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Lesson 1: Pocumtucks In Deerfield
Activity 1: 1 hour
Activity 2: 45 minutes
Activity 3: 45 minutes
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| Key Content Ideas Taught in this Lesson and Teacher Background |
• Prior to and during European settlement,
the Pocumtucks were the principle Indian (Native American) group
in Deerfield. They lived in the area for thousands of years prior
to European contact.
• Pocumtuck religious beliefs included the
idea that inanimate features in the physical world contained souls
and spirits. Elements of nature were sometimes given names reflecting
these beliefs, such as "Father Mountain". The "Beaver Story," a
Pocumtuck legend, illustrates this aspect of their religious philosophy.
• The Pocumtucks believed that all people
coexist on the land and share its resources equally. They did not
have a concept of individual land ownership.
• The Pocumtucks used the land for hunting
and fishing, gathering, and, to a limited extent, for farming. Access
to plentiful sources of food and other useful materials changed
with the seasons. Consequently, they moved their homes seasonally
within a territory to be close to the most abundant resources.
• The Pocumtuck economy was based on hunting,
trading, bartering, and farming. Trapping animals for their fur,
especially beaver, was particularly important since beaver skins
were highly desired by the Europeans, and the Pocumtucks could use
the pelts as trade goods. The success of the Pocumtuck economy depended
on a plentiful beaver population.
For more information read:
Teacher Background Essay - Native American
Presence in Deerfield, Massachusetts.
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| Intended Learning Outcomes |
Understandings
Students will understand:
1. the "Beaver Story" and that it reflects
the Pocumtucks' religious belief that souls and spirits exist
in the physical world.
2. the Pocumtucks' concept of land ownership, which emphasized
sharing the land and all that it provides.
3. that the Pocumtucks migrated within their territory due to
their seasonal needs. Consequently, their homes were not permanent
structures.
4. that the Pocumtucks believed that the land would always be
available to them for farming, hunting, and gathering.
5. that the Pocumtucks were able to provide for themselves and
their families by trading with Europeans and by hunting and farming.
6. that the depletion of beaver populations had a significant
social impact on the Native people in Western Massachusetts. As
the beaver trade grew and the beavers were depleted, local Native
American groups had to move farther away to hunt, infringing on
the territories of other people and resulting in conflicts.
Skills
Students will:
1. be able to gather information from a variety
of primary and secondary sources and will be able to use this
information to form hypotheses and reach conclusions.
2. gain the skills necessary to do independent research through
their use of resource books, primary sources, and the internet.
3. be able to identify on the map the location of the Pocumtucks,
who lived in Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1704.
4. be able to describe aspects and characteristics of Pocumtuck
life.
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| In Preparation for Teaching |
1. Read teacher background essay: Native
American Presence in Deerfield, Massachusetts.
2. Make necessary copies from web site.
3. Review discussion questions and guidelines.
4. Collect supplies.
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Primary and Secondary Sources:
[Note:
all primary and secondary source materials, worksheets and other
teacher generated materials necessary for teaching this lesson will
be linked from this page. Sources are listed in the order they will
be needed in the activities that follow.]
1. Teacher background essay- Native
American Presence in Deerfield, Massachusetts.
2. The
"Beaver Legend" a web page by Tammy Marie Rittenour.
3. Silhouette of Mt. Sugarloaf
range.
4. Allen Sisters Photograph
of Mt. Sugarloaf.
5. Pictures of beavers.
6. Photograph of 1920's
era diorama of Native Village from RS Peabody Museum , Andover,
MA.
7. Bird's Eye View Drawing of
Weantinock Homeland.
8. July 14, 1703 Prices
of Goods broadside.
Other:
1. Notebook or folder for collecting information
2. Construction paper
3. Crayons or markers
4. Vocabulary List for July 14, 1703 Prices
of Goods
5. Sheets listing Indian and English
Trade Goods
6. Scissors
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| Activities |
Materials in Context |
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Activity 1
Pocumtuck religious beliefs-The "Beaver Story"
A. Distribute copies of the "Beaver Legend",
photo of Mt. Sugarloaf, silhouette of the Mt. Sugarloaf
range drawn by Suzanne Flynt and photos of beavers. Instruct
students to read the "Beaver Legend" and try to find the
shape of the "beaver" in the pictures of Mt. Sugarloaf.
Discuss.
1. Divide students into smaller groups.
2. Instruct the groups to discuss their
understanding of the story. Inform them that they will be
creating illustrations of the story later. Ask them to answer
the following questions:
- Why do you think the Pocumtuck had this
story? How old do you think it is?
- What did the Pocumtucks call the present
day Mt. Sugarloaf?
- What did the Pocumtucks think Mt. Sugarloaf
was?
- How did the Indians believe the beaver
became Mt.Sugarloaf?
- What body part of the beaver is represented
by the part of Mt. Sugarloaf that looks out towards Sunderland,
Massachusetts?
- What might this story tell you about
Pocumtuck beliefs and attitudes?
3. Instruct each group to prepare four
drawings depicting their understanding of the "Beaver Story".
