National Museum of the American Latino

Visitors in the gallery are confronted not just with the violence of colonization, but with the agency of Native and African resistance in the Caribbean, as well. Graphic design by Barbara Suhr for NMAI. Photo by Lawrence Waldron.

A Funeral for the Caribbean’s Native Extinction Hypothesis

Lawrence Waldron asserts that rumors of Taíno extinction are greatly exaggerated and definitely headed for an extinction of their own.

Comic book illustration from La Borinqueña #1,written and created by Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez. Illustration by Will Rosado and digital colors by Juan Fernández.© 2016 SomosArte, LLC.

We Are Still Here: The First Taíno Movement Exhibition

The exhibition “Taíno: Native Heritage and Identity in the Caribbean” complicates Caribbean heritage and captivates visitors by reassessing the past, present and future of Native peoples and their legacies in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and their U.S. diasporas. Taíno

1992 stamp commemorating the life and work of Bartolomé de las Casas, a Dominican friar who denounced Spanish abuses against the Caribbean's Native people. Though he regretted it later, he recommended increasing the number of enslaved Africans to lessen the burden on Native communities. Courtesy of the National Postal Museum. Estampilla de 1992 en conmemoración de la vida y trabajo de Bartolomé de las Casas, un fraile dominicano que denunció los abusos de los españoles contra los pueblos indígenas del Caribe. Aunque luego se arrepintió, recomenó aumentar el número de africanos esclavizados para mitigar la carga de las comunidades indígenas. Cortesía del Museo Nacional del Correo.

Rereading Bartolomé de las Casas

Lynne Guitar finds clues in the writings of Bartolomé de las Casas that suggests that the Taino survived beyond 1530.

Indigenous community leaders Panchito Ramírez and Reyna Ramírez share knowledge and craft for making cutaras (sandals) from royal palm leaves (jagua) and other fibers to José Barreiro. Los líderes comunitarios indígenas Panchito Ramírez y Reyna Ramírez le muestran a José Barreiro el proceso para hacer sandalias (cutaras) de la hoja de la palma real (jagua) y otras fibras.

Taíno: Valuing and Visibilizing Caribbean Indigeneity

José Barreiro is scholar emeritus on History and Culture, National Museum of the American Indian. He led the documentation of the oral histories and traditions of eastern Cuba´s Native communities and is the co-curator of the exhibition TAÍNO: Native Heritage and Identity in the Caribbean.

Unidentified Native child near Baracoa, Cuba, 1919. Detail of photo by Mark Raymond Harrington. NMAI N04470

Musing Relevance: A Taíno Exhibition Beyond Archaeology, Beyond Columbus

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