The Turtle, a cultural center in Niagara Falls designed by Arapaho architect Dennis Sun Rhodes and Tuscarora sculptor Duffy Wilson, was built on the Haudenosaunee creation story of the world resting on a turtle’s back. From the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, it served as the largest Indigenous arts center in the Eastern U.S., hosting Pow Wows, exhibitions, and thousands of cultural artifacts. This series explores the Haudenosaunee’s fight for cultural self-determination, the architectural and symbolic significance of The Turtle, and the importance of preserving spaces that safeguard Indigenous history and identity.

Cities

Sustainable cities and communities

Inequality

Reduced inequalities

Global Partnerships

Partnerships for the goals

Describing the rise of the Underground Railroad and its leaders, including Harriet Tubman and the impact of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, on the abolitionist movement

SOC.10.12.3

Describing the rise of the underground railroad and its leaders, including Harriet Tubman and the impact of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin

SOC.10.8.6

Describe factors leading to the Civil War: role of abolitionists and Underground Railroad

SOC.5.1.6.PO 1.a

Analyze the factors leading to the Civil War: role of abolitionists and Underground Railroad

SOC.7.1.6.PO 1.a

Describe the leaders of the movement (e.g., John Quincy Adams and his proposed constitutional amendment, John Brown and the armed resistance, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, Benjamin Franklin, Theodore Weld, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass).

SOC.8.US.8.9.1

Write to embassies/ consulates/cultural centers of target culture/countries and request cultural materials.

FL.3-4.9.3-4.5

Use simple social studies vocabulary to identify historical concepts and events and/or make a time line (e.g., Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, Slavery and the Underground Railroad in the Caribbean Island, etc.)

FL.5-6.5.5-6.13

Students listen to and perform music form the African-American experience, e.g. slavery spirituals, the Underground Railroad ("Follow the Drinking Gourd"), ragtime, blues, jazz, popular styles, gospel, a capella groups, rhythms & blues, rap, etc. Students

MU.7-8.9.2

Identify factors related to slavery that led to the Civil War, such as the Abolition Movement, Nat Turner’s Rebellion, the Underground Railroad, and Southern secession.

SOC.8.SS.8.A.5.In.b

Identify the contributions made by these figures: Benjamin Franklin (inventor/author/ statesman), Thomas Jefferson (Declaration of Independence), Meriwether Lewis and William Clark with Sacagawea (exploration), Harriet Tubman (Underground Railroad), Theodore Roosevelt (National Parks and the environment), George Washington Carver (science).

SS1H1.a

Define “abolition” and identify the contributions of individuals and groups associated with the abolitionist movement, including: Frederick Douglas, John Brown, and Harriet Tubman; describe the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and explain the purpose of the Underground Railroad.

SOC.5.16.5.22

Understand the major characteristics of the abolition movement in the antebellum period (e.g., the struggle between proponents and opponents of slavery and the institution of slavery; leaders of the abolition movement, including Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and the Grimké Sisters; the role of Quakers in the abolition movement; the importance of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad).

SOC.11.16.11.24

Identify trade routes and discuss their impact on the rise of cultural centers and trade cities in Europe and Mesoamerica.

SOC.6.6.1.6

Describe the abolitionist movement and identify figures and organizations involved in the debate over slavery, including leaders of the Underground Railroad.

SOC.8.8.1.22

Explore and perform music associated with historical periods, events, and movements in Indiana such as music of specific American Indian tribes, songs of the Civil War, or songs of the Underground Railroad.

MU.4.4.9.1

SOC.7.B.I.3

SOC.8.B.E.6

locates major physical and political features of regions from memory (e.g., Appalachian Mountains, the Great Lakes, 50 States, Kansas River, Arkansas River, Atlanta, Grand Canyon, Gulf of California, Mt. McKinley, Puerto Rico, Prime Meridian, International Dateline, Arctic Circle, Antarctic Circle, San Francisco, Dallas, Phoenix, Seattle, Everglades, Yellowstone National Park, Niagara Falls, Mississippi River).

SOC.4.G.1.5

describes how the dispute over slavery shaped life in Kansas Territory (e.g., border ruffians, bushwhackers, jayhawkers, the Underground Railroad, free-staters, abolitionists).

