Unit Three -- Slave Narratives and The Puritans

I think that this lesson will consist of slaves telling stories and the puritans and why they moved.

Evaluate what you have read. Do you think the fact that these writings are biased in nature take away from their historical importance, or do you feel that the historical importance outweighs the way they were written?

I feel that the historical importance outweighs the way they were written. The reason i feel like this is because who cares if they are strectching the truth a little?,the only thang that really matters is that history was bein told.its better to know part of the truth then not know at all.

"Journal of the First Voyage to America"

"I saw a snake,which we killed, and I have kept the skin for highnesses; upon being discovered he took to the water, whiter we followed him, as it was not deep, and dispatched him with our lances; he was seven spans in length;  I think there are many more such bout here."

One quotation where you feel he is stretching the truth?... The melody of the birds was so exquisite that one was never willing to part from the spot, and the flocks of parrots obscured the heavens

"The General Historie of Virginia

"From May to September,those that escaped lived upon sturgeon and sea crabs. Fifty in this time we buried; the rest seeing the President's project to escape these miseries in our pinnace by flight so moved our dead spirits as we deposed him and established ratcliffe in his place."     Personally I didn't feel like the truth was being streched. I feel that if he wrote about the situations that were occuring at the time then they must be accurate because the narrator has no reason to lie.

http://www.crystalinks.com/nativeamcreation.html

1.Briefly summarize the myth you read and identify the culture from which it came?-the myth i read was about the beginnings of a tribe called the Chippewa - Ojibwa.  
2.what was important to the culture who created the tale you chose? their origins were important to them. evidence to support...;Nine months later the woman birthed a child. He was the first Chippewa male and through him came the Chippewa peoples.  Do you see any similarities between the myths you have read in this unit? yes because they all contain how something in this world started and came to be.Are there any similarities to our culture? yes the first book of the bible witch is genesis tells about how the earth came to be and all the different types of animals and the creation and downfall of men and women.

i thank that this lesson will consists of early Americans coming to the new lands meeting the native Americans.and how they didn't get along with each other.

the earth on turtle's back

Can you tell what was important to the Onondaga people? saving the chief's wife.how can u tell?She is not like us," said one of the animals. "She doesn't have webbed feet. I don't think she can live in the water.

what do i think about my example? what is it about?

i thank my example makes pretty good sense because all the ways of today were told in the story and how they became to be that way.it is about the earth becoming and how the animals live in the sky above the rainbow and how they become crowded in their habitats and need more space.

Work Period:

"Earth Making"

Earth is floating on the waters like a big island, hanging from four rawhide ropes fastened at the top of the Sacred four directions. The ropes are tied to the ceiling of the sky, which is made of hard rock crystal. When the ropes break, this world will come tumbling down, and all living things will fall with it and die. Then everything will be as if the earth had never existed, for water will cover it. maybe the white man will bring this about.
Well, in the beginning also, water covered everything. Though living creatures existed, their home was up there, above the rainbow, and it was crowded. "We are all jammed together," the animals said. "We need more room." Wondering what was under the water, they sent Water Beetle to look around. Water Beetle skimmed over the surface but couldn't find any solid footing, so he dived to the bottom and brought up a little dab of soft mud. Magically the mud spread out in the four directions and became this island we are living on - this earth. Someone Powerful then fastened it to the sky ceiling with cords.
In the beginning the earth was flat, soft, and moist. All the animals were eager to live on it, and they kept sending down birds to see if the mud had dried and hardened enough to take their weight. But the birds all flew back and said that there was still no spot they could perch on.
Then the animals sent Grandfather Buzzard down. He flew very close and saw that the earth was still soft, but when he glided low over what would become Cherokee country, he found that the mud was getting harder. By that time Buzzard was tired and dragging. When he flapped his wings down they made a valley where they touched the earth; when he swept them up, they made a mountain. The animals watching from above the rainbow said, "If he keeps on, there will only be mountains," and they made him come back. That's why we have so many mountains in Cherokee land.
At last the earth was hard and dry enough, and the animals descended. They couldn't see very well because they had no sun or moon, and someone said,
"Lets grab Sun from up there behind the rainbow! Lets get him down too!"
Pulling Sun down, they told him, "Here's a road for you," and showed him the way to go....from east to west.
Now they had light, but it was much to hot, because Sun was too close to the earth. The crawfish had his back sticking out of a stream, and Sun burned it red. His meat was spoiled for ever, and the people still won't eat crawfish. Everyone asked the sorcerers, the shamans, to put Sun higher. They pushed him up as high as a man, but it was still to hot. So they pushed him farther, but it wasn't far enough. They tried four times, and when they had sun up to the height of four men, he was just hot enough. Everyone was satisfied, so they left him there.
Before making humans, Someone Powerful had created plants and animals and had told them to stay awake and watch for seven days and seven nights. (This is just what young men do today when they fast and prepare for a ceremony.) But most of the plants and animals couldn't manage it, some fell asleep after one day, some after two days, some after three. Among the animals, only the Owl and the Mountain Lion were still awake after seven days and nights. That is why they were given the gift of seeing in the dark so that they can hunt at night.
Among the trees and other plants, only the cedar, pine, holly, and laurel were still awake on the eighth morning. Someone Powerful said to them, "Because you watched and kept awake as you had been told, you will not lose your hair in the winter." So these plants stay green all the time.
After creating plants and animals, Someone Powerful made man and his sister.
The man poked her with a fish and told her to go give birth. After seven days she had a baby, and after seven more days she had another, and every seven days another came. The humans increased so quickly that Someone Powerful, thinking there would soon be no more room on this earth, arranged things so that a woman could have only one child every year. And that's how it was.
Now, there is still another world under the one we live on. You can reach it by going down a spring, a water hole; but you need underworld people to be your scouts and guide you. The world under our earth is exactly like ours, except that it's winter down there when its summer up here. We can see that easily, because spring water is warmer than the air in winter and cooler than the air in summer.

Unit One: Origin Myths and Oral Tradition

I think that this lesson is going to consist of old stories told by the word of mouth coming from different groups and origins of people like the native Americans and the African Americans and how important these oral traditions were to them.