The students will need to decide cooperatively which part
of the story each member of the group will illustrate. Ask
students to write a caption for each picture.
4. "Publish" each group's pictures by
placing them on a bulletin board for viewing.
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Beaver
Legend
Photo
of Mt. Sugarloaf by the Allen sisters
silhouette
drawing of Mt. Sugarloaf range
photos
of beavers
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Activity 2
Pocumtuck concept of land ownership
A. Ask students to imagine themselves
at the top of Pocumtuck Ridge in Deerfield, MA, in the 1650's
looking down on a small cluster of Indian dwellings surrounded
by planting fields near a river.
1. Have them draw a sketch of what activities,
structures and items they might see.
2. Then, generate a list on the chalkboard
of what they imagined.
3. Distribute the Bird's Eye View of
Weantinock Homeland and photo of diorama of Native Village.
Use these to enhance the discussion and to flesh out the
list. [Note: Based on previous study, students in Deerfield
will be familiar with 17th century Indian village life in
the period. For those whose students have not covered this
material, a teacher may introduce some basic information
in a guided discussion. Students looking down on a cluster
of dwellings in summer might see men canoeing and fishing
in the Deerfield River, women cultivating crops (the "three
sisters," corn, squash, and beans) and cooking, children
at play or tending gardens or standing on platforms above
fields to chase away crows, structures (long houses and
wigwams), people traveling along paths, people dressed in
clothing made primarily of skins, tools and utensils for
hunting, fishing, carrying, sewing, and cooking, etc.]
Ask:
- Do you think individuals owned plots
of land? Why or why not?
- What areas in your picture might be
for everybody to use?
- The Pocumtucks moved within their homeland
depending on their needs and the season. How would this
effect private versus public spaces?
B. Have the students repeat Exercise
A (above) as if they were looking down upon an English village
during the early 1700's. Use a guided discussion to help
students guess what they would see. Include, for example,
roads, fences, permanent structures, a meetinghouse, long
rows of crops, plows pulled by teams of oxen, people dressed
in European-style clothing of the period, etc.
Ask:
- The English believed that God
wanted them to "tame the wilderness". What features in your
picture or on the class list are signs of this?
- Do you think individuals owned plots
of land? Why or why not?
- What areas in your picture might be
for everybody to use?
- The English built permanent villages.
How would this effect private versus public spaces?
C. Compare the drawings and the lists.
Discuss:
- What are the differences between the
two settlements?
- Which has more structures?
- What might this mean?
- Which has more roads, walls, and fences?
- What might this mean?
- How do you suppose each group would
respond if you tried to plant a garden in their field?
- Which group might have an easier time
moving their homes to a new location?
- Which group of people feels most strongly
that land can be owned and controlled by an individual?
D. Instruct students to write a paragraph
describing the English and Pocumtuck villages, and a paragraph
explaining what each group believed about the ownership
of land.
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Bird's Eye View of Weantinock
Homeland
Diorama of Native
Village
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Activity 3
Pocumtuck economic structure
A. Distribute the July 14, 1703
broadside that lists bartering equivalences and the vocabulary
sheet.
1. Ask students to examine the
broadside and then discuss particulars from it, including:
- Which had more value, beavers
or raccoons?
- What other animal body parts
besides beaver were used for trading and for making tools?
- How many beaver skins would
it take to obtain a hat, shirt, and five pecks of Indian
corn?
- How many raccoons equaled one
beaver?
- How many beavers were needed
to equal one bear?
- Who might have printed this
broadside? Why?
- Who had the most control over
setting these values?
- Do you think they had any ulterior
motives? Explain.
B. Divide students into pairs.
1. Tell students that one person in each
group will be portraying a Pocumtuck and the other an English
trader. Ask students in each pair to select the roles they
will play.
2. Tell students they will practice trading by using slips
of paper with the names of trade goods used by the Indians
and Europeans during this time.
- Distribute Indian and English
trade goods lists to each pair of students. Each word
on the trade goods list represents one item. Have students
cut out each item.
- Instruct students to use their limited
number of items to trade for necessities. Have them use
the values on the broadside to determine what each item
is worth.
- Give students ten minutes to complete
this activity.
- Ask each student to produce a written
account of the transactions.
C. Lead a discussion on the impact of
having so many people trading beaver skins and what happens
when there are fewer beavers left to trade. Questions:
- Before they met Europeans, Indian
people only took what was needed when they hunted. Ask
what students think happened when Europeans began to appear
with new trade goods that the Indian people had never
seen before.
- The Europeans mostly wanted furs,
especially beaver furs. With so many Indians and Europeans
hunting the beaver in New England, what would happen to
the beaver population?
- When the beaver population was depleted,
what would the hunters do? What problems might this cause?
- How is hunting different today?
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July
14, 1703 broadside
vocabulary sheet
Trade
Goods Sheet
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Use the following materials to assess the degree
to which students achieved the intended learning outcomes for this
lesson:
1. Illustrations of the "Beaver Story" from Activity
1.
2. Paragraphs about the villages and land ownership from Activity
2.
3. Accounts of the trading session from Activity 3.
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