SOC.7.H.2.2

Students will identify significant patriotic and historical songs, symbols, monuments/landmarks (e.g., The Star- Spangled Banner, the Underground Railroad, the Statue of Liberty) and patriotic holidays (e.g., Veteran’s Day, Martin Luther King’s birthday, Fourth of July) and explain their historical significance.

SOC.K-3.SS-EP-5.2.1

Describe the growth of the Underground Railroad

SOC.4.5.C.4.c

Research primary sources such as antebellum newspapers, slave narratives, accounts of slave auctions, and the Fugitive Slave Act, to analyze one of the following aspects of slave life and resistance (e.g., the Stono Rebellion of 1739, the Haitian Revolution of 1791–1804, the rebellion of Denmark Vesey of 1822, the rebellion of Nat Turner in 1831; the role of the Underground Railroad; the development of ideas of racial superiority; the African American Colonization Society movement to deport and resettle freed African Americans in a colony in West Africa).

SOC.9-12.USI.T3.4

Use case studies or stories to describe the ideas and actions of individuals involved in the Underground Railroad in Michigan and in the Great Lakes region.

SOC.4.4 - H3.0.7

Describe the resistance of enslaved people (e.g., Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, John Brown, Michigan’s role in the Underground Railroad) and effects of their actions before and during the Civil War.

SOC.8.8 - U5.1.5

SOC.4.4 – H3.0.3

Identify U. S. regions in which historical events occurred, i.e., thirteen colonies, Underground Railroad, and California gold fields.

SOC.5.G6.5.2

Compare concepts common to music and other disciplines outside the arts that are interrelated with those of music (e.g. the Underground Railroad and the use of spirituals for coded escape messages).

MU.6-8.8.8.2

Explain the growing resistance to slavery and New Jersey’s role in the Underground Railroad.

SOC.5-8.6.1.8.D.4.c

Explain how geography influenced the development of the political, economic, and cultural centers of each empire and well as the empires’ relationships with other parts of the world.

SOC.5-8.6.2.8.B.4.a

SOC.6.1.8.D.4.c

Explain how geography influenced the development of the political, economic, and cultural centers of each empire as well as the empires’ relationships with other parts of the world.

SOC.6.2.8.B.4.a

The Iroquois (Haudenosaunee—People of the Longhouse) and the Algonquian were the early inhabitants of our State.

SOC.4.1.2

SOC.9-12.2.II.B.2.c1

Students will use a map of the community and provide directions to another student on how to get from the school to another place identified on the map.

SOC.1.5b.1

Students will investigate how Native Americans such as the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and the Algonquian-speaking peoples adapted to and modified their environment to meet their needs and wants.

SOC.4.2a.2

Students will compare and contrast the patterns of organization and governance of Native American groups such as the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and Munsees, including matrilineal clan structure, decision-making processes, and record keeping, with a focus on local Native American groups.

SOC.4.2b.1

Students will examine how the development the canal affected the Haudenosaunee nations.

SOC.4.6b.2

Students will explore the different military strategies used by the Americans and their allies, including various Native American groups, during the American Revolution.

SOC.7.3d.1

Students will examine the strategic importance of the New York colony. Students will examine the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga in terms of its effects on American and British morale and on European views on American prospects for victory in the Revolution.

SOC.7.3d.2

Students will examine the terms of the Treaty of Paris, determine what boundary was set for the United States, and illustrate this on a map.

SOC.7.3d.3

Students will investigate New York State and its role in the abolition movement, including the locations of Underground Railroad stations.

SOC.7.7b.4

Empires in Africa (Ghana, Mali and Songhay) and Asia (Byzantine, Ottoman, Mughal and China) grew as commercial and cultural centers along trade routes.

SOC.7.H.FGA.8

Identify, locate, and describe unique, natural geographic features of the United States including Niagara Falls, the Everglades, Death Valley, the Petrified Forest, the Painted Desert, the Grand Canyon, the Great Salt Lake, the Great Basin, the Mojave Desert, the Redwood Forest, the Badlands in South Dakota, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, Yosemite National Park, and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

SOC.4.1.1.B

Analyze points of view from specific textual evidence to describe the variety of African American experiences, both slave and free, including Nat Turner’s Rebellion, legal restrictions in the South, and efforts to escape via the Underground Railroad network including Harriet Tubman.

