The American Indians latest exhibition, americans. The premise is that most American People today feel they have very little to do with native americans, and native americans have virtually nothing to do with them or their lives. And we believe that the exact opposite is true. So in this exhibition, the Natural Museum of the American Indian is examining the nature of nonnative americans relationship with native americans. And we do this through a prism of the national paradox. Thats the reduction is one that is very familiar to americans whether they are native or not. The paradox is American Indians constitute 1 to 2 of the u. S. Population, yet everywhere you look, you see imagery of American Indians. This imagery is found not only in advertising, Product Design and corporate logos. It is also found on state and county seals. It is found in u. S. Military insignia. It is found in motel and storefront signage on , architectural elements, of buildings and bridges. It is found in peoples tattoos. Its everywhere you look in american life. And whether one is native american or descends from people who came over on the mayflower or is a first generation american or indeed a recent immigrant, one recognizes this imagery as part and parcel of american life. And so we wanted to begin our exhibit by exploring the is phenomenon that is familiar, yet very striking. Here is what is key about it. It is a phenomenon that is unique to the United States. There is no other country in the world that is so fixated with one segment of its population that it is constantly creating images of those people. In the United States, this tradition, this phenomenon started before the country was even founded. It started with the countrys most ardent patriots. It has continued unabated up to the present day. But there is Something Else that is really significant about the phenomenon in this country. And that is the fact that although imagery of American Indians is pervasive in american life, it actually does nothing to bring nonnatives closer to understanding who American Indians are or to understand the nature of the history they had shared with American Indians. This imagery actually masks who native americans really are and this shared history. What we do in the americans exhibit, we open this curtain and we look at what stands behind this imagery. In many ways this imagery is the intersection between native and nonnative. But it is an intersection that is not actually a threeway. So the american exhibit ends with a very clear presentation of the fact that nonnative americans and native americans share a deeply entangled history. This history is the history of the United States. It has shaped National Consciousness as well as popular culture. Of theill look at a few images now. The one i would like to show you the first is one that really fascinated me as soon as i learned about it. And this is a sketch for the great seal of the United States. Now the Continental Congress employed a committee, or got together a committee of americans with impeccable American Revolutionary war credentials to come up with the design for the great seal of the United States. The committee presented a proposal, and the Continental Congress did not like it. They got together a Second Committee. The Second Committee turned to a man named Francis Hopkinson. Now Francis Hopkinson was a signer of the declaration of independence. He came up with the sketch we are looking at here. People who know about the history know that this sketch was never submitted as a formal proposal for what the great seal should look like. But i find it extraordinarily fascinating that at the time when the United States was forming its government, that it was trying to codify its foundational ideas and come identity, visual that somebody actually considered putting a native american on the great seal of the United States. The fact the native american was erased from the seal, sad to say, prefigures the history that would soon transpire of the United States erasing American Indians from the landscape. Another fascinating object is this world war i helmet. Its actually a marine helmet. But it is a u. S. Army insignia. And this is because during world war i, three or four regiments of the u. S. Marines were assigned to the u. S. Army to fight in france. And at that time the army didnt have any insignia, but realized it wanted to have an insignia to distinguish its personnel and its vehicle from European Armed forces. And so the officer in charge put men toto the enlisted come up with a design. One enlisted man came up with a drawing of a portrait of an indian man wearing an eagle feather headdress. Another one came up with a star. The officer for the two together. When he passed this design up the line to request permission to use it as insignia his , argument was who is the first true original american . But the American Indian . That is why this insignia was approved and its used to this day. Now the other thing that is interesting is, of course it was the u. S. Army who was fighting American Indians, who were dispossessing them of their lands and confining them to reservations. In the 20th century, it is the army who puts forth the imagery of the American Indian to represent themselves. And when the army did this, they employed the colors of red, white and blue to depict the American Indian. Well, after world war i, when modern advertising as we know it took off, advertisers started using the an image of the American Indian for the same reason, to represent what is truly american, and quite often when they would depict American Indians in their advertising. , or on their Product Design, they would use the colors red, white and blue, as we see in the famous land olakes. How Many Americans have land olakes in there were refrigerator . You