Christian Parrish Takes The Gun (Apsáalooke Nation), who performs as Supaman, has won a Nammy (Native American Music Award), an Aboriginal Peoples Music Choice Award, and the 2017 MTV Video Music Award for "Best Fight Against the System"—the last as part of the group of Native and non-Native musicians who recorded "Stand Up/Stand N Rock." What motivates him, however, isn't recognition but spirituality, Native culture and values, the people he meets on the road, and the chance to make a difference in the world.
In celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month, the museum talks with musician Delbert Anderson. The sources of Anderson's always-evolving art are eclectic, ranging from jazz standards and improvisation, to Navajo spinning songs and the traditional melodies his grandfather hums, the scenery of the Navajo Nation, and the historic experience of both Native and African American people. “Most of the time I explain the Delbert Anderson Trio’s music as traditional Native American jazz—fusing ancient Navajo cultural music with the hard swing and funk of the jazz masters,” Anderson says. “But I’d rather just call it music.”
Michael Smith (Fort Peck Sioux Tribe), the founder and director of the American Indian Film Institute and American Indian Film Festival, was an advocate for Native people and a leader in bringing their voices to mainstream media through film. His dedication to showcasing films by or about American Indians and First Nations people was tireless. He could be seen at conventions, film festivals, tribal communities—even at local diners—where he would chat with anyone about his loves: the American Indian Film Festival and his family.
Images of American Indians are embedded in Americans' everyday lives and have been since before the American Revolution. What other nation in the world is so fascinated by one segment of its society? And what can we learn about ourselves and our history by thinking about why? One of the curators of the "Americans," opening January 18 at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., gives a brief introduction to a few of the ideas behind the major new exhibition.
Award-winning singer Spencer Battiest (Seminole Tribe of Florida/Choctaw) is a third- or fourth-generation musician, but his cultural roots go even deeper. “I’ve always had close ties with my tribe since I was young,” Spencer explains. “As I push forward in my career and see how far I can go, I always carry my tribe with me.” Battiest’s reverence for his heritage is palpable in his work. His music videos have Native directors, actors, tech hands, and producers. “I love doing business with other Natives. That’s always been my thing.”
The Indian Removal Act, signed by Andrew Jackson in 1830, became for American Indians one of the most detrimental laws in U.S. history. Nation to Nation looks at Removal’s historic and legal repercussions for the tribes. The upcoming exhibition Americans, opening in the fall, will ask us to think about what we, as a nation, have chosen to know and not know about the Trail of Tears.
Indians are everywhere in American national and pop culture, and have been for centuries. Why is that? Americans, opening in the fall, explores Americans’ and American Indians’ entangled history, revealed by the events that have shaped our national consciousness and by the imagery of American Indians all around us in our everyday lives.
Autumn White Eyes (enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Nation, Turtle Mountain Anishinaabe, Northern Cheyenne, and Pawnee descent) talks about writing, revision, and the evolution of her work. She sees poetry and spoken word as forms of oral tradition and storytelling: "I was lucky to grow up with my great grandmothers," she says, "and I loved hearing them tell stories, which always sounded like poetry to me." Their stories are one source of her inspiration; others include the writing and performance styles of John Trudell, Mayda del Valle, Tanaya Winder, Supaman.