SOC.8.4.4

Explain the fundamental beliefs of abolitionism and the operation of the Underground Railroad.

SOC.8.8.2

Examine the importance of trade routes and trace the rise of cultural centers.

SOC.6.7.23

Examine the importance of trade routes and trace the rise of cultural centers and trade cities in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

SOC.7.2

Identify major physical features of the world, including: Landforms—Great Barrier Reef, Niagara Falls

SS.WG.3.08.e

Explain the Underground Railroad, and assess its impact on slavery in the U.S.

SS.9-12.2.AAH.10

Identify major physical features on a map: Bodies of Water – Arctic, Atlantic, Great Lakes, Great Salt Lake, Gulf of Mexico, Hudson Bay, Niagara Falls, Pacific

SOC.3.22.c

Major physical and environmental features: Other water features Niagara Falls

SOC.5-8.WG.5b.1.b.7

Identify and interpret cause and effect relationships within a literary/narrative text or informational/expository text using evidence from the text (e.g., an article and a poem about wolves or a description of the Underground Railroad from a newspaper article, a short story, or a biographical sketch of a leader in the Underground Railroad).

READ.7.2.3.1.c

assess the significance of political and legal contributions of some societies/civilizations (e.g., dynastic traditions, monarchy, Athenian or Haudenosaunee democracy, the Roman republic, bureaucracy; ideas about citizenship in different societies; the Code of Hammurabi, the Draconian constitution, the Code of Justinian, Magna Carta)

E1.6 Social, Cultural, and Political Heritage

assess the significance, for different groups of people, of some key political events and developments in Canada prior to 1774 (e.g., the impact of the Iroquois Confederacy on various First Nations, the impact that the establishment of Royal Government in New France had on the Jesuits, habitants, the Haudenosaunee, and/or the Company of One Hundred Associates; the impact that the conflicts between France and Britain had on colonial families, First Nations communities, and/or French settlements)

B1.4 Setting the Context

analyse the roles of various groups in colonial Canada prior to 1774 (e.g., Cree trappers and guides, First Nations and Acadian farmers, French and British soldiers, Haudenosaunee and Wendat warriors, First Nations healers and shamans, coureurs de bois, habitants, seigneurs, intendants, merchants, slaves, Ursulines, Jesuit missionaries, the Filles du Roi) and how they contributed to the development of Canada

B2.1 Interactions and Interdependence

compare aspects of the daily lives of different groups within a few early societies, including at least one First Nation and one Inuit society (e.g., the work, family life, education, food, dress, and/or housing of a slave and a senator in ancient Rome; women of different castes in medieval India; a serf and lord in feudal England; a man and a woman in medieval China or in early Mohawk society; a merchant and noble in Renaissance Italy), and explain how differences were related to the social organization of that society (e.g., the caste system in India; the matrilineal organization of Haudenosaunee society; classes in imperial Rome or in feudal societies in Europe or Asia; the emergence of a wealthy merchant class in Renaissance Italy)

Grade 4 Application: Past and Present
Societies A1.2

analyse and construct print and/or digital maps, including thematic maps, as part of their investigations into interrelationships between the environment and life in a few early societies, including at least one First Nation and one Inuit society (e.g., analyse thematic and/or physical maps showing rivers, vegetation, volcanoes, soil types; create a thematic map showing traditional trade routes of the Cree, Algonquin, or Haudenosaunee; analyse a climate map to determine the climatic challenges facing early settlements; construct soil and vegetation maps to determine the connection between soil type and agricultural activity; analyse maps to determine the proximity of early settlements to water; construct a map showing the location of some traditional First Nations and/or Inuit territories; use a decolonial map or atlas to determine the Indigenous names of the places they are investigating)

Grade 4 Inquiry: Ways of Life and
Relationships with the Environment A2.3

describe how a few early societies, including at least one First Nation and one Inuit society, were governed (e.g., early democracy in Greece or Haudenosaunee society; city states on the Swahili Coast; emperors in China; the roles of nobles, priests, and the military in Aztec society, of kings, nobles, and knights in medieval France, or of chiefs in the Haida nation)