see this over and over again advertising, also famously on alumina cans, but the many advertisers and commercial artists use the imagery of an American Indian and the colors red, white and blue, because what they are selling is something that is quintessentially american. The u. S. Military has been naming weapons and aircraft after American Indian tribes and weapons for over 200 years. This tradition really took up steam in the 20th century. In the 1960s, the u. S. Air force issued a memorandum, saying that they would be naming helicopters after tribes. In their memorandum, they justified their reasons for doing this. They said that these names invoked a fighting and a warrior spirit. Today the tradition is done with the acquiescence of tribes. So for example, one of the most famous attack helicopters in the u. S. Militarys arsenal is the apache helicopter. And these are produced in arizona. And every time a new model of the apache attack helicopter is on rolled there is a ceremony. ,at the ceremony are White Mountain apache officials and tribal leaders, and they perform a ceremony and also a blessing for the individuals who will be flying the aircraft. Also in the exhibit is a lifesized and actual tomahawk missile as well as a zuni missile. We are getting across the point that the army is using not only imagery but names of American Indians to invoke a fierce fighting spirit. So now we have looked at just a few images that is in our indians everywhere gallery. There are 300 images of American Indians in this gallery. Each one of these images can be easily replaced with yet another image. But as we say what we find , significant about this imagery is that it is evidence of the history that americans and American Indians share. And in the exhibit, we explore the history behind this imagery. Now we are going to go into our pocahontas gallery. We are concerned about getting across the fact that the countrys deepest roots are entangled with native americans. And so we are talking about pocahontas, who had been famous for 400 years. She is the only native american, she is the only american in the history of the country who has been famous for this long. We are in this gallery, were looking at how improbable it is that somebody who was born 400 years ago, let alone a female, let alone an indigenous woman, let alone an indigenous woman who died when she was in her early 20s, should be famous for 400 years. And so we know that a lot of our visitors arent really sure if pocahontas was an actual historical person, so the first thing we want to get across is this fact that she was a historical person. And how much that it is that we actually know about her. We know where she was born. We know she was the daughter of a powerful powhatan leader. She was abducted by the colonists and held by them. She was introduced to christianity and baptized. She had a child. She also traveled to london. In london she was twice feted in the court of king james and she passed away at the outset of her home. In london, pocahontas put a human face on the Indigenous Peoples of the americas for the first time in history. Its important to understand up until this time, europeans were debating whether or not Indigenous Peoples in the americas were even fully human. Puts a faces i say on the Indigenous Peoples of the americas, and with her trip to london, she is destined to and to enter the european history books. Her portrait is created from life. This portrait is published in a book of british monarchies and other notables. She is received as a daughter of a powerful leader. Her life story is published in a famous volume called the grand voyages. One volume deals with the americas, and it talks about pocahontass life. This volume was translated into many languages, so pocahontas life, within a short time after her death, is known to a book reading european audience. On this wall one of the images , we are most interested in is a front us peace on the history of virginia. In this case, the four of the u. S. President s who were born in first virginia, the fourth chief justice of the United States, who was born in virginia, and patrick henry, the famous patriot who said give me liberty or give me death, they are all shown standing on pocahontas shoulders. It is a scene depicting her saving the life of captain smith. We want to know why these illustrious americans are shown standing on the shoulders of pocahontas. We also want to know why is pocahontas saving the life of captain smith, depicted in the freize of history in the rotunda of the u. S. Capitol . The u. S. Capitol houses the legislative branch of government. And the rotunda is the countrys grandest ceremonial room, which is evocative of a roman pantheon. Thehere is pocahontas in frieze of history under the magnificent dome. We want to know why she is being accorded this respect. Why does she merits being positioned here . The reason is although , historians today dispute and in fact discount the idea that she saved captain smiths life, early in our history people believe that to be true. And this incident is painted in the rotunda of the u. S. Capitol. Because in saving captain smiths life, pocahontas was credited with saving the four fort james colony. In in saving the fort james colony, she is credited with saving the birthplace of democracy, the place where the first legislative assemblies of elected of representatives met in what will become the United States of america. A very important motif is the tobacco leaf. And tobacco was not only the cash crop that allowed fort james to become a viable colony and enrich england, it is also the cash crop that allowed virginia to become the most powerful and influential colony and then the wealthiest and most powerful influential state. On top of that, pocahontas defiant action, she is