This activity supports Disciplinary Literacy in Social Studies — How Do We Know? — Evaluating Sources, Close Reading, and Corroboration.
Grade level: Appropriate for grades 4-12 with teacher modifications
Duration: One class period
Background: In 1975, a group known as the Menominee Warrior Society occupied the Alexian Brothers’ former novitiate near Gresham, Wisconsin in Shawano County, claiming treaty rights to the property. Various groups responded in different ways to this event, including local citizens, the national media, the Menominee Nation of Wisconsin and the Menominee Warrior Society dissident faction.
- Have students read and review the multiple primary sources, including newspaper articles and newsletters, which take on this event from different points of view.Primary sources available through Recollection Wisconsin include:
- Novitiate Takeover Collection, Shawano City-County Library Digital Collections
- Menominee Collection on the Termination and Restoration Era, College of Menominee Nation S. Verna Fowler Academic Library/Menominee Public Library
Secondary sources available elsewhere include:
- Menominee Termination and Restoration, Indian Country, Milwaukee Public Museum
- “Where Is John Wayne?”: The Menominee Warriors Society, Indian Militancy, and Social Unrest during the Alexian Brothers Novitiate Takeover, Libby R. Tronnes, American Indian Quarterly (Autumn 2002)
- Students should evaluate these sources by considering the questions listed above. Is one source the “best”? Or are they all significant in understanding the issue?