Grade 4 Understanding Context:
Characteristics of Early Societies A3.7

identify major Indigenous nations that came into contact with European settlers and/or explorers prior to 1713 in what would become Canada (e.g., Great Lakes–St. Lawrence region: some of the many nations were Abenaki, Algonkin, Haudenosaunee, Ojibwe, Ottawa, Potawatomie, Wendat, Weskarini; northern Ontario: some of the nations were Cree and Ojibwe; Atlantic Canada: some of the many nations were Beothuk, Innu, Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, Wolastoqiyik; Arctic: some of the nations were Inuit and Dene), and describe key characteristics of selected nations (e.g., with respect to language; religious/spiritual beliefs and ceremonies; governance structures; food and clothing; roles of men, women, and children; the role and significance of arts and crafts)

Grade 5 Understanding Context: Significant
Characteristics and Interactions A3.1

describe some First Nations, Métis, and Inuit governance structures that currently exist in Canada (e.g., with reference to the Métis Nation of Ontario, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Chiefs of Ontario, the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, the Union of Ontario Indians, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy)

Grade 5 . Understanding Context: Roles and
Responsibilities of Government
and Citizens B3.3

analyse some of the contributions that various First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities and individuals have made to Canada (e.g., with reference to artists such as wood, bone, and soapstone carvers, painters and printmakers, bead workers, and/or the Indigenous Group of Seven; Inuit understanding of life and travel in the Arctic;
the democratic ideas/practices of the Haudenosaunee;
guidance/aid provided by First Nations, Métis, and
Inuit people to European fur traders and explorers;
modes of transportation such as canoes and kayaks;
Indigenous knowledge of plants and medicines;
technologies used for fishing, aquaculture, and
agriculture)

Grade 6 .Application: Diversity, Inclusiveness,
and Canadian Identities A1.2

analyse and construct maps as part of their investigations into some significant events, developments, and/or issues in Canada during this period, with a focus on exploring their spatial boundaries (e.g., analyse issue-based maps as part of their investigation into the NorthWest Resistance; construct a map showing the political and territorial expansion of Canada; analyse flow maps to determine the routes of the Underground Railroad; construct a demographic map showing the location of the major immigrant groups and Indigenous communities in Canada during this period; analyse a flow map that shows the Métis dispersion during this period)

Grade 8 Application: Peoples in the
New Nation A2.4

identify some key factors that contributed to the establishment of the residential school system (e.g., government and/or settler appropriation of Indigenous land; desire to impose Christianity on Indigenous peoples; government policies and church actions that repressed Indigenous cultures and resistance and/or sought to assimilate Indigenous people; beliefs within settler society about European cultural and race superiority; the drive to expand the British Empire), and explain the impact of this system on Indigenous individuals and communities (e.g., loss of Indigenous language, culture, and identity; disconnection of Indigenous children from family and community; intergenerational trauma and grief; changes in Indigenous children’s relationship to the land; internalization among Indigenous people of the world view of the colonizers; assimilation; exposure to disease; physical, sexual, and emotional abuse)

Grade 8 Understanding Historical Context:
Events and Their Consequences A3.3

assess the broad significance of historic cultural developments associated with a diverse range of ethnocultural groups (e.g., Semitic and Phoenician alphabets; Egyptian, Roman, and Aztec calendars; Persian and Chinese calligraphy; Arab mathematical notation; Chinese paper and gun powder; the Three Sisters of Haudenosaunee agriculture; tobacco; the canoe; Saracenic art; Japanese and Arab architecture; Islamic and Christian illuminated manuscripts; Chinese medicine; scripture from various cultures; foods/beverages such as pasta, rice, ketchup, corn, potatoes, tea, coffee, wine)

Grade 12 Contributions and Influences C3.5

explain the connections between the sacred stories and writings of various world religions and belief traditions and their festivals, celebrations, rites of passage, and daily observances (e.g., the Book of Esther and Purim, the Ramayana and Diwali, the Haudenosaunee creation story and the Green Corn Festival)

Grade 11 Influence of Sacred Writings, Oral
Teachings, and Stories  E2.3

explain ways in which attitudes and actions of believers are shaped by convictions about the significance of place (e.g., places such as Turtle Island for the Haudenosaunee people, the Western Wall for Jews, the Ganges River for Hindus)