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.
The first Native Hawaiian cultural interpreter on the staff of the National Museum of the American Indian explores the importance of aloha in the Hawaiian worldview. “More than a greeting or salutation, aloha is like a feeling that encompasses many other feelings,” Gabrielle Lee writes, a set of values that “work together to build a profound sense of love and respect for others.” In the spirit of aloha, she sees museums as places to learn together. Celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month by exploring the Smithsonian’s collections of art and objects from Hawai‘i and the Pacific: https://www.si.edu/spotlight/asian-american
In the early 20th century, Native people responded to the proclamation of Mother’s Day with powwows, ceremonies, rodeos, feasts, and songs that honor Native mothers. How do American Indians celebrate today? Recognizing that family traditions for many of us will be different this year, Native friends from across the United States and Canada share their thoughts on Mother’s Day.
Ian Kuali’i (Native Hawaiian and Mescalero Apache) is known both for his cut-paper art and for his background in hip hop and graffiti. In this profile, the museum’s Justin Mugits talks to Ian about the creative influences in his life and finding his space in urban contemporary and Indigenous art.
The collections of the National Museum of the American Indian include thousands of objects and images acquired during expeditions conducted or sponsored by our predecessor institution, the Museum of the American Indian–Heye Foundation. While some expeditions are well documented in collectors’ field notes and early publications, much of the information about specific objects or the individuals associated with them was never recorded on the museum’s catalog cards. A long-term, multi-institutional project to reconstruct objects’ acquisitions histories is reuniting this information with the collections. Here are a few things we’ve learned so far.
Misty Dawn Lakota (Oglala Lakota) has been a member of the National Guard and a special agent with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Justice Services. She currently serves as a Chief Warrant Officer Two in the U.S. Army Reserves, awaiting deployment to Afghanistan, and a supervisory special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement. As the museum looks ahead to the dedication of the National Native American Veterans Memorial, Chief Lakota talks to us about the women in her family who have inspired her and the people for whom she serves.
Since the turn of the 20th century, Native American photographers have taken the representation of their people into their own hands. In “Developing Stories: Native Photographers in the Field,” Russel Albert Daniels and Tailyr Irvine present original images that illustrate issues important to Native Americans today. Daniels (of Diné and Ho-Chunk descent) looks at the Genízaro people of Abiquiú, New Mexico. The Genízaro embrace the painful history of their ancestors and their perseverance in creating an enduring community. Irvine (Salish and Kootenai) visits the Flathead Reservation and nearby Missoula, Montana. She shows how blood quantum requirements for tribal enrollment complicate young people’s most personal decisions. Created in collaboration with the museum originally for exhibition in New York and Washington, as well as online, “Developing Stories” opens on the museum’s website with Daniels’ piece, to be followed this summer by Irvine’s essay.
Most of the Native American art we see in museums, in the United States and around the world, was created by women. In many traditional tribal governments, women formed the upper council, responsible for decisions of war and peace, and women have been elected to the highest offices in 20th-century Native nations throughout the United States. In short, Women’s History Month is important to our museum. Here are highlights of programs on the calendar in Washington, D.C., and New York City throughout March 2020.
For the close of African American History Month, and looking ahead to Smithsonian magazine's Museum Day April 4, we talk with Maria Marable-Bunch about her formal and informal education and her career in museums. A widely respected educator—recipient of the Alliance of American Museums’ Award for Excellence in Practice—and an accomplished artist, Maria, as she prefers to be called, is one of three associate directors of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.
Each year following the State of the Union Address, the president of the National Congress of the American Indians delivers the State of the Indian Nations. Presented in 2020 by Fawn Sharp, the State of the Indian Nations shares Native American nations' assessment of their relationship with the United States and their view going forward. Representative Deb Haaland gave this year's response. Together the two speeches are intended to ensure direct engagement between the U.S. Congress and Native American nations.
The National Museum of the American Indian has taken a major step toward making our collections more widely available: We have posted all of the museum’s ethnographic and contemporary art collections to the Smithsonian’s collections search center, more than tripling the number of our object records online. Equally important, a long-term, multi-institutional project to reconstruct objects' acquisitions history is adding significantly to what we know about the collections, the history of the museum, and collecting practices over time.
How do Native Americans make peace with a national holiday that romanticizes the 1621 encounter between their ancestors and English settlers, and erases the deadly conflicts that followed?
Everything people need to know to join the National Museum of the American Indian in celebrating the diversity and contributions of Native Americans and Alaska Natives during Native American Heritage Month this November. For friends unable to visit Washington, D.C., or New York, the museum is webcasting many of these public programs live, then archiving them online.
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