What did you learn about Native history in class?: Today So Far

"Looking back on my school days in western Washington, I can't say I got a full picture of our region's history. Especially considering the many Native American cultures in our area. But that has been changing in recent years.

We had a potlatch at my elementary school, in the suburbs of Seattle. A guest speaker from a local tribe told us (kids between first and fifth grades) about salmon as we learned a dance using canoe paddles. From what I recall in the grades that followed, Lewis and Clark came around, and then Bill Gates showed up (the rest of my local education was filled in by Almost Live).

When I arrived at Issaquah High School, the first thing I saw painted on the wall greeting students was the face of a Native American man wearing a war bonnet. We were the "Issaquah Indians." Over the year I spent at IHS, I hadn't a clue that there was no single group of "Indians," rather many Native tribes spread across the region, each with their own history and culture. I didn't know that not every tribe was known for the regalia displayed at our school (or the significance of that headdress), or about the treaties that established tribes as sovereign nations within our state".