Plateau Native Americans: Chief Joseph Biography
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Indigenous Peoples of the Plateau Region
Lesson Plans by Liane Hicks
The Plateau (or Columbia Plateau) Region is located in the northwestern United States and British Columbia, Canada and stretches between the Cascade Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. Engage and educate students with premade activities and lessons with Storyboard That!
Storyboard Description
Create a biography poster that honors the life and legacy of an indigenous person from the plateau region of the Americas!
Storyboard Text
- The Nez Perce WarIn 1877, fighting broke out between one of the Nez Perce bands and the settlers. The U.S. government once again attempted to force the Nez Perce to move to the reservation in Idaho. Chief Joseph knew that his people would be outmatched by the U.S. Army so he led them to Canada hoping to meet up with Sitting Bull and the Sioux people. The Nez Perce traveled 1400 miles and fought 14 battles with the the U.S. Army on their way. They suffered many casualties. Chief Joseph and what was left of his people finally made it to the Canadian border on October 5, 1877. They surrendered.
- Chief Joseph was born in Wallowa Valley, Oregon as a member of the Nez Perce Nation. The Nez Perce call themselves Niimíipuu, meaning “The People.”His Nez Perce name was Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, which means Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain.
- Chief Joseph
- 1840 - 1904
- Place Person Here
- In 1855, his father negotiated an agreement with the governor of Washington to maintain Nez Perce land in a peace that would last for several years. Gold was discovered on Nez Perce land. In 1863, the U.S. government demanded the Nez Perce move to Idaho from their land in Oregon. His father refused.Joseph became chief in 1871 and he tried hard to defend the Nez Perce land rights and maintain peace with the white settlers.
- "I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are -- perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Here me, my chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands,I will fight no more forever."
- Chief Joseph continued to advocate for his people although peacefully. He met with Presidents Hayes and Roosevelt at different times to fight for Native American rights. In 1885, the United States government allowed the Nez Perce people to return to Idaho where their reservation remains today, but they were not allowed to return to their ancestral homeland in Wallowa Valley Oregon.
- Chief Joseph died September 21, 1904 at the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington state. “I believe much trouble and blood would be saved if we opened our hearts more.”“The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.”“Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself — and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty.”
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