The beaded bandolier bag is a distinctive form created by American Indians in the Great Lakes and Plains regions beginning in the mid-19th century. These large, vividly colored and intricately beaded bags were a central element of men’s formal dress for dances and ceremonies.

I have used the Keeper of the Culture Project as a final assessment in Native American Literature. Students have the opportunity to follow up on a major theme in Mary Crow Dog's autobiography Lakota Woman: the importance of Native people embracing their identities and preserving traditions and culture. Students will interview and write about a person who is keeping the culture alive in some way and may invite the person to come in and speak or record an interview with that person.