Living Historian Gives Bedford Hills Students a Closer Look at Indigenous Life
As Bedford Hills Elementary School students sat down in a half circle around a display of Indigenous artifacts, living historian Drew Shuptar-Rayvis (Pekatawas Makatawai’U “Black Corn”) began asking them questions in a variety of languages. Looking at each other in confusion, fourth-grade students smiled shyly, unsure how to respond.
“Ah, you don’t speak southern Renape, southern Unami, Nanticoke or Dutch then?” he asked, mentioning just a few of the languages that were present in the Eastern Woodlands during the Colonial Period.
Shuptar-Rayvis — dressed in full period-correct garb — was visiting the school through PNW BOCES Arts in Education to educate students on the lives of Algonkian Native Americans before and after contact with European settlers. He brought with him artifacts like bark baskets, cups, bowls, spoons, stone axes, bows and arrows, animal pelts, moccasins and more to give students an immersive look back in history.
The engaging presentation relied on students asking questions and showing interest in learning about the artifacts that were laid out before them.
Shuptar-Rayvis explained that all the information he was about to share came from primary sources.
“A primary source is a journal, book, piece of paper or story that Europeans wrote when they came to America,” he said. “They allow us to learn about Native Americans from people who were actually there.”
Students were not shy about asking questions.
“Is that an axe?” one fourth grader asked.
“It is!” Shuptar-Rayvis said, explaining that prior to Europeans coming, Indigenous people made things from stone. “But what happens if I drop it?” he asked.
“It breaks!” a student called out.
“Yes! Then is becomes smaller and smaller,” he said. “The Europeans brought iron, which is much stronger. Natives traded beaver pelts for iron axes. They made life a whole lot simpler, from farming to building villages and fighting with enemies.”
Students were also curious about gourd bowls, a quiver, pipe bags, moccasins and more. Shuptar-Rayvis explained each artifact, detailing vital skills, trade items and objects of daily use as well as focusing on both the positive and negative interactions the Algonkian people had with European settlers.
He explained how scissors were a valuable trade resource because they could be used for a variety of things — including cutting moccasins more precisely.
Europeans also brought brass, which was unknown in America. They would trade buckets with the Algonkians, who didn’t need them because they had clay pots. They did, however, cut the buckets down to make other things like arrowheads and spoons.
“Our people were very, very smart,” Shuptar-Rayvis said.
Enthusiastically engaged, the students had many questions.
“What are the feathers in your hair for?”
“Why do arrows have feathers in them?”
“When you got hurt, did you have medicine?”
Their thoughtful questions were answered with equally thoughtful answers that showcased the techniques archaeologists, historians and anthropologists use to create an accurate picture of the past.
- BHES