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Ball-play of the Choctaw—Ball Up
George Catlin, 1846–1850
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Lacrosse was created by Native Americans, who played a version of the game much different than the one played today across the country. This painting portrays hundreds of Choctaw Indian men and boys playing a game similar to lacrosse near Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. Despite the game's violence, painter George Catlin described it as "a school for the painter or sculptor, equal to any of those which ever inspired the hand of the artist in the Olympian games or the Roman forum."
The Next Electronic Field Trip
is Emissaries of Peace
November 8, 2012
Teaching News
Election-Related Online Activities
Election Day is Tuesday, November 6. Don't forget to VOTE! Throughout this country's history, various groups have been denied the franchise. Some, like women and African Americans, struggled for generations for the right to vote. Even after the Constitution was amended to expand the franchise for these groups, they still faced opposition. Today, voting laws can make it easier or more difficult for certain groups to vote. In the web activity
Battle for the Vote, students must decide what voting rules should apply—and keep the Voter Villain from rigging the election!
Older students may enjoy this Electoral Map Quiz from Slate. We often think of elections as decided by a few key swing states, but some past elections have been won by a landslide, and others were determined by unexpected states.
Students can try their hand at matching historic elections to their Electoral College vote maps.
A Historical View of Hurricanes
Want to know more about hurricanes and how they have affected American history? Check out our March 2009 Teacher Gazette on hurricanes.
The Idea of America
A digital American history program that inspires and prepares high school students for active citizenship, developed by Colonial Williamsburg and distributed by Pearson Education.
Downloadable American History
Lesson Plans from
ABC-CLIO
and Colonial Williamsburg
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 Contents
Lacrosse has been played in various forms by Native American groups for centuries. Most used a long-handled stick with a netted basket attached. The ball would be thrown and caught with the basket, and the goal was to get the ball through a goal. In this lesson, students will analyze a painting of a Native American lacrosse game using the OPTICS method, explore a brief overview of lacrosse's history, and create a media broadcast script to narrate the action of a game.
Colonial Williamsburg offers a variety of quality American history instructional materials, including:
- American Indian Bandolier Bag Hands-on History Kit
- Mapping Colonial America CD-ROM
Check out our specials, including 50% off lesson units!
Quotation of the Month
"When you talk about lacrosse, you're talking about the lifeblood of the Six Nations. The game is ingrained into our culture and our lives. This is our game and our gift to the world."
—Oren Lyons, Jr., Mother Earth Journal, 7/12/10. Lyons is a Native American faithkeeper of the turtle clan of the Onondaga and Seneca Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. In 1989, he was named Lacrosse Player of the Year by the NCAA.
Colonial Williamsburg for Teachers
21st Century Award
for Best Practices in Distance Learning,
preK–12
United States Distance Learning Association, 2010
Distinguished Achievement Award Finalist 2011
Association of Educational Publishers
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