The Battle of the Little Bighorn and the Great Sioux War (1876)

FAIN: BH-261704-18

City College (Billings, MT 59101-0245)
John M. Keener (Project Director: February 2018 to present)
Thomas C. Rust (Co Project Director: August 2018 to present)

Two one-week workshops for 72 school teachers to explore the Great Sioux War and the Battle of Little Bighorn from diverse perspectives.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn is a rich topic of scholarship and popular media that provides great opportunity for deep study in the humanities. A wealth of historic, cultural and primary sources, produced over time with many perspectives, provides the secondary teacher a great platform for instruction. Through a rich understanding of the battle, the teacher understands this clash of cultures and the competition for valuable resource and opportunity. Through the study of the battle, students will distinguish key concepts in literature such as the explicit and inference in text, compare and contrast between points of view, distinguish between focus and firsthand and secondhand information, and interpret information in many formats. The strength of the topic provides the teacher the perfect format to engage in the common core standards for literacy, across reading, writing, speaking and listening in an interesting and motivating topic.