Discover D.C.'s Newest Museum

Southern Living, May 2005 by Vanhooser, Cassandra M

The Smithsonian celebrates America's oldest cultures.

Almost any schoolkid in America can tell you what historic event happened in 1492. I can still hear my third-grade classmates chanting the mnemonic, "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue."

But in one corner of the Smithsonian's new National Museum of the American Indian, an exhibit details life as it was a year earlier, before Columbus planted the Spanish standard on the beach at San Salvador. Some experts believe that between 50 and 100 million Native people occupied the Western Hemisphere in 1491.

Yet from 1492 through the mid-1600s, disease killed 9 out of every 10 of them. Many more were lost in the Europeans' attempt to conquer the Americas. By the time the 19th century rolled around, it looked as if the Native peoples might become only a memory.

But they live on. Despite all the hardships, Native cultures have held tightly to their beliefs, languages, and traditions. In this museum, they tell their stories.

Native Voices

The experience begins, not when you enter the museum door, but as you approach the building itself. Constructed of warm, creamy Kasota stone from Minnesota, the curvilinear exterior calls to mind a vast mesa, sculpted by wind and water. Different landscapes featuring indigenous plants grace each side of the building.

Once inside, you encounter a building and a collection rife with symbolism. Visitors enter from the east, not only because it offers a view of the Capitol building, but also because many American Indian cultures build their doorways facing that direction. A soaring rotunda rises 120 feet above a cavernous public space. It's called the Potomac, a word that means "gathering place."

The third and fourth floors house the bulk of the exhibits. It's here you'll find more than 500 years of Native history. Visitors also meet 21st-century Indians and see how they live today. Many thousands of items-from spear points to fine beaded items-fill the vast display cases around the museum. An eagle feather and cane flute that astronaut John Herrington (Chickasaw) took into space rank among my favorites.

"This place lets people see us the way we really are," says Martina Minthorn, a graduate student whose grandfather is chief of the Umatillas. "It's really hard to get rid of those Hollywood stereotypes."

We're Still Here

If you learn nothing else at this museum, you come away with a sense that not all American Indians are the same. A total of 24 tribes tell their stories in the museum's three main galleries. They represent a tiny fraction of the Native population. The United States alone recognizes 562 tribes, and there are hundreds more in Canada and South America.

"I hope people come away with an understanding of the diversity of the Native people," says associate curator Emil Her Many Horses from the Oglala Lakota Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

The depth and breadth of the information boggles the mind. You can visit the museum over and over again and never discover everything there. Still, this message comes through loud and clear-we are still here. CASSANDRA M. VANHOOSER

National Museum of the American Indian: Fourth Street and Independence Avenue SW., National Mall, Washington, DC 20013; (202) 633-1000 or www.americanindian.si. edu. Note: Admission is free, but timed passes may be required during peak periods. Same-day passes may be obtained at the museum. To reserve passes in advance, call tollfree 1-866-400-6624, or visit www. tickets.com.