Native American Brooklyn
Ryan McMillen
Department of Social Sciences
History 1110
Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity
Walking Tour of Possible Native American Sites in Brooklyn (3-part assignment)
For our first field trip of the semester, we will take an imaginative tour of downtown Brooklyn, proceeding from City Tech, through Brooklyn Heights, to the Brooklyn Promenade. Along the way we will attempt to imagine the urban landscape as it would have seemed centuries ago, before the arrival of the first European settlers.
To prepare for this, students will complete a map-based in-class exercise using the 1946 John A. Kelly map, “Indian Villages, Paths, Ponds and Places in Kings County.” Kelly was the Brooklyn Borough Historian from 1944 to 1971. Students will be divided into teams and given a copy of Kelly’s map, and a modern day map of Brooklyn. Each team will be tasked with identifying the rough modern-day location of each of the Native American sites depicted on the map, making note of key contemporary landmarks, businesses, etc. Students can be aided in this exercise by using a map app on their phones. Each team will present to the class their theory and findings concerning the modern-day location of these villages and landmarks, and this information will be collated so that finding the locations on Kelly’s map is easier in the future, and the information will be posted publicly on Openlab.
Prior to the field trip, students will be asked to visit the National Museum of the American Indian website brochure about “Manahatta,” which extensively details the way of life of the Lenape who originally inhabited Lower Manhattan. Students will have to reflect, in a short post of 200-300 words, on what the site tells them about the difference between European and Native American land-use practices. How did Native Americans imagine Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn? What did they call it? Looking at the area in the photos and illustrations provided, what would they have seen as attractive about the particular area? How would they have been able to support a flourishing community continually for thousands of years in that place, without any complex machines or metal tools?
Alternatively, how would Europeans, upon their arrival in the 1600s, have seen the region? What would they have found attractive and why?
Most importantly, how specifically would these visions have clashed?
On the field trip, the class will be led on a short walking tour to the confluence of the East River and the Bay, under the Brooklyn Bridge, with a view of Governor’s Island. Each of the appropriate locations on the map will be examined and described in-depth (Ihretonga, Marechkawieck, Pagganck, Sassians.) The students will also be asked on the walk to pay close attention to the terrain, and what can and cannot be determined about the area in the 1600s from the walk. Elevation, vegetation, and proximity to water may be some of the only aspects that can be imagined, but student discussion and close examination, using details from the previous in-class session, may turn up more insights. The aim of the walk is to pay close attention to the Earth beneath Brooklyn, as the land would have been imagined by a people who depended on it for their sustenance.
After arriving at the Promenade, the class will be split into four different groups, each representing a different “stakeholder” in the 1600s: the financiers of the Dutch East India Company, Lenape leaders/chiefs, European colonists, and Lenape villagers. Each group will be asked to fill out a sheet which asks questions about motive, reasons for habitation, plans for the future, and also, how they saw, or understood, the motives, reasons, and plans of the other stakeholders. The results of this exercise will be collected, transcribed and posted on Openlab.
For the following class session, students will be required to post a reflection about what they learned on the walk, and what, if anything, they learned about the area where they attend school as it may have been four centuries ago. They will also be asked to imagine what the area will look like four centuries hence.
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https://www.heyridge.com/2015/08/the-rarely-told-story-of-the-real-bay-ridge-natives/
https://viewing.nyc/map-of-the-native-american-trails-that-evolved-into-brooklyns-major-arteries/
https://nmai.si.edu/sites/1/files/pdf/education/Manahatta_to_manhattan.pdf
Historical Map Reveals Location of Brooklyn’s Native American Burial Ground
Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?
1. Building camaraderie in the class via the group map assignment and the walking tour. At the outset of the class, this bonding can be important in building class cohesion.
2. Teach basic map skills and make students aware of how maps change over time.
3. Help students fulfill the Student Learning Outcome of Ethical Reasoning by making them aware of the different stakeholders involved in the Native American-European interactions in 17th century North America.
4. Incorporate place-based learning on a local level to help students broaden their understanding of the process of colonization of the Western Hemisphere.
