Maryland History Day 2022: Native Americans and Treaties

Explore the history and legacy of the indigenous people of the Eastern Shore and their connections to the SU campus. Included are sections on the Wicomico, Pocomoke, Nanticoke, Manokin and Choptank tribes. The exhibit was a collaborative effort between Honors College students and SU staff. Student research, civic engagement projects and materials from the Nabb Research Center’s special collections and University archives are highlighted.

We Have a Story to Tell: Native Peoples of the Chesapeake Region is intended for use with students in grades 9–12. It provides information and primary source materials related to key periods and events in the history of the Algonquian communities of the Chesapeake Bay region. It also guides students through an in-depth examination of contemporary issues that are important to these communities' survival.

This collection consists of research, sources, and other papers related to the history of the Accohannock tribe of Native Americans between 1994 and 2013. Descendants of this tribe in Maryland contested for State of Maryland recognition, which is documented through correspondence. Other tribal activities, including those of the Pocomoke tribe, are documented through events calendars and articles.

Finding Aid

The records of the Catching Shadows Exhibition documents a series of oral histories and photographic prints recorded and produced by Marc Dykeman and Anne Neilson, 2007-2012, with a focus on Eastern Shore Native Americans from the Accohannock, Assateague, Nause-Waiwash Band of Indians, and the Pocomoke Indian Nation. The prints and oral histories were utilized to create an exhibition titled, “Catching Shadows: Tintype Portraits and Recorded Voices of 21st Century Native Americans Living on Maryland's Eastern Shore”. In addition to the aforementioned materials, there is a recording of the panel discussion held at and sponsored by the Queen Anne’s County Arts Council as well as a substantial volume of letters of support from Eastern Shore tribes requesting the use of the materials in an exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian.

Finding Aid

Treaties—solemn agreements between sovereign nations—lie at the heart of the relationship between Indian Nations and the United States. Native Nations made treaties with one another long before Europeans came to the Western Hemisphere. The United States began making treaties with Native Peoples because they were independent nations. Often broken, sometimes coerced, treaties still define mutual obligations between the United States and Indian Nations. The eight treaties featured in Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations, on loan from the National Archives and Records Administration, are representative of the approximately 374 that were ratified between the United States and Native Nations.

While treaties between Indigenous peoples and the United States affect virtually every area in the USA, there is as yet no official list of all the treaties. The US National Archives holds 374 of the treaties, where they are known as the Ratified Indian Treaties. Here you can view them for the first time with key historic works that provide context to the agreements made and the histories of our shared lands.

Native Knowledge 360° (NK360°) provides educators and students with new perspectives on Native American history and cultures. Most Americans have only been exposed to part of the story, as told from a single perspective through the lenses of popular media and textbooks. NK360° provides educational materials, virtual student programs, and teacher training that incorporate Native narratives, more comprehensive histories, and accurate information to enlighten and inform teaching and learning about Native America. 

Building on the ten themes of the National Council for the Social Studies' national curriculum standards, the NMAI's Essential Understandings reveal key concepts about the rich and diverse cultures, histories, and contemporary lives of Native Peoples.