Immigration to Oregon: 1800 to 2000
English VI (Language and Culture), Summer 2000
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The Kalapuyans

Last name __________________________ First name _______________

 

Task:

1. Move to these groups:

1: Yuki and Harumi

2: Ryusuke, Takuya, Daejin

3: Mitsu, Yukari, Masayo

2. Read all of the questions below. Help each other understand. After you finish reading, divide the questions among group members. Some questions are more difficult and have longer answers than others, so divide them fairly. Put your name by your questions.

3. On Friday, find the answers to your questions at the museum. When you finish, help others in your group or other groups or answer all the questions!

4. Homework for Tuesday, May 30:

a. Be prepared to tell the other members of your group the answers to the questions you researched at the Marion County Historical Museum.
  • Practice!
  • Summarize the main ideas only!
  • Talk naturally to your classmates using your notes. Don't read to them with your head down.

b. Write a journal from the viewpoint of a Kalapuya Indian near Salem sometime between 1500 and 1850. Write in journal format using the first person (I . . . ).

  • Describe a day in your life. Include the date.
  • Include lots of detail and adjectives.
  • Use the attached calendar to get more information for your journal entry.
  • Also use the knowledge you have from reading about the Kalapuya.
  • Use the vocabulary you have learned!
  • Be creative.
  • Use your own paper. Be clever if you wish by making the journal look old.
  • See the example attached.

c. Have a nice three-day weekend. Monday is Memorial Day, a public legal holiday in the United States honoring U.S. citizens who have died in war. Banks, school, and offices are all closed, but most stores are open. The holiday originally honored soldiers killed in the American Civil War (1861 - 1865). Later, the holiday commemorated all war dead. Now many people honor dead family members of all kinds by putting flowers on their graves. Some towns also have parades honoring the living and dead who served the U. S. in wars.

 

Jobs on Friday:

Yuki and Harumi: Greet Ms. Martinez and walk with her to the museum. Walk back to Kaneko with her at 10:00.

Mitsu, Yukari, Masayo: Greet Mr. Jansson when you arrive at the museum. Introduce yourselves and other classmates. Ask him for any special instructions.

Ryusuke, Takuya and Daejin: Thank Mr. Jansson when you leave the museum.

Vocabulary
  • The Kalapuyans = American Indians who lived where Salem is now; there are several acceptable spellings of this word
  • nation = a large group of people organized under a single formal or informal government
  • tribe = a group that shares a common culture, family history, and leadership; a group of Native Americans smaller than a nation: a term often used with indigenous (native) people
  • band = a group smaller than a tribe
  • drill = a tool used to make a hole
  • acorn = the fruit of an oak tree
  • oak, spruce, and hazel = kinds of trees
  • bark = the outside of a tree trunk (usually brown)
  • epidemic = a situation in which a disease passes quickly from person to person and makes a large percent of the population sick/ill
  • territory = a area of land; an area of land that is self-governed
  • canoe = a simple boat that is long and narrow

1. By what route did Indians come to North America and to Oregon and from where did they come?

 

2. About how many Indians lived in "Oregon country" before white settlers of European origin arrived? (We say "Oregon country" because Oregon wasn't a state yet.)

 

3. Within one generation after the arrival of whites, the Indian population was how large? What began to kill the Indians immediately after the arrival of whites?

 

4. In what year did the U.S. government take over the Kalapuya territory and why? Where were the survivors sent?

 

 

5. The Kalapuyans are extinct, meaning there are no more people of pure Kalapuyan descent (there are people alive with some Kalapuya blood). What are two or three reasons they became extinct?

 

 

6. What language did the Kalapuyans speak? Were there sub-dialects?

 

7. Were the Kalapuyans literate (did they have a written language)?

8. What were some of the important positions (jobs or roles) in a Kalapuyan village? What do you know about family life and community life? Was there a class system in which some groups of people were of higher status than others?

 

 

9. Can you guess what daily routines might have been like? When did they get up and go to bed and how did they spend most of their time?

 

 

10. Besides baskets, what did the women and girls make from natural materials such as the root of the spruce tree and the bark of the wild hazel tree?

 

11. The Kalapuyans used fire for at least five tasks. What were these tasks?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

 

 12. What tools did the Kalapuyans hunt with or use for other purposes? what were these tools called and what did they look like (you can sketch or describe them)?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13. What was the most important and most widely known food plant used by western Oregon's inland valley Indians, including the Kalapuyans? What color is it and what does it look like? (Note: It still grows in Bush Park in Salem and blooms in early spring.)

 

 

 

 

14. What were at least eight different foods eaten by the Kalapuyans?

 

 

 

15. What kind of clothing did the Kalapuyans wear? Describe or sketch the clothing.

 

 

 

16. What did the houses of the Kalapuyans look like? Describe or sketch the housing.

 

 

 

 

 

17. What kinds of beliefs, ceremonies, festivals and sacred items did the Kalapuyans have? Were there spiritual sacrifices made?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Last modified May 25, 2000
©Tokyo International University of America, Salem, Oregon. Seibert. All rights reserved.