1. Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve
The Medicine Bag
Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve

2. Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve (1933-present)
Born at the height of the Great Depression, Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve grew up on the Rosebud Sioux reservation in South Dakota. Her parents often had to leave the reservation to find work, so Sneve spent much of her childhood living with her grandmothers. These women, whom Sneve describes as strong, dignified, and loving lit her childhood with vivid folk tales and stories of native American life. Through her own stories, Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve seeks to provide young people with authentic representations of Native American culture.

3. The Sioux Indians
The Sioux Indians, a tribe of American Indians descended from Asia and known for their distinct, jet-black hair, were initially a nomadic tribe in North America. As the United States of America expanded onto the land on which the Sioux lived, the Sioux Indians battled the white men for the rights to their land. The United States eventually signed a treaty which allowed the Sioux to own a designated plot of land known as a reservation. The Sioux fought white men for their land repeatedly in the late 1800’s, eventually losing the struggle for their nation. Today they live in South Dakota, Nebraska, and Montana on Native American Reservations.
Infer: How would you feel about other Americans if you were among the Sioux today?

6. Identity:“It’s the things we choose to surround ourselves with that tell the story of who we are.”
What makes you who you are? What can physical objects tell us about a person’s identity? Infer: The photographer of the photos in the next slide shoots portraits of her family members by laying out their belongings. What characteristics can you infer about the individuals who own the objects in the photos?

8. The Tradition of the Medicine Bag
Medicine Bags are small, leather pouches passed down from one generation of Native men to the next to signify a young man’s transition to adulthood. Infer: Based on what you know of Native American traditions and culture, what do you think a medicine bag might hold? Traditionally, a Sioux boy would embark on a vision quest to seek for things of religious value to place in his medicine bag. These items were thought to symbolize the young man’s purpose in the world and guide him through life. Infer: How is the medicine bag related to identity?

9. Vocabulary
Authentic‒ adj. not false or copied; real We always had some authentic Sioux article to show our listeners. One year Cheryl had new Moccasins that Grandpa had made. Commotion‒ n. a noisy or confused disturbance I got up and walked to the curb to see what the commotion was. About a block away, I saw a crowd of little kids yelling, with the dogs yipping and growling around someone who was walking down the middle of the street.

10. Descendant‒ n. any person whose genetic origin can be traced to an individual or group Soon after our visit to him Grandpa decided that he would like to see where his only living descendants lived and what our home was like. Unseemly‒adj. inappropriate She checked her move to embrace Grandpa, and I remembered that such a display of affection is unseemly to the Sioux and would embarrass him.

11. Sheepishly‒ adv. meekly; with embarrassment Besides, he admitted sheepishly, he was lonesome after we left. Butte‒ n. an abruptly rising hill with sloping sides and a flat top He carefully prepared for his quest…and then he went alone to a high butte top to fast and pray.

12. Literary Elements
Characterization‒ The methods used by an author to create a character These include: physical appearance, personality, attitudes or values, and the character’s reputation or what others think of the character. Martin in our story is what we call our central or main character, the person whose emotions and point of view the author focuses in on. As we read, pay close attention to how his thoughts and reactions develop in relation to the plot. What message is Sneve trying to send us?

13. Point of View‒ The perspective from which a story is told (who is the narrator/ the person telling the story?)
First person: the person telling the story is a character in the story. He/she uses personal pronouns like “I” and “me” so that it feels like we are inside this particular character’s head.
Third Person: the narrator is not a character. The narrator talks about the main character using the pronouns, “he, she, his, and hers.”

14. Contrasts and Contradictions:
When a character says or does something different than:
What he/she has said or done in the past
What we expected from our own experience.
Another character/group of characters
You should stop and ask, “why is the character doing that?”