On National Park Service Founders Day, the museum looks at the changing relationship between Native Americans and the National Park Service through the eyes of three Native rangers and interpreters: “I think Native interpreters steeped in their own tribal cultures are inclined to go the extra mile to educate the public about other vantage points of an historical event or issue,” writes Roger Amerman (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma). “I worked extremely hard to tell a complicated story. Even when I was off the clock, I was still thinking of how to add to the story of my park.”
As families across the United States begin the new school year amid the coronavirus pandemic, Native people face steeper obstacles than many other Americans. The eight U.S. counties with the largest Native populations have nearly double the national average of confirmed cases of Covid-19, and Native Americans have the highest hospitalization rate of any ethnic group in the country. Many Native families live in multigenerational households or in isolated areas with limited access to public services or the Internet. Many students attend Bureau of Indian Affairs schools administered by the federal government. With all this in mind, the museum asked Native students, teachers, parents, and school administrators across Indian Country to share their concerns about returning to school right now.
On National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day, Kiowa tribal member Dennis Zotigh pays respect to the veterans who served during the Korean conflict, and especially to the three Kiowa soldiers who gave their lives there. Dennis, whose uncle served in Korea, also shares memories of performing with a Kiowa cultural group in Seoul nearly 20 years ago and his impressions from that trip.
As the country debates racist symbolism in monuments, sports, and commercial brands—and the Washington NFL franchise considers dropping the racial slur from its name—the director and board chair of the National Museum of the American Indian take the stand that the appropriation of Native language and imagery never serves to honor Indigenous people, histories, and cultures. On the contrary, it perpetuates racism and legitimizes racist acts.
“From where we stand now,” this short essay on the Declaration of Independence notes, “after 244 years, the standard of equality, human rights, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness . . . is still an ambition rather than a reality. Nothing about it is guaranteed, despite the public and private struggles that have continued for centuries.” The Declaration’s purpose was a call for radical change. “That call for change was relevant in 1776 and it is no less relevant now as we continue to strive against long-lived preconceptions, prejudices, disparities, and innumerable forms of discrimination and social injustice.”
How do Native Americans observe the Fourth of July? This year, many people’s plans reflect their concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. But the answer has always been as complicated as America’s history
On June 25 and 26, 1876, warriors of the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho nations defeated Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn. Americans have always remembered the battle. What we often forget are the difficult decisions tribal leaders made afterward to ensure the safety of their people. The values that guided them then—generosity, perseverance, bravery, and wisdom—continue to serve the Lakota people today.
For Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Pride Month, Dennis Zotigh, a cultural specialist at the National Museum of the American Indian, invited Native friends to tell us how their traditional culture saw its LGBTQ members. A Chiricahua Apache friend replied, “Now, Dennis, this is a human question, not [just] Native.” We agree. But we also appreciate hearing what Native Americans have learned, reconstructed, or been unable to reconstruct about this part of our shared history and experience.
The exact date of Jim Thorpe's birth is unknown, but it is generally believed that the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States—regarded by many as one of the greatest athletes of all time—was born on May 22, 1887, or May 28, 1888. In honor of his birth, the Smithsonian Transcription Center has added eight significant projects from the Grace Thorpe collection in the museum's archives, including Grace’s “Memories of Dad” and her answer to the frequently asked question “How does it feel to be Jim Thorpe’s daughter?” Read more about Grace Thorpe’s life, then consider becoming a Smithsonian digital volunteer and contributing to the Transcription’s Center’s work.
The call to serve in the U.S. armed forces has resonated for Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian men and women from the country's founding to the present day. Veterans are honored at Native gatherings of all kinds, where they are often asked to perform flag-raisings, blessings, and traditional acknowledgements. In powwows, veterans lead the grand entry carrying eagle staffs and national, state, tribal, and military flags, important reminders that the roots of the modern powwow lie in warrior societies. Here, Native friends share the meaning of Memorial Day for their families.
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