Instructions Read the following excerpt from “The First Americans” by The Grand Council Fire of American Indians. Then, complete the chart by answering each question.

We do not know if school histories are pro-British, but we do know that they are unjust to the life of our people—the American Indian. They call all white victories, battles, and all Indian victories, massacres. The battle with Custer has been taught to school children as a fearful massacre on our part. We ask that this, as well as other incidents, be told fairly. If the Custer battle was a massacre, what was Wounded Knee?

History books teach that Indians were murderers—is it murder to fight in self-defense? Indians killed white men because white men took their lands, ruined their hunting grounds, burned their forests, destroyed their buffalo. White men penned our people on reservations, then took away the reservations. White men who rise to protect their property are called patriots—Indians who do the same are called murderers.

White men call Indians treacherous—but no mention is made of broken treaties on the part of the white man. White men say that Indians were always fighting. It was only our lack of skill in white man’s warfare that led to our defeat. An Indian mother prayed that her boy be a great medicine man rather than a great warrior. It is true that we had our own small battles, but in the main we were peace-loving and home-loving.
Some of the cells in this chart are editable.
Question
Answer
What is the author’s claim?
What is one reason the author gives in support of this claim?
What evidence does the author give in support of this reason?
What is another reason the author gives in support of this claim?
What evidence does the author give in support of this reason?