Lesson 2: Indian Treaties and the Removal Act of 1830

Students build a historical context of the events and actions that precipitated the Indian Removal Act and an understanding of the consequences of that experience for Indigenous communities.

This lesson deepens the idea that reciprocity is not only ecological but also historical and ethical; when communities are separated from land, systems of knowledge can be harmed.

In Lesson 3, students will be introduced to perspectives or worldviews that Kimmerer will introduce in her book. In Lesson 4, students will begin reading Braiding Sweetgrass.

This lesson inspires students to begin thinking about how historical events affect human relationships with their environments, a key idea they can later research and explain in their Reciprocity in Action task.