Mexico

IV: HERE AND NOW

Part 3: Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples

Overview:
Human rights and the situations facing indigenous peoples are potentially difficult subjects for some students. The resources provided here can be used in whatever manner is appropriate for a given group of students.

Resources:
(Links will open in new windows.)

Teachers may direct students to the Student Resources Pages where they can follow relevant links without having access to lesson plans.

Human Rights:

Human Rights Watch monitors human rights around the world. Their Mexico and U.S. pages, among others, may be useful in researching these issues.

Amnesty International is another leading source of human rights information.

The U.S. State Department's human rights page provides relevant links, including a link to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

The Web site of the PBS documentary Conquistadors is an "educational resource for middle and high school classrooms to learn about the Spanish Conquistadors in the New World—and the legacy of their contact with Native Americans. There are extensive lesson plans for teachers and in-depth online content for students available in both English and Spanish." The site also has a number of pages about the history and culture of the Aztecs in Mexico.

Conquistadors Teaching Guide. The "Human and Environmental Issues" section includes "Indigenous People in the Modern World: Students debate the pros and cons of allowing indigenous people to practice their cultural traditions in the modern world." The "Human Rights and the Exploration of North America" section has a lesson on The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in which "students create captions and visuals explaining the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and decide whether they support it or not."

The World Policy Institute's Project for Global Democracy and Human Rights

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, part of the Organization of American States, presents the detailed Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Mexico (1998).

Derechos Human Rights

Indigenous Peoples:

The Smithsonian's National Museum of the Native American describes its mission as "Helping to foster, protect, and promote understanding of Native American cultures by collaborating with indigenous peoples across the Western Hemisphere."

The Huichol of Mexico: Their Culture, Symbolism and Art

The Maya Civilization--Then and Now provides history, cities and civilization. In English & Español.

The South and Meso American Indian Rights Center (SAIIC) exists to ensure that the struggles of Latin America's Indigenous peoples for self- determination and respect are heard in the US and internationally, and to support Indigenous peoples' organizing."

LA GUIA, Internet Resources for Latin America, has links to sources for current events and news, Latin American web directories, news sources, organizations, and more.

The Americas Program of the Interhemispheric Resource Center. This site provides coverage of border issues, a directory of organizations focused on immigration, and other border issues. The site also provides access to the monthly Borderlines, which provides news on issues in the US-Mexico border region. Numerous links are relevant to indigenous peoples.

The Center for World Indigenous Studies

Cultural Survival, an organization dedicated to education about indigenous peoples, has good background info.

Crayola's Web site has many lesson plans about Mexico and Mexican culture.

For lessons and information about the Aztecs, visit ICTeachers History Lessons
and scroll down to the Ancient Civilizations section.

ICTeachers Aztec Lesson Plan [PDF] is a series of lesson plans dealing with Aztec history. It refers to a specific textbook, but might be useful for the terminology and strategies it provides.

ICTeachers Aztec Symbols Lesson Plan [PDF] is a lesson in counting using Aztec symbols.