Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 18, 1993 TAG: 9309180243
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAMIE C. RUFF RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG (AP) LENGTH: Medium
"I'd be willing to submit to you that most of the images we have of Indians are stereotypes," said Worsham, an artist, art historian and specialist on American Indian cultures.
"The whole conversation goes from one movie to the other. In most cases, they have never read a good scholarly book on Indians, they have never read a book by an Indian and in many cases never seen an Indian in the flesh."
A former art history teacher at Lynchburg College, Worsham now does most of his teaching at home, offering courses in Indian culture and skills. Recently, he has been back at Lynchburg College.
The college received a grant from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy to fund the American Indian Cultures Institute course. Worsham was team-teaching with Lynchburg College professors William H. Young, director of the American studies program, and Clifton W. Potter Jr., chairman of the department of history.
The three-week course scraped away the myth about Indian life and focused on the contributions of Indian civilizations. Worsham, Young and Potter hope their 23 students, most of them high school teachers, will help debunk stereotypes.
"You will become ambassadors," Worsham told the class. "How many hundreds and hundreds of students will you have a chance to affect positively?"
The course pays particular attention to the tribes of the Southeast. That means that the widely held image of an American Indian with a flowing war bonnet is out of place.
"We think of war bonnets and tepees," Worsham said. "That was not the case here. You might find headdresses with feathers but they did not look like the Plains Indians headdresses."
The course puts Indian history into the context of the usual high school history book. For instance, with the development of the cotton gin, whites saw a need for lands then held by the American Indians.
The removal of the Indians from their homelands in the Southeast - often forced and nearly always at the cost of many lives - to what became Oklahoma, opened those lands.
Subsequently, increased production of cotton helped create a greater demand for slaves, Potter said.
The instructors said they are not trying to create a romanticized portrait of the Indian. For instance, Worsham pointed out, just as there were Indians who were sold into slavery by Europeans, there were other Indians who owned black slaves.
Young showed movies throughout Young showed movies throughout the course to illustrate Hollywood stereotypes - from the 1940s' glamorous treatment of Custer's Last Stand, "They Died with Their Boots On," to the acclaimed "Dances with Wolves." the course to illustrate Hollywood stereotypes - from the 1940s' glamorous treatment of Custer's Last Stand, "They Died with Their Boots On," to the acclaimed "Dances with Wolves."
The class also gets lessons on such things as tracking skills and Indian languages.
For Suzanne Bryant, a kindergarten teacher at Amelon Elementary School in Amherst County, this year's Thanksgiving program on the pilgrims and Indians will include some Indian words and a deeper understanding of the American Indian.
"I had a picture of savages growing up," Bryant said. "This course has taught us that they were really gentle people who were fighting for their lives and their land."
"I'm learning to deal with the stereotypes we have been given about the Indians. They're really the good guys, and we could use them as the role models."
by CNB