Takelma elder Agnes Baker Pilgrim – known fondly as Grandma Aggie – passed away in November of 2019. This episode begins with a short tribute to Grandma Aggie – Keeper of the Sacred Salmon Ceremony on the Rogue River – and founding member of the Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers.
Watching Episode 94
To watch the entire episode 94 as seen on RVTV Voices, click here. That takes you to archive.org where all episodes of Ramping up your English are found.
Sometimes the playback on archive.org freezes. If that happens, you can watch Episode 94 on my You Tube site. Click here to watch. There may be ads. Closed Caption is available here.
Language Objectives
This episode is an example of Content trumping Language Instruction. That’s not to say that language is not included. Indeed, language is very much embedded in the content presented here. Listening Comprehension is very much involved in gaining access to this content.
Content Objectives
Summarize the major contributions to the Takelma people, Other Native Americans, and the world by elder Agnes Pilgrim Baker in her 95 years of life.
Give examples of the contribution of salmon to the people in the Rogue River Watershed. Give examples of the role of water in the lives of people throughout the world
Relate some of the practices included in the Sacred Salmon Ceremony and the beliefs that are reflected in this practices.
Locate the Rogue River Watershed and the Klamath River Watershed on a map.
Name native tribes in the Southeastern United States. Explain the role of water and fire in the beliefs and practices of the Cherokee. Extrapolate why the ancestral Cherokee are believed to have once lives in the Northeast.
Give examples of how the Cherokee sought to preserve peace and balance among their clans and with nature. Locate the Cherokee homeland on a map.
Summarize the events that resulted in formation of the Iroquois League. Name at least two tribes out of the five that became the Iroquois League. Give examples of practices that bonded the five tribes together.
Video Clips in Episode 94
We started Episode 94 with a short tribute to Agnes Baker Pilgrim – Grandma Aggie. To see the video on my You Tube Channel, click here. The video is now on archive.org. Click here to see the short tribute without ads.
Episode 94 also includes part 2 of seventh video on our series on Native Americans. Click here to see the video.
Resources
Practices of the Cherokee used in this episode were largely gleaned from the National Geographic book Trails of Tears; Paths of Beauty. This informative and insightful book was written by Joseph Bruchac. The copyright is from the year 2000. The ISBN is 0-7922-7866-6.
For information on the forming of the Iroquois League, I consulted Wikipedia on the URL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois. It’s a long article with many sources cited, so I consider it a good starting place. I also consulted The Native Americans; An Illustrated History from Turner Publications. This coffee table-sized book is likely to be found in your local library. If not, try a used book store. It’s a rich source of information and insight into Native Americans, often from a point-of-view sympathetic to Native Americans – and thus a different view from traditional portrayal of Native American history. The ISBN is 1-878685-42-2. Don’t let the size intimidate you. This book covers millennia of ground. I highly recommend it.
Another great source of basic information about the Iroquois Confederation and the way the member tribes lived is The Iroquois by Craig and Katherine Doherty from Franklin Watts, a division of Grolier Publishing. The ISBN of this paperback edition is 0-531-15603-6. The hardback edition might be found at your local library. If not, check your local used book store, or look it up online using the ISBN above.
External Links
As stated on Episode 94, I produced a two-part Tribute to Grandma Aggie on my other RVTV Voices program Adventures in Education. Here are the links to those programs on Archive.org:
https://archive.org/details/revised-aggie-tribute-1
https://archive.org/details/revised-aggie-tribute-2
Jaguar Bird produced a video about Grandma Aggie. Click here to see this video about Agness Baker Pilgrim, the oldest Takelma elder until her passing in 2019.
Next Episode
Episode 95 features a video on Link Napping and some more insights on Native American life from Storyteller Thomas Doty. Click here to visit the Episode 95 page.