dividing her father by trying to save and intercede for the life of captain smith, this rebelliousness was associated with the rebelliousness of the american patriots. So as i was saying, in this painting, the United States is extending its lineage back to pocahontas. So pocahontas has always been a household name throughout u. S. History. And pocahontas has always been considered an acutely important historical personage. And in 1907, when the 300th anniversary of the founding of jamestown was being celebrated, president Theodore Roosevelt oversaw the celebrations. And during these celebrations, once again pocahontas is put forward as not only the savior but a founderess of the country. Here in what is actually a postcard, she is made to resemble nothing less than lady liberty. She is the chesapeake bay, and she looks westward over the entire country. Now into 1924 something very interesting happens in virginia. That is that the state of virginia is passing racial segregation laws. And they are looking in 1924 to pass an act which they refer to as the racial integrity act. This act is intended to safeguard the pureness of the white race interracial marriages. So the act requires that every birth of a child born in the state of virginia is registered. At that time that the childs race is also registered. Now the child can be classified either as colored or white. Ok, the legislation is intended to help virginia ban, prohibit, and even punish interracial marriages. And this law actually is also designed to legislate American Indians out of existence. That what happened is wealthy, powerful, elite virginians who to send from fromontas who descend pocahontas realize if this law is passed, they will be subjected to jim crow laws. In virginia wealth, power, and influence has long been associated with lineage. One of the most important lineage societies has always been the first families of virginia. The first families of virginia trace to their lineage back to english colonists who came to fort james. Many of these first family of virginia members descend from the marriage in between pocahontas son thomas and a member of the randolph family. There are many people in virginia that claim descent from this marriage and know that they have American Indian blood. In 1984 when the law is passed it includes an exception. , in that clause allows for anybody with 1 16 American Indian blood to be classified as white and not as colored and then therefore subject to jim crow laws. So the fact that Pocahontas Rolfe shouldohn be enacted into 20th century eugenics laws in a state that long touted the first interracial marriage between pocahontas and john rolfe is not nothing if not truly ironic. Generations of contemporary americans have grown up knowing about pocahontas from the 1995 animated disney film. But throughout u. S. History americans have been reproducing pocahontas supposed likeness. In the early 20th century, a famous philanthropist acquired a painting of pocahontas that was made in the early 18th century based on the famous engraving of pocahontas. And for decades it hung in pocahontas husband john rolfes family home. In 1942 it was donated to the National Gallery bar, and then gallery of art and then the National Portrait gallery, where was touted as one of the most famous portraits of an early american. What we would like for people to walk away from this gallery realizing is that pocahontas holds a unique place in American History. She is the individual who put a human face on the Indigenous People of the americas. And she is a reminder that the countrys deepest roots are entangled with native americans. Announcer 1 you can watch this and other american artifacts programs by visiting our website cspan. Org history. Night, American History tv takes you to College Classrooms around the culture country for lectures in history. Why do you all know who Lizzie Borden is, and raise your hand if you had heard of this murder trial before this class . The deepest cause was in the transformation that took place in the minds of the American People. We will talk about both of these sides of the story, tools and techniques of sleep over power slave owner power and the techniques practiced by enslaved people. History professors lead discussions with topics ranging from the American Revolution to september 11. Lectures in history on cspan3 on American History tv and lectures in history is available as a podcast. Find it where you listen to podcasts. Announcer 2 sunday on the presidency, we hear from Lyndon Johnson who spoke at baltimores Johns Hopkins university in the spring of 1965 to explain american policy in vietnam. His speech was titled piece without conquest. Here is a preview. Is far away from this campus. There. No territory nor do we seek any. The war is dirty and brutal and difficult. Intoome 400 young men born an america that is bursting with opportunity and promise have ended their lives on vietnams steaming soil. Why must we take this painful road . Why must this nation hazard its for and interest and power the sake of a people so far away . We fight because we must fight. If we are to live in a world where every country can shape its own destiny and only in such a world will our own freedom be finally secure. Announcer 2 watch the full Program Sunday at 8 00 eastern, 5 00 pacific on American History tv. Up next, the press secretary for first Lady Nancy Reagan from 1981 to 1985 recalls the personal and public life of misses reagan as described in her book lady in red an intimate portrait of nancy reagan. She spoke at the Ronald Reagan president ial library and pallet when you and april of 2018. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome misses sheila tate. [applause] ms. Tate oh, you want me to sit
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