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Exploring Our Past

Exploring Our Past

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Native American singer-songwriter Joanne Shenandoah narrates this five part series on Native Peoples. The daily lives and cultures of America’s Native Peoples come to life for students through reenactments recorded at Native American living history museums and villages. The programs demonstrate how the Native People used the natural resources available to them to form and build communities in every part of the continent.

Closeup of a shiny brown bird-like mask with a red beak and dark eyes. Caption. They also carved elaborate masks made of wood for ceremonies.
Exploring Our Past
Episode 1
13 minutes 39 seconds
Grade Level: 4 - 10
Interior of hut with wood poles lashed together in a grid, forming the frame for the walls and ceiling. Caption. A long house was much like an apartment house.
Exploring Our Past
Episode 2
12 minutes 29 seconds
Grade Level: 4 - 10
Sepia-toned photo of a multi-level stone structure with stairs, walls, and chimneys. Caption. They could be built to stand up to seven stories high.
Exploring Our Past
Episode 3
12 minutes 27 seconds
Grade Level: 4 - 10
Sepia-toned closeup portrait of a senior Native American man wearing a headdress. Caption. They all survived off the herds of buffalo that roamed the land.
Exploring Our Past
Episode 4
12 minutes 52 seconds
Grade Level: 4 - 10
2 Native American men and 2 Native American children sit closely together inside a wood structure. Caption. Listening to stories told by the native elders.
Exploring Our Past
Episode 5
23 minutes 36 seconds
Grade Level: 4 - 10