iowa? -- Segregation, discrimination, and race in Cedar Rapids -- Life on Oak Hill -- The black church in Cedar Rapids -- Black education in Cedar Rapids -- The Jane Boyd Community House -- Oak Hill's black youth excel in sports -- Working in the meatpacking house --A nation at war -- Oak Hill in decline.
Our heritage : an introduction to 150 years of African-American history in the Cedar Valley by Waterloo African-American Historical and Cultural Museum (Waterloo, Iowa)
Iowa's Black Legacy by Charline J. Barnes; Floyd Bumpers
ISBN: 0738503517

Publication Date: 1999-12-07

African Americans make up only a small minority of Iowa's population, but contrary to widespread belief, there is a very rich historical culture of African Americans throughout the state. This photographic history focuses on that heritage, and especially on ten Iowa cities with the largest African-American populations.Through vivid images into the early history, religion, culture, sports, recreation, education, health, law, business, and industry in ten towns in Iowa, Charline Barnes, Ed.D, and Floyd Bumpers clearly show that the African- American community of Iowa has made many significant contributions to the history of that state.
Postville: USA by Mark A. Grey; Michele Devlin; Aaron Goldsmith
ISBN: 9781934848647

Publication Date: 2009-09-01

Postville is an obscure meatpacking town in the northeast corner of Iowa. Here, in the most unlikely of places, unparalleled diversity drew international media. Now people declare the town's experiment in multiculturalism dead. It was not native Iowans, or the newly-arrived Orthodox Jews, or the immigrant workers who made Postville fail. Postville was stopped in its tracks by a massive raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on May 12th 2008. 20% of the population was arrested, forcing the closure of the town's kosher meatpacking plant. The raid exposed the disastrous enforcement of immigration policy, the exploitation of Postville by activists, and disturbing questions about the packing house's operators.
Iowa Images by Irene Kooi Chadwick
ISBN: 0964272547

Publication Date: 2004-09-01

This is a memoir of childhood on the Iowa farm. Part I begins in Israel during the 1989 Intifada, then travels back to Iowa during World War II. Part II documents Dutch immigration of the successive generations of this family. Four generations of this family travel from 1853 to 1947---from the Dutch Reformed (Nederland Hervormde) culture in Friesland to the Christian Reformed Church in Sioux County, Iowa. Part III shows the twelve members of the family leaving for the outside world beyond the farm.
Small but ours : images and stories from a nineteenth century Bohemian neighborhood by Slonneger, Marybeth
Publication Date: 1999
The Sweet Journey by Virginia P. Grant
ISBN: 0533148324

Publication Date: 2005-02-01
African Americans : yesterday, today & tomorrow, the Waterloo experience : historical perspectives & profiles 1900-2001 by Domatob, Jerry Komia
Publication Date: 2001
Iowa as It Is in 1856 by Parker, Nathan Howe
Publication Date: 1856

Iowa as it is in 1856; a gazetteer for citizens, and a hand-book for immigrants, embracing a full description of the state of Iowa ... Information for the immigrant respecting the selection, entry, and cultivation of prairie soil; a list of unentered lands in the state etc.
Hibernia : an Irish immigrant neighborhood in Burlington by Rogers, Leah D G. Clark Rogers
Publication Date: 2000

Hibernia : an Irish immigrant neighborhood in Burlington, with special attention to the story of St. Patrick's Parish, the Murray Iron Works, and the Embalming Burial Case Company