The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What has been the purpose of Indigenous reservations in the United States? What is their history, and where and how do they exist now?

Teaching Suggestion: It may be helpful to define the terms “reservation” and “sovereignty.” Consider engaging students in an initial brainstorm of the above questions to gauge students’ existing knowledge. After they spend time with the resources, it may be helpful to encourage them to notice trends and patterns: What happened to reservation borders over time? What do students notice about the locations and sizes of current reservation land? Consider pointing students to the Spokane Reservation (and Eastern Washington, generally) to orient themselves to the setting of Alexie’s book.

• “The Library of Congress: Reservation Maps” - This page from the LOC contains several maps that span various years (from the mid-1800s to the 1930s) and show various reservation borders and how they have changed over the years.
• “The Bureau of Indian Affairs: Land Areas of Federally Recognized Tribes” - This map from the BIA shows the current locations and borders of federally recognized tribes and sovereign nations.