"Winyan Wánakikśin" (Women Defenders of Others), a buffalo horn belt created by Lakota artists Kevin and Valerie Pourier, honors the strength and perseverance of women activists. Inspired by the Native women who took part in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, the art work represents an important event in Native American, American, and environmental history, and speaks across artistic, cultural, and national boundaries.
The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts has unanimously accepted the most recent phase of design work for the National Native American Veterans Memorial. The commission praised the concept as “beautiful in its physical design and symbolism,” singling out the memorial’s layered meanings and the contemplative character of its setting within the museum's native landscape.
Negotiated in 1835 by a small group of Cherokee citizens without legal standing, challenged by the majority of the Cherokee nation and their elected government, the Treaty of New Echota was used by the United States to justify the removal of the Cherokee people along the Trail of Tears. Representatives of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes came together to see the treaty go on exhibit on the National Mall.
According to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Native American women are ten times more likely to be murdered and four times more likely to be sexually assaulted than the national average. Yet the issue has received little attention outside Indian Country. Artist Jaime Black (Métis) calls attention to the crisis through her installation "The REDress Project," on view in Washington throughout March. On March 21, she and other speakers will discuss ending violence against Native women at a symposium at the National Museum of the American Indian.
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Forty years ago, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act finally finally extended that right to the country's Native citizens. Here Native Americans who observe traditional ways talk about religious freedom.
Col. Wayne Don, a citizen of the Cupig and Yupik tribes, talks about his service in the Regular Army and the Alaska Army National Guard. Col. Don, who has been deployed to Bosnia, Afghanistan, and other overseas posts, is a member of the Advisory Committee helping to build the National Native American Veterans Memorial on the grounds of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
S. Joe Crittenden, deputy principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, talks briefly about his service in the U.S. Navy in the mid-1960s and what it has meant to his life. Five years ago, Deputy Chief Crittenden testified in support of the Act of Congress creating the National Native American Veterans Memorial. Now he is a member of the advisory committee seeing the memorial through to its dedication in 2020.
On October 26, delegations from the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Yankton Sioux Tribe, and Northern Arapaho Tribe traveled to Washington, D.C., to see the Treaty of Fort Laramie installed at the National Museum of the American Indian. Signed in 1868, the treaty was broken less than ten years later when the United States seized the sacred Black Hills. In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that the United States had acted in bad faith, but the issue remains unresolved.
The Treaty with the Delaware Nation, signed at Fort Pitt in September 1778, represents a time when the newly independent United States needed American Indian allies to drive British troops from forts and outposts west of the Appalachian Mountains. Despite the treaty's provisions, however, conflict continued in the Ohio Territory, leading the Delaware people to look for safer lands farther north and west. This month, delegations from the Delaware Nation at Moraviantown, in southern Ontario; the Delaware Tribe of Indians, in northeastern, Oklahoma; and the Delaware Nation, in central Oklahoma, came to the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., to see the Treaty of Fort Pitt placed on exhibit and to honor their forebears, who made their marks to secure the future of their people.
Daniel Kahikina Akaka, who died today at the age of 93, was the first Native Hawaiian to serve in the U.S. Senate. In 2013, shortly after he retired, he spoke with the museum about his determination to protect the languages, cultures, and traditions of the world's Indigenous peoples; support for Hawaiian self-determination; and hopes for Native Hawaiian young people. We're republishing Sen. Akaka's interview tonight in remembrance of his life of service.
In 1847, only 14 years after their long, sad march along the Trail of Tears ended, Choctaw people in Oklahoma learned of the Irish famine. With great empathy, Choctaw individuals made donations totaling $170, the equivalent of several thousand dollars today, for the relief of the Irish poor. Here Judy Allen, historic projects office of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, describes “an act that shaped tribal culture" and the lasting friendship it created between the two nations.
A new multimedia presentation surrounding the monumental sculpture "Allies in War, Partners in Peace" at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington details the Oneida Nation's aid and support to the American Revolution. “This enhanced interpretation provides an immersive experience for visitors to understand the country's rich history, so that there is a deeper understanding of the nuance, texture and depth of that history,” says Oneida Nation representative Ray Halbritter. “This exhibit commemorates the friendship that was forged between the Oneida Nation and the United States during the Revolutionary War, as well as the incredible sacrifices made by our ancestors during the founding of our country.”
Teachers often struggle, through no fault of their own, to locate culturally appropriate and historically accurate teaching materials about American Indians. Many textbooks, popular media, and prepackaged curricula relegate American Indians to the distant past and fail to illustrate the dynamic and diverse cultures of Native America. The National Museum of the American Indian—through the national education initiative Native Knowledge 360°, Teacher-in-Residence (TIR) Program, and outreach to educators—wants to change all that.
Written on paper from an army ledger book, the Navajo Nation Treaty reunited the Navajo with a portion of the land taken from them by the U.S. government. Between 1863 to 1866, in an event that became known as the Long Walk, the United States forced more than 10,000 Navajo from their homelands to a resettlement camp at Bosque Redondo, 300 miles to the east. But the Navajo made an eloquent case to return home and in 1868 negotiated a treaty that reversed their removal. The original treaty is on view at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., through early May.
The competition to design the National Native American Veterans Memorial received more than 120 submissions, from artists across the world. Five concepts were unanimously chosen as finalists by a jury of Native and non-Native artists, designers, and scholars. Today, the designers shared their concept drawings for the memorial and the ideas and experiences that shaped them.
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.
Captain Jefferson Keel (U.S. Army retired), Lieutenant Governor of the Chickasaw Nation and co-chairman of the National Native American Veterans Memorial Advisory Committee, talks about his experiences in the U.S. military. The design competition for the memorial begins November 11, 2017. Entries will be accepted through January 9, 2018. Information about the competition is available at https://nmai.us.fluidreview.com/.
Specialist Allen Kale‘iolani Hoe (U.S. Army retired), a member of the National Native American Veterans Memorial Advisory Committee, talks about his experiences as a Native Hawaiian in the U.S. military and his belief in the importance of national service. The design competition for the memorial begins November 11, 2017. Entries will be accepted through January 9, 2018.
The Thanksgiving story deeply rooted in America’s school curriculum frames the Pilgrims as the main characters and reduces the Wampanoag Indians to supporting roles. It also erases a monumentally sad history. The true history of Thanksgiving begins with the Indians.
Master Sergeant and Lipan Apache War Chief Chuck Boers (U.S. Army retired), a member of the National Native American Veterans Memorial Advisory Committee, talks about his experiences as a Native American in the U.S. military and the traditions that inspired his service. The design competition for the memorial begins November 11, 2017. Entries will be accepted through January 9, 2018. All information about the competition is available at https://nmai.si.edu/nnavm/memorial/.
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![Kevin Gover, director of the National Museum of the American Indian, and Ray Halbritter, Oneida Indian Nation representative and CEO of Oneida Indian Nation Enterprises, at the dedication of the new interpretive sound, light, and imagery around the sculpture “Allies in War, Partners in Peace.” (Katherine Fogden [Mohawk], National Museum of the American Indian)](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/VuwWkyQ85kJC4DTPgkNjuFjM3VI=/150x150/filters:focal(711x336:712x337)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/blogging/featured/Oneida_dedication_2018-03-15_1500w.png)
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