ILLINOIS — For the first time in state history, Illinois teachers are now required to include Native American history and stories in their curriculum — and across northern Illinois, educators are embracing the change by focusing on local Indigenous communities, primary sources, and contemporary voices.
The change is already being felt in places like DeKalb County, where teachers are using real historical maps, tribal court records, and biographies to explore Native sovereignty, removal, and return.
Local History Anchors the Curriculum
At the DeKalb County History Center, Executive Director Michelle Donahoe recently held up an 1843 map from the Prairie du Chien Treaty, pointing to land once reserved for Chief Shab-eh-nay — now returned to the Prairie Band Potawatomi in 2023.
“This is not something distant. This happened here in our county,” Donahoe emphasized.
To help integrate these sources, Donahoe and her team hosted a multi-day teacher training, where educators from every district in the county learned how to use artifacts like the treaty map, court filings, and oral histories of Shab-eh-nay.
Teachers Fill Gaps Left by Their Own Education
Emily Weller, an elementary instructional coach in DeKalb, said the curriculum filled a major gap in her own education. “I don’t remember learning much at all about Native experiences,” she said.
Weller stressed that students shouldn’t just learn Indigenous history as something from the past. With the Prairie Band Potawatomi returning to the region, it’s a living reality.
“We want them to know Native Americans are still here,” she said, explaining how her team tied current events to historical context.
Lessons From Chicago: Interactive Maps and Oral Histories
In Chicago, the Newberry Library partnered with Indigenous researchers to launch the Indigenous Chicago curriculum. It includes interactive digital maps, tribal language audio, and community oral histories to help students understand the geographic and cultural evolution of their city.
Steve Schwartz, a teacher at Oak Park & River Forest High School, uses the resources in his History of Chicago class. He said students often ask why Illinois has no reservations, and the maps help them visualize forced removals to Iowa and Wisconsin.
“You show them these maps — this is the road out to Iowa,” Schwartz said. “This is how they ended up across the Mississippi.”
State Museum, Tribal Experts Lend a Hand
The Illinois State Museum has also developed educational tools in collaboration with tribal experts like Logan Pappenfort, a member of the Peoria Tribe of Oklahoma.
Pappenfort said one 2,000-year-old piece of pottery reflects the same stories his community still tells today — a rare continuity students rarely hear in school.
Curriculum Designed to Last, Not Trend
Schwartz, like many educators, sees this curriculum shift as long overdue and permanently necessary. His students had often asked why Indigenous stories weren’t part of their textbooks.
“You have to fight the dominant narrative,” he said. “This is about building a mosaic of what American history really is.”
With over 65,000 Indigenous people from 175+ tribes now living in the Chicago area, educators hope the new curriculum will help students understand not just the past, but the communities still shaping the state’s present.
Are local schools in your area also including Indigenous perspectives for the first time? Share your classroom stories or thoughts at ChicagoSuburbanFamily.com.
