Week 12 Module 12: Student Checklist Hey Everyone! ✓ Solved

Week 12/Module 12: Student Checklist Hey everyone! We

Week 12/Module 12: Student Checklist Hey again, everyone! Welcome to Module 12. This week we will be building off of the history we’ve learned in the past few weeks’ modules on westward expansion, reconstruction, and forced assimilation of the mid to late 1800s as we zoom in on an important battle: The Battle of Greasy Grass, also known as The Battle of Little Bighorn or Custer’s Last Stand. We will learn about how all of the history we’ve learned the past few weeks connects to and culminates with this battle, and we’ll also learn about a couple of important Native American leaders in the resistance during this time period.

To become acquainted with what happened at the Battle of Greasy Grass and the history leading up to it, please watch the short video, “Where Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse Defeated Colonel Custer.” While watching, take notes on what led up to the battle, the significance of the battle, and connections to the history learned.

Next, read the PBS article, “A Good Day to Die,” which goes into more detail about the battle while providing multiple perspectives and accounts. While reading, take notes on what led up to the battle, the significance of the battle, and important connections to the history learned. Also, note the use of different types of evidence, accounts, and perspectives used, and explain why this is important to consider based on our concept of “historical thinking.”

After, watch the video, “Custer’s Last Stand – A Lakota View.” While watching, prepare for this week’s blog post by taking notes on the events leading up to the battle, connections to the history and key terms learned so far, and consider the significance of the art analysis. Be ready to discuss the art analysis. Why it is an important historical artifact, and how does it serve as an example of historical thinking?

Lastly, please complete this week’s Blog #6 assignment by answering all parts of the prompt provided in at least 300 words minimum. Also don’t forget to post a response to one peer in at least 150 words minimum.

Paper For Above Instructions

The Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876 stands as a focal point where a longer arc of U.S. westward expansion, military campaigns against Native nations, and evolving political rhetoric about assimilation and sovereignty intersected in a single, dramatic moment. The sources assigned for this week—the video on Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, the PBS account A Good Day to Die, and the Lakota perspective video—offer complementary angles on what happened, why it mattered, and how historians evaluate competing narratives. Taken together, they illuminate not only the event but also how history is constructed from evidence, perspective, and context (Britannica, 2021; History.com, 2020).

In the video Where Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse Defeated Colonel Custer, the narrative foregrounds Lakota leadership and strategy. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse emerge as more than symbols in a single episode of combat; they are agents who translated terrain, timing, and morale into a decisive defensive victory. From a historical-thinking perspective, this account invites us to consider how leadership, alliance-building among diverse tribes, and mobile warfare contributed to outcomes. It also invites scrutiny of the framing of “defeat” in a broader historical sense—how victory in one battle did not erase broader coercive pressures and the longer arc of U.S. policies toward Indigenous peoples (Britannica, 2021; PBS, A Good Day to Die).

The PBS article A Good Day to Die expands the narrative by inserting multiple perspectives and documentary accounts. It underscores the importance of examining a range of sources—eyewitness testimonies, military reports, and tribal memories—and it explicitly links the battle to questions of evidentiary types and interpretive bias. This aligns with our historical-thinking objective: to weigh disparate accounts, assess reliability, and understand how memory, geography, and ideology shape what counts as “evidence.” Such an approach helps reveal how different communities experienced the same event in different, often conflicting ways (PBS, A Good Day to Die; History.com, 2020).

Custer’s Last Stand – A Lakota View foregrounds another crucial dimension: the cultural and artistic representation of the conflict. The Lakota perspective invites us to read not only written or spoken accounts but also visual and ritual artifacts that contain memory and meaning. The analysis of these artifacts—whether paintings, beadwork, or regalia—can illuminate how Indigenous peoples used art to preserve memory, interpret events, and transmit historical thinking across generations. The interweaving of event, memory, and artifact demonstrates how historical thinking involves reading signs across genres and forms, not just through textual documents (Smithsonian Magazine, 2019; LOC, n.d.).

Connecting these sources to the broader course themes reveals how the Battle of the Little Bighorn encapsulates a larger historical conflict: a U.S. policy framework that sought to remake Indigenous lands and governance through assimilation and forced settlement, juxtaposed against Indigenous strategies of resistance, negotiation, and sovereignty. The juxtaposition prompts critical reflection on historical causality: to what extent did U.S. expansionist policies, military campaigns, and political pressures contribute to the clash at Little Bighorn? And how did diverse witnesses—white soldiers, Lakota leaders, and non-Native observers—shape our memory of the event? These questions are central to historical thinking, which emphasizes causation, perspective, and evidence rather than a single, unnuanced narrative (NPS, 2020; Britannica, 2021).

From a methodological standpoint, the week’s sources illustrate how historians triangulate evidence to approach contested events. Eyewitness accounts from soldiers may reflect bias or fear; tribal leaders’ recollections are filtered through cultural memory and intergenerational transmission; and modern interpretations seek to contextualize the event within the broader history of displacement, treaty making and breaking, and federal policy shifts. The synthesis of material from video, digital articles, and artifact analysis demonstrates that historical thinking emerges from contrasting viewpoints, evaluating the reliability of sources, and situating events within larger processes—such as westward expansion, forced assimilation, and the political economy of the late 19th century (NPS, 2020; LOC, n.d.).

In sum, the Battle of the Little Bighorn serves as a powerful case study in how history is made: through selection and interpretation of sources, the contest of perspectives, and the enduring significance of artifacts in shaping collective memory. By engaging with the Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse narrative, the PBS account, and the Lakota view, learners practice historical thinking: assessing credibility, recognizing bias, and situating events within broader historical processes that affect both Indigenous peoples and settler populations. This approach supports a more nuanced understanding of a contested chapter in American history and highlights the importance of diverse voices in reconstructing the past (Britannica, 2021; History.com, 2020; NPS, 2020; LOC, n.d.).

References to the readings and videos will ground your blog post in specific evidence: describe how each source contributes to understanding the battle, how it complements or challenges other sources, and what this layered approach reveals about historical thinking as a practice rather than a collection of facts (PBS, A Good Day to Die; Smithsonian Magazine, 2019; Britannica, 2021).

References

1. Britannica. Battle of the Little Bighorn. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Battle-of-the-Little-Bighorn (Accessed 2024).
2. History.com. Battle of the Little Bighorn. https://www.history.com/topics/american-history/battle-of-the-little-bighorn (Accessed 2024).
3. National Park Service (NPS). Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. https://www.nps.gov/libi/index.htm (Accessed 2024).
4. PBS. A Good Day to Die. https://www.pbs.org (Accessed 2024).
5. Smithsonian Magazine. Sitting Bull. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ (Accessed 2024).
6. Library of Congress (LOC). Sitting Bull: Photographs and writings. https://www.loc.gov (Accessed 2024).
7. Britannica. Sitting Bull. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sitting-Bull (Accessed 2024).
8. U.S. Army Center of Military History. The Battle of the Little Bighorn. https://history.army.mil/html/books/076/076-1/index.html (Accessed 2024).
9. National Archives. Native American History resources. https://www.archives.gov (Accessed 2024).
10. National Park Service. Little Bighorn Battlefield: History and perspectives. https://www.nps.gov/libi/learn/historyculture/index.htm (Accessed 2024).