Native Americans of the USA

1. Native Americans of the USA

2. What is a Native American? • A person born in the United States • Also known as American Indians

3. Native American Culture • Native Americans grew their own food such as corn, beans, and squash. • As well as berries and fruits. • They also hunted Bison for their meat supply.

4. Homes of the Native Americans • Wigwam home • A wigwam home is 8 to 10 feet tall that is made with wooden frames that are covered with woven mats and sheets of birchbark. • Wigwams are good for people who stay in the same place for months at a time. • Wigwam homes were use for the Algonquian Indians. • Wigwams are not portable but are small and easy to build.

5. Homes of the Native Americans • Longhouses • Longhouses are 150 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 20 feet tall. • The longhouse has a raised platform that created a second floor for sleeping space. • Mats and wood screens were used to separate the longhouse into different rooms. Each longhouse housed an entire clan of 60 people. • Iroquois Indians used longhouses to live. • Longhouses were intended for people who plan on staying in one place. Longhouses take a long time to build and decorate.

6. Homes of Native Americans • Tepees • Tepees are a cone shaped wooden frame with a covering of buffalo hide. • Tepees were designed to set up and break down quickly. • Originally tepees were 12 feet high, but once the Plains Indians acquired horses they began building them twice as high. • Tepees were designed for Plains Indians who were always on the move.

7. Homes of Native Americans • Adobe Houses • Adobes is a Native American housing complex where the Pueblo Indians lived. • Adobes have several floors that is made with clay and straw baked into bricks. • Each adobe unit held one family only. The complex however was able to hold a whole clan. • Adobe houses were good homes for Indians in warm climates where its easier to melt the clay and cement.

8. Native American Clothing • There were many different traditional clothing styles in North America. • Each Native American tribe had its own clothing style, so that it would be easier to tell which tribe is which. • In most tribes men wore breechcloths which is a rectangle piece of cloth that where the flaps fell down in front and back. • Sometimes the men also wore leather leggings in cooler climate.

9. Native American Clothing • Most Native American woman wore skirts and leggings. • The length and design would vary by tribe. • In some tribes a shirt was optional, or the woman can wear a shirt just as a jacket. • But in other tribes woman wore a tunic top or a one piece dress.

10. Native American Clothing • Over time Native American clothes began to change. • Indian tribes were removed from their land and sent to reservations. • They were placed with other tribes and they began to share clothes. • Fringed buckskin clothing, feather headdresses, and woven blanket became very popular. • Their new clothes consisted of: beaded jackets, ribbon shirts, satin shawls, and woolen sweaters.

11. Native American States • Alabama- name of an Indian tribe native to the state. Alabama means “Clearing Brush” • Alaska- is named after the Aleut Language and it means “place the sea crashes against.” • Connecticut- which is named after the Mohegan Indian, that means “little spring.”