The third supporting question, “What impact did the fur trade have on Native American tribes specifically during this period?” helps frame the concept that the fur trade had a significant impact on the Native American nations of the northern Great Plains. Native Americans, especially women, played an integral role in the North American fur trade. Complete the following task using the sources provided to build a context of the time period and topic being examined.
Formative Performance Task 3
Read the information for featured sources A-C. What do these sources tell us about how the fur trade impacted Native Americans? Write a summary describing how the fur trade impacted Native American tribes on the northern Great Plains. Where various Native nations impacted differently by the fur trade?
Featured Sources 3
The sources featured in this section are a combination of primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are the raw materials of history—original documents, personal records, photographs, maps, and other materials. Primary sources are the first evidence of what happened, what was thought, and what was said by people living through a moment in time. These sources are the evidence by which historians and other researchers build and defend their historical arguments, or thesis statements. When using primary sources in your lessons, invite students to use all their senses to observe, describe, and analyze the materials. What can they see, hear, feel, smell, and even taste? Draw on students’ knowledge to classify the sources into groups, to make connections between what they observe and what they already know, and to help them make logical claims about the materials that can be supported by evidence. Further research of materials and sources can either prove or disprove the students’ argument.
| Source A |
Fort Clark State Historic Site—click on the links for site history and images and resources. |
| Source B | 
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| Source C | 
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To learn more about the North Dakota Native American Essential Understandings, visit Teachings of Our Elders.
Learn more about the history of Native Americans during the fur trade in North Dakota at the North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum, and The North Star Dakotan, Issue 1.
Download a Teaching with Historic Places lesson plan featuring the Knife River Villages National Historic Site.