The Sizzling Southwest
Forced Migrations

The Ruins of Casa Grande National Monument, Arizona

a Lesson on the Disappearance of the Anasazi,
the Najavo Long Walk, and the Mormon Trail

by Timothy McDonnell
Victor Jr. High School
Victor, New York

CONNECTION TO THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHY STANDARDS:
The geographically aware person knows…
Std. 1 - How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.
Std. 3 - How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth’s surface.
Std. 9 - The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human population on Earth’s surface.
Std. 15 - How physical systems affect human systems.
Std. 17 - How to apply geography to interpret the past.

CONNECTION TO THE NEW YORK STATE STANDARDS FOR SOCIAL STUDIES:
Std. 1.2 - Important ideas, social and cultural values, beliefs, and traditions from New York State and United States history illustrate the connections and interactions of people and events across time and from a variety of perspectives.
Std. 1.3 - Study about the major social, political, economic, cultural, and religious developments in New York State and United States history involves learning about the important roles and contri-butions of individuals and groups.
Std. 3.1 - Geography can be divided into six essential elements which can be used to analyze important historic, geographic, economic, and environmental questions and issues.

OBJECTIVES: (to know, to do, and to be like)
1. The students will generate a list of reasons why people take the risk of dangerous migrations from one place to another.
2. The students will describe in general terms the culture and history of the Anasazi, the Navajos, and the Mormons.
3. The students will plot the pathways each of these groups took during their migrations on outline maps and on a satellite image of the Southwest.
4. They will relate the pathways taken to the physical features of the region (mountains, rivers, etc.).
5. The students will compare the obstacles faced by each group, and how they were overcome.

MATERIALS:  Activity Worksheet (in pdf format), background readings about Anasazi, Navajos, Mormons (see the list of suggested websites below), outline map of the western United States (pdf format), satellite image of the Four Corners region (from Visible Earth), hard copy of this image, computers, atlases.

LINKS:
Anasazi: http://www.he.net/~mine/anasazi/index.html
Navajo: http://www.nps.gov/nava/nav.htm
Mormons: http://www.omaha.org/trails/index.htm

PROCEDURES:
1.  Discuss with students about migrations of people that might be familiar with (Pilgrims coming to America, Jews fleeing the Holocaust, Cambodians escaping from the Killing Fields, etc.). Generate a list of reasons why people leave their homes en masse.
2. Inform the class that they will studying the forced migrations of three groups: the Anasazi, the Navajos, and the Mormons. All groups are associated with the Southwest.
3. This lesson can be done two ways. First, all students can research all three groups. Or, the class can be divided into “expert groups” that research one of these Southwest people.
4. All three peoples had successful and thriving communities before the migration was forced upon them. Background information, especially from the internet, will help students understand this.
5. Next they research the actual migrations of these people. The students need background inform-ation: the crisis faced, method of migration, cost of migration, resettlement, the people today. This information is recorded on a comparison chart.
6. The pathway of migration needs to be drawn on an outline map of the region, and then compared to satellite images that show barriers to movement of people (mountains, deserts, etc.).
7. Student groups should share their findings with rest of the class. They should find common themes with all three migrations.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT:
1. Assess the comparison chart. Have they done sufficient research to answer the questions about the migrations?
2. Assign a writing assignment where the students must put themselves in the middle of the migration. Can they describe what it must have been like?
3. Ask students to come up with a list of preparations they think a group of people would have to make before setting out on a dangerous migration. Eliminate modern conveniences (highways, cell phones, fast food restaurants).

ADAPTATIONS AND EXTENSIONS:
1. The western United States had many migrations. They can be studied in place of these three, or in addition to them.
2. The math lesson analyzes the population boom of the Southwest in modern times. How is this movement of people similar and different to the migration of the Anasazi, the Navajo, and the Mormons?
3. Survival in the desert is not easy, but these people have been successful. Have their success been at the cost of the environment, or have they adapted to it?

Return to the Southwest Title Page.