Introduction:
This unit helps third grade students understand the life and culture of the Native Americans that lived in Michigan before the arrival of European settlers in the late 17th century. This unit includes a comprehensive background essay on the Anishinabeg, as well as three lesson plans. The lesson plans include viewing and analyzing primary sources such as maps, objects and narratives. The unit includes a list of additional resources and copies of worksheets and primary sources needed for the lessons.

Background Essay:
The banks of the Detroit River have been a natural gathering place for over six thousand years. People began visiting the Detroit area thousands of years ago, but not much is known about them because they left no written evidence of their lives.

Several Native American groups lived in Michigan over three hundred years ago when the first Europeans arrived in Detroit. At that time, Detroit was an open land of rich soil, forests and grasses. Large fruit trees like crabapple and black cherry grew wild. Animals such as squirrels, muskrats, beavers, deer and bear roamed free and fed on the grasses, while swans, turkeys, quail, geese, doves and other birds travelled in flocks. The Detroit River was a clear flowing waterway, and schools of fish jumped in and out of the water.

Michigan's rich land, beautiful water and bountiful wildlife created the perfect land for the Anishinabeg — the people who were living here in the 1600s. The Anishinabeg were also called the People of the Three Fires because they included three different groups, the Ojibwa (Chippewa), the Ottawa, and the Potawatomi. The groups spoke the same language and shared a similar heritage. The Anishinabeg people were devoted to passing on the belief system, legends and culture of their ancestors. They also moved in groups with their families from place to place. They lived in different places for each season, depending on what natural resources were available, to hunt, plant, gather and fish.

It is not known how the People of the Three Fires came to live in Michigan. They may be the descendants of pre-historic peoples who lived here thousands of years ago, or they may have traveled from another place. Native American oral histories say that the groups came from the northeast coast of North America, from present day Canada and New England.

When Europeans arrived in the 1600s, they found that Michigan's Anishinabeg were split into three groups. The Ojibwa first settled on the eastern shore of Lake Superior. They were good hunters, fishers, and gatherers of maple syrup and wild rice. The Ottawa lived on the eastern shore of Lake Huron. They were primarily trading people. They sometimes travelled hundreds of miles to exchange goods with other tribes. The Potawatomi lived in southwestern Michigan. They were known for their hospitality and good relations with other Native American groups.

All of the Anishinabeg groups were fishers, hunters and gatherers. They hunted for animals such as deer and beaver. They gathered fruits, nuts, wild rice and roots. Sometimes they grew corn, gourds, squash, beans and rice. They had great respect for animals and plants and learned all they could about them. They believed that they should only use from nature what they needed to live.

Since they had such great respect for nature, the Anishinabeg never let any part of an animal go to waste. They used animal bones to make needles, weapons and beads. Skins were used for clothing, moccasins, shelter coverings, sacks, box hinges and rope. Tendons of the animals, called sinew, made very durable thread.

The Anishinabeg also used plants in many different ways. Cornhusks made good bedding, while corncobs made pegs and pipes. Birch tree bark was used to make canoes or to cover their homes, which were called wigwams. Wigwams were built by placing birch bark over a rectangular dome shaped structure. They also used birch bark to make containers by sewing together pieces that then could hold water, food or supplies. Branches of trees made frames for canoes, wigwams and snowshoes, as well as bows and arrows. Sweet grass was woven into baskets and sometimes used as a thread. The earth was also used. Rocks were made into arrowheads, farming tools and mallets. The clay earth made pots.

Anishinabeg children did not attend formal school. Instead, they learned by watching and listening to adults and elders. Children joined their families to help make or repair tools for hunting and gathering food or to prepare it for storing and eating. They participated in daily living activities depending on their age and gender. It was very important for children to pay attention to what they could learn from adults. They learned to have respect for, and knowledge of, the world around them. They admired adults, elders, storytellers and others with special talents and skills because they had knowledge.

Children also listened to stories and legends that the elders told. Elders could be anyone in the group or band recognized as being important, respected or skilled. These stories sometimes took the form of myths. They were a very important part of the ethic system of the group, and described how they understood the world. Today, we may call an ethic system "religion", but the Anishinabeg and other Native American groups did not have the same vocabulary and way of looking at their world.

Instead of looking through picture albums or reading history books, the children learned about the past through the elder's stories. These stories taught lessons and helped children develop life skills. The children loved to hear the stories over and over. Soon they knew the stories from memory and told them to others who were younger. This way of learning about the past is called an oral history tradition. Oral history is important for passing down information from one generation to another. Oral history was crucial for the learning of life lessons and for developing the skills needed to live. Oral history is still practiced by many cultures today.

Native American children also learned through trial and error. If something worked, they did it again. If it didn't work, they might have tried again or done something different. Anishinabeg children and young adults also learned through intense training. Many activities in the groups called on special skills and required years of training. These included making tools, decorations, and learning how to administer herbs and other natural resources for healing.

The Detroit area was very important to the Anishinabeg and other Native American groups (including the Wyandot, Iroquois, Fox, Miami, and Sauk) because it was a natural gathering place that was easy to reach. Tribes could reach Detroit from Lake Huron in the north, Lake Erie from the south, and from several other rivers and streams that emptied into or near the river. For thousands of years before the Europeans arrived, many Native American groups came to the river to gather, hunt and fish and to trade with each other. They also gathered to discuss important matters or share news.

The Anishinabeg called the area that is now Detroit the "Bending River." In the 1600s, there weren't Native American settlements along the river. Instead, it was a meeting and hunting ground.

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Ojibwe Waasa-Inaabidaa:
http://www.ojibwe.org/

News From Indian Country:
www.indiancountrynews.com

National Museum of the American Indian:
www.nmai.si.edu

Great Lakes Intertribal Council:
www.glitc.org

National Congress of American Indians:
www.ncai.org

Ojibwe Language Society:
www.ojibwemowin.com