Smithsonian Voices

From the Smithsonian Museums

On Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2020, the museum brings young Native activists together online to discuss the tension between history and memory, and how both are reflected in the current racial and social landscape. Hip-hop artist Frank Waln contributes a musical performance. From left to right: Musician Frank Waln; panelists Brook Thompson, Dylan Baca, Lina Krueck, Julian Brave NoiseCat, Michaela Pavlat, and Alberto Correa III. (Photos courtesy of the participants)

Five Ideas for Celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2020

An Indigenous couple marries on the beach at Assateague Island National Seashore and Assateague State Park. Many of the United States' National Parks are places of historical, cultural, and sacred meaning for Native communities. (Photo used with the permission of Desirée Shelley Flores)

How Native Americans Bring Depth of Understanding to the Nation’s National Parks

Dressed in ceremonial regalia, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Northern Cheyenne), a veteran of the Korean War, stands with World War II veteran Senator Daniel K. Inouye and Native American veterans of the Vietnam War during the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall. September 21, 2004, Washington, D.C. (Mario Tama/ AFP for the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian)

A Native American Remembrance on Korean Armistice Day

People protest against the name of the Washington, D.C., NFL team before a game between Washington and the Minnesota Vikings. Minneapolis, November 2, 2014. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Ending the Use of Racist Mascots and Images

Cegape or Strike the Kettle (Lakota, ca. 1841–?). Untitled painting, collected in 1893. North or South Dakota. 20/5176. Most large paintings of this kind focus on a single event, often a battle. This painting, made by a follower of Sitting Bull, shows warriors—figures on horseback carrying lances and shields—within the Lakota way of life. (National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian)

144 Years after the Battle of Little Bighorn, Lakota Values Endure

Adrian Stevens (Ute/Shoshone–Bannock/San Carlos Apache) and Sean Snyder (Dine/Ute), a couple who regularly participate in powwows. (Courtesy of Adrian Stevens, used with permission)

Pride Month 2020: Perspectives on LGBTQ Native Americans in Traditional Culture

Gabrielle Lee (Kanaka Maoli), the first Native Hawaiian cultural interpreter on the staff of the National Museum of the American Indian, in a small section of the New York Botanical Garden that features plants native to Hawai‘i. (Courtesy of Gabbi Lee)

Aloha Opens the Door to Learning

Patricia Stone (Akimel O'otham) and Leonard Stone (Akimel O'otham) with their new baby, 1965. Gila River Indian Community, Arizona. (Helge Teiwes Collection, NMAI.AC.070)

How Do American Indians Celebrate Mother's Day?

Chief Warrant Office Two Misty Dawn Lakota (Oglala Lakota) takes part in the White House Conference on Supporting Contemporary Native American Veterans. Washington, D.C., November 19, 2019. (White House photo by Andrea Hanks)

"I Chose to Serve Because of My Mother. I Wanted to Make Her Proud."—Chief Warrant Officer Two Misty Dawn Lakota

From a Dance Performance on the Residential School Experience to a Symposium Celebrating Native Women's Art, Women’s History Month Matters at the National Museum of the American Indian

Coiled basket jar, ca. 1900, made by Mary Burkhead (Western Mono). Madera County, California. 16/5503. Through archival research, the museum now knows that a Western Mono woman named Mary Burkhead made this coiled basketry jar, information not listed on the catalog card. The research is part of a multiyear, multi-institutional project to recover information that was separated from, or perhaps never a part of, the museum's catalog records. (National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian. Note: Objects and catalog cards in these photo composites are not to scale.)

Spotlight on Collections: Expanding Both What We Know and What's Available Online

Alaska Magazine calls the Inuit drum-dance group Pamyua

From new music and dance fusions to traditional festivals, the museum's Native American Heritage Month is something special

Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee) at the opening of the exhibition

Fulfilling Her Promise: Museums Honor Native Rights Advocate Suzan Harjo

Niuam (Comanche) peyote fan, ca. 1890. Oklahoma. 22/9197 (Ernest Amoroso, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian)

Native Perspectives on the 40th Anniversary of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act

Haudenosaunee bear effigy pipe, 17th c. Cayuga Lake, New York. 22/3765 (Ernest Amoroso, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian)

"Words Spoken Before All Others," the Ohenten Kariwatekwen or Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address

Designer, artist, activist, and organizer Jordan Cocker. (Tekpatl Kuauhtzin)

"To Indigenize the Western World"—Artist and Organizer Jordan Cocker

Manitok Thompson, Veronica Connelly, Rosie Kowna Oolooyuk, and Bernadette Dean at the National Museum of the American Indian's Cultural Resources Center. The four women—skilled caribou and sealskin clothing makers, and fluent Inuktitut-speakers and knowledge keepers—traveled to Washington from Nunavut as guests of the Embassy of Canada to attend the opening of the embassy's exhibition

Inuit Women's Survival Skills, Which Kept Arctic Explorers Alive, Help Heal Residential School Survivors

Lyricist, musician, and dancer Christian Parrish Takes The Gun, aka Supaman. (Matika WIlbur)

"To Reach More, Serve More, Inspire More, and Just Live More"—Hip Hop Artist Supaman

The Honorable Senator Daniel Kahikina Akaka speaking during the lei-draping ceremony to commemorate King Kamehameha Day. June 7, 2009, the U.S. Capitol Visitors’ Center Emancipation Hall, Washington, D.C. (Courtesy of the U.S. Senate)

"The Spirit of Aloha Means Nothing Unless We Share It"—Senator Daniel Akaka (1924–2018)

The Winter Solstice Begins a Season of Storytelling and Ceremony

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