5. Help students understand how the area surrounding the school has changed over time, and how such a period of time since European colonization is so brief compared to the amount of time Native Americans had inhabited the region.
6. Help students understand how the urban landscape obscures the natural geography of the area, but that this original geography can be seen if one knows where to look. This can also satisfy the Ethical Reasoning SLO by helping students understand the tolls different systems of land use have on the natural flora and fauna of the area.
Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?
This lesson is given early in the semester, likely in the second week. The assignment is designed for 1-1/2 class sessions for a three-hour class, with one entire three-hour session devoted to the walking tour.
Students will be expected to spend at least an hour on the out-of-class time assignment due prior to the map-based assignment.
Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?
The activity is designed to be given in three stages: 1) preliminary readings, 2) in-class team activity, 3) field trip attendance.
The assignment is low-stakes and designed for team-building and class cohesion, as it is given early in the semester.
Below are the actual assignments as distributed to the students:
Assignment #1 – Creating A 400-Year old Map of Brooklyn (1 hour)
Supplies: Kelly map, and cellular phones with map app (Google Maps, etc.)
For this assignment, you will complete a map-based in-class exercise using the 1946 John A. Kelly map, “Indian Villages, Paths, Ponds and Places in Kings County.” Kelly was the Brooklyn Borough Historian from 1944 to 1971. Supplementary materials on the history of some of the sites pictured will also be distributed to aid in your short presentations.
Each of you will be assigned to be in one of twelve three-person teams. One member of each team will be the recorder and the other two will be the researchers. The recorder will write down the findings of the researchers, but of course can contribute ideas during the course of the assignment.
Each team will be tasked with identifying the rough modern-day location of one of six areas of Brooklyn — Gravesend, New Utrecht, Flatlands, Bushwick, Gowanus, and Brooklyn Heights. Using a map app on your phones, the researchers will make note of key contemporary landmarks, businesses, etc., based on where they have determined the Native American village or settlement appears on the map.
After 30 minutes of research, each team will present to the class their theory and findings concerning the modern-day location of these villages and landmarks, using a projected map of Brooklyn.
Assignment #2: From Manhatta to Manhattan
Before we go on our field trip, please visit the National Museum of the American Indian website brochure about “Manahatta,” which extensively details the way of life of the Lenape who originally inhabited Lower Manhattan. Also read this well-researched post on the earliest inhabitants of what is today Bay Ridge: https://www.heyridge.com/2015/08/the-rarely-told-story-of-the-real-bay-ridge-natives/
On the OpenLab forum designed for this, post a 200-300 word reflection on what insights the reading gives into the difference between European and Native American land-use practices. How did Native Americans imagine Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn? What did they call it? Looking at the area in the photos and illustrations provided, what would they have seen as attractive about the particular area? How would they have been able to support a flourishing community continually for thousands of years in that place, without any complex machines or metal tools?
Alternatively, how would Europeans, upon their arrival in the 1600s, have seen the region? What would they have found attractive and why?
Most importantly, how specifically would these visions have clashed?
Post your response on Openlab, and please respond to at least one other student’s post as well.
Assignment #3: The Field Trip
On the field trip, we will go on a short walking tour to the confluence of the East River and the Bay, under the Brooklyn Bridge, with a view of Governor’s Island, where we will examine some of the potential locations of the Brooklyn Heights sites on the map. (Ihretonga, Marechkawieck, Pagganck, Sassians.) Pay close attention to the terrain, and what can and cannot be determined about the area in the 1600s from the walk.
After arriving at the Promenade, you will be split into four different groups, each representing a different “stakeholder” in the 1600s: the financiers of the Dutch East India Company, Lenape leaders/chiefs, European colonists, and Lenape villagers. Each group will be asked to fill out a sheet which asks questions about motive, reasons for habitation, plans for the future, and also, how they saw, or understood, the motives, reasons, and plans of the other stakeholders. The results of this exercise will be collected, transcribed and posted on Openlab.
Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?
The response to the readings is assessed based on depth of insight, although unless a student completely blows off the assignment, they should get close to full credit for the assignment.
Attendance and participation are key markers for the assignment, since it is given so early in the semester.
Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?
I have not yet employed this activity in the classroom.
Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.
Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab
