DAWNLAND is an astounding film that illuminates complex concepts around truth-telling, Indigenous child removal, and cultural genocide in the United States. The film and accompanying teachers’ guide are essential teaching and learning resources for social studies education. FIRST LIGHT, DAWNLAND, and DEAR GEORGINA are three of the most impactful films teachers can use to engage their students in critical learning about U.S. history, the contemporary impacts of settler colonialism, and Indigenous resistance and resilience.
–Sarah B. Shear, Assistant Professor of Social Studies and Multicultural Education at the University of Washington-Bothell and a member of the Turtle Island Social Studies Collective.
Introducing the DAWNLAND Trilogy of documentary films and companion learning guides as coursework goes virtual in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For most of us, this is an unprecedented time when what we most need is to think clearly, be with loved ones, and keep our hearts open as we find new ways to connect as we are being asked to separate. Upstander Project offers FIRST LIGHT, DAWNLAND, and DEAR GEORGINA as ways to explore and encourage social and emotional connection even in this time of essential physical distancing. All films are available to stream with 1-year, 3-year, and life of file options. The learning guides are free.
FIRST LIGHT
For centuries, the United States government has taken Native American children away from their tribes. FIRST LIGHT documents these practices from the 1800s to today and tells the story of an unprecedented experiment in truth-telling and healing for Wabanaki people and child welfare workers in Maine. FIRST LIGHT is the first film in the Trilogy and can stand alone or be paired with DAWNLAND. Zinn Education Project awarded both films the recognition of “Films with a Conscience”
Broadcast on Independent Lens (PBS) in November 2018, DAWNLAND takes viewers inside the first government-sanctioned Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in the United States. The film follows the TRC to contemporary Wabanaki communities in Maine to witness intimate, sacred moments of truth-telling and healing. With exclusive access to this groundbreaking process and never-before-seen footage, the film reveals the untold narrative of contemporary Indigenous child removal in the United States.
Documenting a hidden chapter in U.S. history and current affairs, DAWNLAND was awarded a national Emmy® for Outstanding Research in 2019 and made the American Library Association’s list of 2020 Notable Videos for Adults.
The standards-aligned 12-lesson DAWNLAND teacher’s guide has been downloaded more than 3,000 times.
At age two, Georgina Sappier-Richardson was removed from her home and Passamaquoddy community in downeast Maine by child protection services. She would never see her parents again. DEAR GEORGINA follows this Passamaquoddy elder from Motahkomikuk as she tries to better understand herself and her cultural heritage. Now a grandmother, Georgina attempts to re-integrate herself into the community she barely knew. DEAR GEORGINA is a follow-up to DAWNLAND.
The DAWNLAND Trilogy of films is being used by hundreds of schools for Diversity Week, Genocide Awareness Month (April) Indigenous Peoples’ Day (October) and Native American Heritage Month (November) programming.
Relevant Subject Areas: Anthropology, Child Welfare, Diversity & Inclusion, Genocide Studies, Human Rights, Intercultural Communications, Law & Mediation, Native/Indigenous/First Nations Studies, Peace & Conflict Studies, Psychology, Social Work, Sociology, Transitional and Restorative Justice, U.S. History, Women’s Studies.
Streaming rights (and institutionally-licensed DVDs) for DAWNLAND & DEAR GEORGINA are now available here. For a 15% discount through June 30th, use code JUN20DAWN at checkout.
Purchase an 86-minute or 54-minute DAWNLAND life of file stream and get the second version at 66% off.
DAWNLAND is a film that everyone should see. Removal of Native children isn’t just something that happened far away and long ago, but to Wabanaki communities in Maine in the late 20th century. Watch and be outraged, heartbroken, and hopeful as the Wabanaki labor to protect and heal their most precious and vulnerable members, and some of their non-Native neighbors struggle with the challenge of moving from the role of occupiers to neighbors.”
–J. Cedric Woods, Ph.D. (Lumbee) Director of the Institute for New England Native Studies at University of Massachusetts-Boston
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