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SUBJECT: Texas History
Weekly Subject: Spanish Exploration
GRADE: Middle School
DATE: (Insert)
Long before Texas’s ten-gallon hat was filled to the brim with cowboys and revolutionaries it was home to dozens of native tribes. Who were they? What were the intertribal relations like before the Spanish arrival? How did their reaction to the incoming conquistadors affect their relations with one
another?
Seeing as many of the primary documents of the different tribes came from European letters and journals, all we know about the natives was written by outsiders who more often than not didn’t understand the languages nor the people. They wrote of the Gulf Coast Karankawas who they painted in a negative light. They were falsely labeled as cannibals and this led them to have a harsher image – but the Karankawas were much more than the explorers gave them credit for. They wrote of the East Texas Caddo tribe, who intrigued the Spaniards because of their massive trade network. The Jumano were riddled about exploration journals and created an endless headache in the minds of historians. Then, of course, are the well-known Apache and Comanche whose lives are far different now from in their earlier and more violent days.
Students will learn about the cultural gap between these five native tribes. This unit will provide a deeper understanding of the untamable Texas and preface the next unit which will delve into why no European could, nor would, settle there for another century and a half.
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Identify the different eras of history, specifically Natural Texas and People and the Age of Contact (TEKS 113.19 b 1 a)
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Study the history of Texas beginning with it’s first appearance in historical texts (TEKS 113.19 a 1)
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Identify various Native groups prior to Spanish exploration (TEKS 113.19 b 2 a)
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Analyze the elemental factors behind nomadic migrations and native settlements, such as
physical, weather, and climate (TEKS 113.19 b 8 b) -
For more, see a comprehensive list of included Standards at the end of the lesson plan.
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Karankawas: https://huntthepast.com/topics/the-karankawas/ Finding their home in the Gulf coast, this tribe were of the first to greet the Spanish explorers. They feasted with them and took them into their village, showing their kindness and hospitality even to complete strangers. In return, the conquistadors called them savage cannibals. This lesson showcases the Karankawas debut in Spanish writings, but in a way the exposes their true nature and characteristics so that we may better learn about their extinct tribal nation.
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Jumano: https://huntthepast.com/topics/jumano/ These curious people have confused historians in many ways. This unit gives us a glimpse into their lifestyle and customs within the tribe. It also follows their existence that fizzles out as more and more of their ways and people became integrated with their Mexican neighbors, eventually losing their traditions altogether.
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Caddo: https://huntthepast.com/topics/caddo/ This nation’s genius has long survived history. The Europeans, upon meeting the Caddo, instantly became envious of their labrynth trade network. This was the reason for their longevity in history. Spaniards were in awe of their business strategies and learned from them, that is until they found their French rivals already knee-deep in the network themselves.
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Apache: https://huntthepast.com/topics/apache/ Though still around today, the Apache way of live has greatly evolved since their beginning. Raiding, plundering, kidnapping, warring horse thieves is no longer part of their prerogative, however, in early Texas – this is how they survived.
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Comanche: https://huntthepast.com/topics/the-comanche-people/ Though late to the party, the Comanche became the most feared entity in the wild frontier. Taking notes from the Apache way of life, this tribe added a bit of spice to their means of survival. They raided villages, looted, plundered . . . all of the things we know of the Apaches – but they did it on horse back.
- Unit summaries on Hunt the Past.
- Books, particularly primary sources such as letters and histories written by the participants
- Videos, books, images, activities, and maps provided by Hunt the Past, as well as any the instructor may deem appropriate are to be utilized as teaching aids.
- In the 19th century when the Caddoans were forced northward into Oklahoma, only 244 people made it to the reservation. Do some research and find the different situations that jeopardized the lives on the march north.
- We don’t have any written accounts of what the Amerindian peoples thought of the Spanish when they first showed up. All we have was written by the Spaniards, or written by natives only many years after conquest. De Vaca tells us that when the Karankawas saw their bedraggled appearance – these men were soaked through with salt water, naked, unshaven, dirty, smelly, worn down, (hardly impressive) – the tribespeople drew back in fright, before giving a loud, mournful cry. What would they have said had been able to write down their thoughts? That’s for you to decide. Place yourself on a Texas coast much different from anything a modern Texan would see, now; all of a sudden, strangers emerge from the surf, almost like monsters from the sea. How would you describe these men who come upon your homeland? Either write those thoughts down in a letter or journal type format, or draw a picture of the drenched men emerging from the sea.
- Create a video explaining the five different tribes. Make it as creative as you want – but make sure it’s informative!
- Natives had several types of shelters. Nomadic tribes often lived in teepees, as they were easier to transport, and more grounded natives lived in homes such a pueblos. Do research on native homes and find one that calls out to you – then build it! Design it on your own or with a group and draw it or build a prototype to showcase your new nowledge of indigenous Texas.
- Print out a large map of Texas and pinpoint the territories of the different tribes. Draw the territory borders and find out which tribes were allies and which were foes, color coordinating the two.
