Bear River Massacre Lesson Suggestions
Essential Questions: What is the Bear River Massacre and why did it happen? How does history change? Can history change or just how we perceive history? How do you treat primary sources that are collected after the event? How do you deal with biases in primary sources? How do secondary accounts show bias?
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Essential Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to recall the events leading up to and during the Bear River Massacre. Students will be able to analyze the changes a historical event undergoes as time goes on. Students will be able to perceive and analyze differences in primary and secondary source accounts.
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To begin, students will read the write-up of the Bear River Massacre and understand the background leading up to the Massacre. Students will then read the primary source account from Colonel Connor and the oral history as recounted by Mae Parry Timbimboo. They will fill out a primary sources analysis on each. They will then compare and contrast the two accounts, close reading both.
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Students can also read a history of the monument for the Bear River Massacre. The attached article outlines many of the changes. Students should outline the changes in attitude toward the monument. Students should also study the pictures of the Massacre site to see the changes up close. Students will also research and read news articles about the Bear River Massacre monument and the upcoming changes. Students then listen to the remarks from Darren Parry, Chairman of the Northwestern Shoshone Band, on the changing nature of history.
Utah Core Standards for Social Studies:
UT Standard 2.1: Students will explain the causes and lasting effects of the Mormon migration to Utah.
UT Standard 2.4: Students will research multiple perspectives to explain one or more of the political, social, cultural, religious conflicts of this period, including the U.S. Civil War and more localized conflicts such as the Utah War, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the Bear River Massacre, the Black Hawk War, or other Federal-Mormon conflicts.
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Reading for Literacy in Social Studies Grades 6-8:
Reading for Literacy Standard 1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
Reading for Literacy Standard 2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
Reading for Literacy Standard 6: Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts).
C3 Inquiry Arc History:
D2.His.5.6-8. Explain how and why perspectives of people have changed over time.
D2.His.6.6-8. Analyze how people’s perspectives influenced what information is available in the historical sources they created.