NVCC COLLEGE-WIDE COURSE CONTENT SUMMARY
HIS 125 - HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN (3 CR.)

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Examines the history and culture of the native peoples of the Americas. Lecture 3 hours per week.

GENERAL COURSE PURPOSE

American Indians have made substantial contributions to the development of the United States. They also constitute one of the least understood and most underprivileged minority groups’ in contemporary America. It is important to provide students with a. historical perspective on the plight on Native Americans today and to foster an appreciation for the cultural legacy left to America by its original inhabitants. This course can be taken as an elective for any program at the College requiring an elective from the Social Sciences. It will also provide valuable background for transfer students pursuing degrees in history, anthropology, sociology or American studies. Additionally, there may be non-degree students, including Native Americans, in the communities served by the College, who are interested in obtaining a greater understanding of this subject.

ENTRY-LEVEL COMPETENCIES

No course prerequisites. Average reading ability.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

1. To provide students with a greater understanding of the original inhabitants of America.

2. To challenge and correct prevalent misconceptions of American Indians.

  3. To promote an appreciation and tolerance for alternative models of human spiritual, political and economic organization.

4. To supply an important supplement to the study of United States history.

  5. To provide students with new insights into the growth of the United States by viewing its development from the vantage point of those it displaced.

6. To view the present status of an American minority from the perspective of history.

7. To increase the students’ knowledge of Native American and general American history.

 MAJOR TOPICS TO BE COVERED

The course will be developed to familiarize students with the social, political, cultural, and diplomatic histories of a number of American Indian nations. The students should also acquire an awareness of the general history and characteristics of various regional and language family groupings of Indian cultures. In addition to comparing and contrasting Indian cultures to each other and to the United States of today, the course fosters an appreciation of non-Western views on the meaning of human existence. The students will develop through the course work a familiarity with Native American culture, spirituality and significant events in Indian history.

HIS 125

Specifically, the course will examine:

1. The contributions of Indians to American and world civilization

2. The origins and migrations of human life on the American continents

3. Advanced ancient civilizations of North, Central and South America

 It will also study the history and culture of: 1. Nations of the Eastern Woodlands

2. The Southeast

3. The Arctic and Sub-arctic

4. The Northwest Coast

5. Western North-America: Plateau, Basin, California

6. The farming societies of the Southwest

7. Athabascan peoples of the Southwest

8. The Great Plains

 A final unit in the course will be devoted to the present condition and future prospects of Native Americans.

Reviewed 8/01

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