BC Students Study Indigenous History

November was Native American Heritage Month, but BC students study and discuss the history and important contributions of our country’s Native peoples throughout the year!

In the Upper School elective “An Indigenous People’s History of the United States,” students are studying the history of the Lenni Lenape, the original people of NYC, through activities like a walking tour of Brooklyn to explore important sites, including an original Lenape trail along Flatbush Ave. At the end of the semester, they will conduct independent research into an aspect of contemporary Native American culture and politics from Native American points of view. The Upper School Learning Lunch also virtually welcomed guest speaker Hadrien Coumans, co-founder and co-director of the Lenape Center, who spoke about his organization’s work to continue the Lenape homeland through community, culture and arts.

In the Lower School, 3rd grade students studied the Lenape and the Haudenosaunee as part of their Social Studies curriculum investigating the original Native American people of New York. Students created their own collages to show appreciation for nature based on the traditional Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address!