PRIMARY
The Account and Commentaries of Governor Alvar Nunez de Vaca, of what occurred on the two journeys that he made to the Indies, 37. Texas State University. (Accessed August 21, 2020) https:// exhibits.library.txstate.edu/cabeza/exhibits/show/cabeza-de-vaca/relacion/la-relaci–n—p-36, 40-42.
Jose Felix Trespalacios to Austin, December 15, 1822, in The Austin Papers, Volume II, Part I, ed. Eugene C. Barker. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1924), 560.
Reid, John C. Reid’s Tramp; or, a Journal of the Incidents of Ten Months Travel through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Sonora, and California. (Selma: John Hardy and Co., 1858), 172-75.
Burke, John G. An Apache Campaign in the Sierra Madre: An Account of the Expedition in Pursuit of the Hostile Chiricahua Apaches in the Spring of 1883. (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1886), 102.
Arnold, James R.. Understanding U.S. Military Conflicts Through Primary Sources [4 Volumes]. United States: ABC-CLIO, 2015.
Geronimo’s Story of His life, ed. by S.M. Barret. (New York: Duffeld and Company, 1906), 12-14, 59-60, 187-190.
SECONDARY
Davis, Lucile. The Caddo of Texas. United States: Power Kids Press, 2003, 32-44.
Carter, Cecile Elkins. Caddo Indians: Where We Come from. United States: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995.
A Rediscovering of Caddo Heritage: The W.T. Scott Collection at the American Museum of Natural History and Other Caddo Collections from Arkansas and Louisiana. United States: Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, Historic Preservation Program, 2005.
Perttula, Timothy K.., Girard, Jeffrey S.., Trubitt, Mary Beth. Caddo Connections: Cultural Interactions Within and Beyond the Caddo World. United Kingdom: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2014, 58, 129.
La Vere, David. The Caddo Chiefdoms: Caddo Economics and Politics, 700-1835. United Kingdom: University of Nebraska Press, 1998, 2, 110-112.
Sabo, George. The Arkansas Historical Quarterly 55, no. 3 (1996): 323-26. Accessed August 20,
2020. doi:10.2307/40030984, 323.
Donald E. Chipman and Harriett Denise. Joseph, Spanish Texas, 1519-1821 (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2009), 14-17, 32.
Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. United States: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1898.
Hämäläinen, Pekka. The Comanche Empire. United Kingdom: Yale University Press, 2009.
Phan, Sandy. Caddo and Comanche: American Indian Tribes in Texas. United States: Teacher Created Materials, 2012.
Marez, Curtis. “Signifying Spain, Becoming Comanche, Making Mexicans: Indian Captivity and the History of Chicana/o Popular Performance.” American Quarterly 53, no. 2 (2001): 267-307. Accessed August 5, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/30041888.
Foster, Morris Wade. Being Comanche: A Social History of an American Indian Community. United Kingdom: University of Arizona Press, 1991.
Fehrenbach, T. R.. Comanches: The History of a People. United States: Anchor Books, 2003.
Oak, Henry Lebbeus., Bancroft, Hubert Howe., Peatfield, Joseph Joshua., Nemos, William. History of the North Mexican States. United States: A. L. Bancroft, 1889.
Willard H./Porter F. Rollings, The Comanche (Indians of North America Series) (New York City, New York: Chelsea House, 1989).
De Capua, Sarah. The Comanche. United States: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2006. Betty, Gerald. Comanche Society: Before the Reservation. United States: Texas A&M University Press, 2005.
Himmel, Kelly F. The Conquest of the Karankawas and Tonkawas: 1821-1859. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1999), 16, 47 -49. La Vere, David. The Texas Indians. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2004), 62.
Smallwood, James. The Indian Texans. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2004), 28 -30, 33-34.
Henry Morse Stephens Collection: Pamphlets on the History of the Southwest. n.p., 1901, 67, 80.
Hodge, Frederick Webb. The Jumano Indians. United States: Davis Press, 1910, 3-8.
Kelly, J. Charles. Jumano and Patarabueye: Relations at La Junta de Los Rios. United States: University of Michigan Press, 1986, 5-7, 28.
Newcomb, William W. The Indians of Texas: from Prehistoric to Modern Times. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2006, 23-25, 115, 225-45.
Cremony, John C. Life Among the Apaches. (San Francisco: A. Roman & Company, Publishers, 1868), 21, 59 – 66, 134 – 135, 142.
Worcester, Donald E. The Apaches: Eagles of the Southwest. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1979), 3 -7.
Bancroft, Hubert H. The Native Races, Volume I: Wild Tribes. (San Francisco: The History Company Publishers, 1886), 473 -475.
- Assessment Questions
- Furthering the Lesson: Suggested Reading
- Furthering the Lesson: Videos
- Furthering the Lesson: Suggested Websites
- Furthering the Lesson: Related or Similar Units
- Reflect, Close, & Preface to Next Unit
This lesson plan was written so teachers can print the first few pages and send that to the parents for them to start up conversations at home, while the bottom half is more for teachers only. We want the teachers to have the ability to send a premarked portion home to the parents to spur interesting and engaging conversations beyond the classroom and into the home as well.