Native museum opening in D.C.
MISSOULA, Mont. - Eva Cobell is ready for a big celebration.
She's sewn her satin gold shirt, with neat lines of blue and purple ribbon. And a fellow citizen of the Blackfeet Nation stitched some turquoise-beaded moccasins to match. It's just a matter of working on hair and nails in preparation for the grand opening of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.
"This is going to be a special time for me," said Cobell, office manager for an economic development company in Browning, Mont. Like other indigenous people traveling to Washington, D.C., she expects they will make a world statement: "Here we are, in all our glory."
On Sunday, a Cherokee reverend will deliver the museum's opening sermon at the Washington National Cathedral. The next seven days will be filled by dozens of private receptions, a gala dinner, a research study center open house, social dances, a first-time public tour of the museum, a musical venue staged by 300 indigenous performers and a powwow.
The events are expected to attract hundreds of thousands of people.
Some 20,000 people - many who will be dressed in Native regalia - have registered to walk east Tuesday from the National Mall to the steps of the U.S. Capitol. The morning procession is scheduled prior to the museum's noon grand opening ceremony.
Since Congress passed legislation to build the museum in 1989, the building and its research center have become the new home for 800,000 objects. The museum pays tribute to 10,000 years of history for more than 1,000 indigenous cultures in the Western hemisphere. And it's causing much excitement.
"I've been around Indian Country a lot over the summer, and I haven't run into a single person who didn't know about this or who wasn't coming to this," said museum director Richard West.
Although thousands have registered for the procession alone, he expects others to simply show up. "We Indians aren't big on registering. We just like to arrive," he said, punctuating the words with laughter. "And that's OK."
The grand opening festivities are being described as a celebration of the highest order, marking one of the few times in hundreds of years when thousands of indigenous people will gather in the nation's capital on terms of merriment.
"It's been a long time for our people - centuries since we were able to have a huge intertribal gathering without it being an emergency situation and without it meaning that a lot of us would be killed," said Suzan Shown Harjo, executive director of the Morning Star Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based Native advocacy group.
"This is a real celebration, and I think it's a relief that we're able to gather and not feel that we are in danger."
The last time so many Natives converged for a procession in Washington, D.C., was in 1972 when some 800 people joined the Trail of Broken Treaties. An estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people then engaged in a six-day occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building to protest conditions in their communities.
The museum festivities should provide a vast contrast. "It's not to say huge problems still don't need to be addressed, but for this day, it's another kind of gathering. And it's really for us to take our place right in the eyesight of decision makers and policy makers of the United States and the entire world," Harjo said.
Among the decision makers awaiting Native people's arrival is North Dakota's congressional delegation, which is hosting a reception. "We are very excited about the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian," said Sen. Kent Conrad. "You can imagine the celebration that will be happening in this city around this beautiful new museum."
For West, the long-awaited opening has him feeling relaxed. "I've got to tell you, I've never been more mellow."
It's a nice spot to be in after more than a decade of private fund-raising, seeking congressional appropriations and overseeing the relationship between the museum and Native communities, he said.
"All of that which was my part is behind me. I now almost feel as if I'm on some pleasant glide path between here and the opening of the museum. It's been a long flight and a challenging flight, sometimes. But it is going to be a wonderful arrival."
Jodi Rave covers Native issues for Lee Enterprises. She can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 ext. 299 or jodi.rave@;missoulian.com.
She's sewn her satin gold shirt, with neat lines of blue and purple ribbon. And a fellow citizen of the Blackfeet Nation stitched some turquoise-beaded moccasins to match. It's just a matter of working on hair and nails in preparation for the grand opening of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.
"This is going to be a special time for me," said Cobell, office manager for an economic development company in Browning, Mont. Like other indigenous people traveling to Washington, D.C., she expects they will make a world statement: "Here we are, in all our glory."
On Sunday, a Cherokee reverend will deliver the museum's opening sermon at the Washington National Cathedral. The next seven days will be filled by dozens of private receptions, a gala dinner, a research study center open house, social dances, a first-time public tour of the museum, a musical venue staged by 300 indigenous performers and a powwow.
The events are expected to attract hundreds of thousands of people.
Some 20,000 people - many who will be dressed in Native regalia - have registered to walk east Tuesday from the National Mall to the steps of the U.S. Capitol. The morning procession is scheduled prior to the museum's noon grand opening ceremony.
Since Congress passed legislation to build the museum in 1989, the building and its research center have become the new home for 800,000 objects. The museum pays tribute to 10,000 years of history for more than 1,000 indigenous cultures in the Western hemisphere. And it's causing much excitement.
"I've been around Indian Country a lot over the summer, and I haven't run into a single person who didn't know about this or who wasn't coming to this," said museum director Richard West.
Although thousands have registered for the procession alone, he expects others to simply show up. "We Indians aren't big on registering. We just like to arrive," he said, punctuating the words with laughter. "And that's OK."
The grand opening festivities are being described as a celebration of the highest order, marking one of the few times in hundreds of years when thousands of indigenous people will gather in the nation's capital on terms of merriment.
"It's been a long time for our people - centuries since we were able to have a huge intertribal gathering without it being an emergency situation and without it meaning that a lot of us would be killed," said Suzan Shown Harjo, executive director of the Morning Star Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based Native advocacy group.
"This is a real celebration, and I think it's a relief that we're able to gather and not feel that we are in danger."
The last time so many Natives converged for a procession in Washington, D.C., was in 1972 when some 800 people joined the Trail of Broken Treaties. An estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people then engaged in a six-day occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building to protest conditions in their communities.
The museum festivities should provide a vast contrast. "It's not to say huge problems still don't need to be addressed, but for this day, it's another kind of gathering. And it's really for us to take our place right in the eyesight of decision makers and policy makers of the United States and the entire world," Harjo said.
Among the decision makers awaiting Native people's arrival is North Dakota's congressional delegation, which is hosting a reception. "We are very excited about the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian," said Sen. Kent Conrad. "You can imagine the celebration that will be happening in this city around this beautiful new museum."
For West, the long-awaited opening has him feeling relaxed. "I've got to tell you, I've never been more mellow."
It's a nice spot to be in after more than a decade of private fund-raising, seeking congressional appropriations and overseeing the relationship between the museum and Native communities, he said.
"All of that which was my part is behind me. I now almost feel as if I'm on some pleasant glide path between here and the opening of the museum. It's been a long flight and a challenging flight, sometimes. But it is going to be a wonderful arrival."
Jodi Rave covers Native issues for Lee Enterprises. She can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 ext. 299 or jodi.rave@;missoulian.com.
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