This document-based instructional manual is intended to give teachers and students greater understanding of the Seneca Nation of Indians (SNI), their history, world view, and concerns. The SNI is a federally recognized sovereign nation, having a government-to-government relationship with the U.S., set forth in treaties (1784 to 1794). This manual throws light on the Seneca experience from after the American Revolution to today. Its 2 goals are to provide accurate information about the rich Native American history of western New York and to encourage teachers to incorporate the information provided into the standard American history curriculum and participation in government classes taught in grades 7-12. It contains 32 documents, 11 maps, 51 illustrations, questions at the end of each chapter with suggestions for further reading, and lists museums with excellent collections of Seneca material culture, major Native American periodicals, and recommended websites.

A short history of the Seneca Indians, the former lords of the Genesee Country.

The Seneca and Tuscarora Indians, most of whom live today in New York State, are the westernmost members of the Six Nations or Iroquois Confederacy. Haas's annotated bibliography on both tribes includes citations to journal articles, books, theses, and government documents published up to 1992. She covers, among other topics, arts and crafts, food and agriculture, games, legislation, history, government, health practices, land problems, linguistics, missions and missionaries, music, dance, religion, social customs, treaties, wars, and women. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Seneca Possessed examines the ordeal of a Native people in the wake of the American Revolution. As part of the once-formidable Iroquois Six Nations in western New York, Senecas occupied a significant if ambivalent place within the newly established United States. They found themselves the object of missionaries' conversion efforts while also confronting land speculators, poachers, squatters, timber-cutters, and officials from state and federal governments. In response, Seneca communities sought to preserve their territories and culture amid a maelstrom of economic, social, religious, and political change. They succeeded through a remarkable course of cultural innovation and conservation, skillful calculation and luck, and the guidance of both a Native prophet and unusual Quakers. Through the prophecies of Handsome Lake and the message of Quaker missionaries, this process advanced fitfully, incorporating elements of Christianity and white society and economy, along with older Seneca ideas and practices. But cultural reinvention did not come easily. Episodes of Seneca witch-hunting reflected the wider crises the Senecas were experiencing. Ironically, as with so much of their experience in this period, such episodes also allowed for the preservation of Seneca sovereignty, as in the case of Tommy Jemmy, a Seneca chief tried by New York in 1821 for executing a Seneca "witch." Here Senecas improbably but successfully defended their right to self-government. Through the stories of Tommy Jemmy, Handsome Lake, and others, Seneca Possessed explores how the Seneca people and their homeland were "possessed"—culturally, spiritually, materially, and legally—in the era of early American independence.