Celebrate Native American Heritage

In this episode of the History Explorer Podcast, Sarah Coffee talks with curator Rayna Green about what we can learn from seemingly simple line drawings about the lives and memories of Plains Indians who lived over 130 years ago.

John MacDonald, former coordinator of the Igloolik Research Centre, discusses what he has learned from elders about the traditional star knowledge of the Inuit of Igloolik Island, in the arctic north of Hudson Bay. This presentation is part of the symposium, “Stellas Connections: Explorations in Cultural Astronomy.”

Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox, 1888–1953) has been called the greatest all-around athlete of his age and probably any other. An Olympic gold medalist in track and field, he also excelled in football, baseball, basketball, and lacrosse. Thorpe biographer Robert W. Wheeler shares stories about the athlete from some of the many people he interviewed. Rare photographs and voice recordings of Jim Thorpe, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jack Dempsey, Burt Lancaster, and others add drama to the presentation. The controversy surrounding Thorpe's Olympic medals is explored, as Dr. Florence Ridlon describes the quest—in which she played a key role—to have the athlete's Olympic gold medals and records restored. Rob Wheeler, creator of www.jimthorperestinpeace.com, tells the story of why Jim Thorpe is buried in a small town in Pennsylvania that is named after him and discusses the movement to return Thorpe's remains to be buried on Sac and Fox Nation land in Oklahoma.

David Hurst Thomas, a curator at the American Musem of Natural History in New York, discusses his experience as a non-Native and an anthropologist invited to be a founding trustee of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. His talk was part of a symposium examining the development of ethnic or culturally specific museums.

The Thanksgiving holiday takes on a different meaning for contemporary Native Americans. Dennis W. Zotigh (Kiowa/San Juan Pueblo/Santee Dakota) gives personal perspective on the holiday.

Tsimshian carver David Boxley created a totem pole for the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. Boxley, who grew up in Metlakatla, Alaska, and his son finished the work in the museum's Potomac atrium, where the Tsimshian dance group Git–Hoan (People of the Salmon) celebrated the unveiling. “There’s few of us,” Boxley said of the Tsimshian. “But we're alive and well. We wanted to let people know we’re alive and well.” The totem features a chief holding salmon, a group of villagers, and an eagle—the symbol of Boxley’s clan.

Since the first court decision to articulate Native American law back in 1823, our nation's courts have repeatedly invoked historical “facts” as a basis for fashioning judicial doctrines that have been prejudicial and harmful to Native Americans. This important symposium will reveal that many of our modern Native law doctrines are based in fiction, not fact. Join us as we explore the historical foundations of key court decisions impacting Native Americans. In Part 2 of the symposium, Walter Echo-Hawk (Pawnee) presents “Legal Fiction in Federal Indian Law” and Mary Kathryn Nagle (Cherokee) speaks on “Standing Bear v. Crook: The Brown v. Board of Education of American Indian Law.” A Q&A session with all presenters of the symposium follows.

We Were Always Here, a contemporary art installation carved by artist Rick Bartow (Wiyot), stands at the northwest corner of the National Museum of the American Indian site. Commissioned by the museum in 2011 to honor its eighth anniversary, the work was crafted primarily from a single old-growth western red cedar tree.

Native American artist and musician Greg Analla (Isleta and Laguna Pueblo) gives a workshop for families on making rattles with traditional Pueblo. His presentation includes personal knowledge and family stories on Pueblo communities, language, history, and music. A talented musician, Gregg also performs several traditional Pueblo songs during the workshop, which concludes with the participants joining in with their rattles in a Pueblo rain song.

Douglas Herman, senior geographer at the National Museum of the American Indian, introduces “Stellar Connections: Explorations in Cultural Astronomy,” a symposium on ethno- or archaeoastronomy. In this first segment, Gary Urton, Dumbarton Oaks Professor of Pre-Columbian Studies at Harvard University, presents a richly detailed talk on the cosmologies of three South American cultural traditions: the Desana and Barasana of Colombia; the Quechua/Inka of the Andes, and Bororo of the Amazon Basin.

Since Johnson v. M’Intosh in1823, U.S. courts have invoked historical “facts” as a basis for judicial doctrines prejudicial and harmful to Native Americans. This important symposium shows how many of our modern Native law doctrines are based in fiction. In Part 1 of the symposium, Kevin Gover, director of the National Museum of the American Indian, introduces the program; Stuart Banner speaks on “Sympathetic History, Harsh Law: The Paradox of Land Claims”; and Lindsey Robertson speaks on “Johnson v. M’Intosh: The Judicial Conquest of North America.”

Michael Wassegijig Price, Anishinaabe, is academic dean of White Earth Tribal and Community College, located on the White Earth Reservation in northwest Minnesota. Dr. Price presents several interesting stories about Anishinaabe mythologies, spiritual teachings, oral tradition, and lifeways and how they are related to several Anishinaabe star knowledge and rock art in the Great Lakes region. This presentation is part of the symposium, “Stellar Connections: Explorations in Cultural Astronomy.”