Director John Ford Cheyenne released Autumn in 1964.

John Ford started his movie-making career at a time when the industry was in its infancy. The first film he directed was a silent Western film in 1917. He directed a large number of such films in a short time before moving on to more major projects, such as his screen adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic The Grapes of Wrath. Throughout the 1940s, Ford continued to direct Westerns, and he garnered both success and critical acclaim from his peers. His Westerns, which starred such major actors as John Wayne, and which featured the beautiful and unique landscapes of the American Southwest, continued for some time to follow the standard formula for such films, one in which the good guys always won and the moral themes were always unambiguous. As his career progressed, and to some degree as a consequence of his observation of the events of World War II, Ford’s style began to change. His themes became darker, with a far less clear-cut set of moral certitudes. Ford began to explore themes of racism, civil rights and the sometimes futile nature of violence. In 1964, Ford directed Cheyenne Autumn—a Western, but one completely different from his earlier Westerns. The film portrayed the Cheyenne Indians as the heroes of the film, and it offered a powerful criticism of the U.S. government’s treatment of them. In many ways, Ford appeared to be trying to make amends for some of the themes in his earlier Westerns, in which he cast Native Americans as stereotypical villains. Ford’s career as a director definitely showed the changes that occur in the work of many artists as their careers progress.

ReadWriteThink
Weaving the Threads: Integrating Poetry Annotation and Web Technology (6–8) engages students in meaningful research using poetry as a focal point. Students identify words and phrases in a poem by a Native American and, in the process, learn about Native American culture and history. Students create a Web site using the poem as a "launching" space that takes readers into various explanations of words and phrases.

In You Know the Movie Is Coming—Now What? (6–8), students take on the role of the director of a movie. After exploring cinematic terms, students read a literary work with a director's eyes, considering such issues as which scenes require a close-up of the main character and when the camera should zoom out to show the entire set. While reading the text, students record their scenes on a bookmark.

In the latter portion of Ford’s career, he endeavored to avoid the simpler, stereotypical portrayals common in his earlier works. In Promoting Diversity in the Classroom and School Library through Social Action (6–8), students explore stereotypes in children's picture books, such as Disney's Princess Collection. Students then compare these stereotyped representations to more diverse portrayals in matching texts, such as "The Paper Bag Princess" or "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters." Finally, students use their findings to promote diversity by creating paired books or text sets that match stereotypical portrayals with balanced and diverse texts.

In Native Americans Today (3–5), teachers use children's nonfiction books and the Internet to help their students develop accurate, substantive information about Native American people in the present day. These resources introduce students to Native children and their families, thereby countering stereotypes and the idea that Native people no longer exist.

EDSITEment
The Monroe Doctrine played an important role in the early development and settlement of the American West. In The Monroe Doctrine: U.S. Foreign Affairs (circa 1782–1823) and James Monroe (9–12), students learn about President Monroe, the development of the doctrine, its ramifications in U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy and more.

Science NetLinks
Students confront age-related stereotypes and explore how stereotyping impacts their lives in Understanding Stereotypes (6–8). Students then discuss how they can make changes to reduce overgeneralizations, unfair assumptions and uncritical judgments about groups.