We are standing in the central gallery of the National Museum of American Indians exhibition this exhibit explores the nature of the American Peoples relationship with American Indians. Its based on the premise that most American People think they have nothing to do with American Indians and that American Indians have nothing to do with them. We are arguing that the exact opposite is true. We argue americans and American Indians share a deeply entangled history, that this history shaped the United States of america, and had a profound and Lasting Impact on American National consciousness and popular culture. When standing in the central gallery, which we call indians everywhere. As you can see, this large gallery is covered floor to ceiling with images. These are imaages the American People have made of American Indians. This imagery is pervasive in american lives. Most American People are conscious that anywhere you look you will find imagery of American Indians. We are arguing that this imagery exists as evidence of the deeply entangled history that americans and American Indians share. In exploring the history that lies behind this imagery, we explored three events in u. S. History, the story of pocahontas, the trail of tears, and the battle of little bighorn. Today, were going to explore the battle of the little bighorn. The 1876 battle of the little bighorn was fought between u. S. Cavalry and an alliance of lakota, cheyenne, and arapaho. It resulted in the death of general George Armstrong custer, who was a civil war hero, and in the death of almost 300 cavalry men. This was the most shocking event of the late 19th century. Within less than 10 years, plains indian warriors who were reviled by americans become a symbol of the United States of america. So in this exhibition, we explore how it is that the battle of little bighorn remained immensely important in the consciousness of americans for over a century, and we explore exactly how it is that imagery of the plains indian warrior in as the stereotypical American Indian and also as a symbol of the United States. All of this to say they will be exploring how the indian warrior was used to justify manifest destiny. Our gallery, which explores the battle of the little bighorn, is divided into two halves. In one half, we look at lakota concepts of warfare and what the battle of little bighorn was about from their perspective. On the other side of the gallery, we look at how it is the americans responded to the battle and how out of this battle emerged the image of the plains indian warrior. So essentially there are three immediate factors leading to the battle. One of them was the fact that at this time the u. S. Army is rounding up indians and confining them to reservations. Famously, sitting bull and his followers are resisting. The other thing thats happening is the black hills are being flooded by prospectors and miners because there is news that there is gold in the black hills. Third, president grant sends in a military expedition. He sends this military expedition into the black hills to confirm whether or not theres gold there. Now, the issue is that in the fort laramie treaty, lakota political sovereignty over the black hills was clearly acknowledged. Beyond that, the black hills are sacred to the lakota people. For the lakota and cheyenne, the respect and preservation of the black hills is of a paramount importance. Were looking at how lakota concepts of warfare fit into lakote concepts of leadership and how lakota concepts of leadership fit in to a value system. For a man to distinguish himself as a leader in society, he not only had to exhibit bravery, but he also had to exemplify certain virtues, for example wisdom, fortitude, generosity. These values had to be acknowledged in him and seen in him by others for him to be respected as a leader. In our exploration into concepts of warfare, we have a blowup of unvarnished view of the battle. This ledger drawing behind me was created by a veteran of the battle called red horse. It clearly gets across the brutality of the battle. On the other side of the gallery, we have a muslin paid painting. It celebrates the lakota virtues and ways of living in the world. Next we are going to look at that muslin painting. This painting was made by a man named strike the kettle. He fled up into canada with sitting bull, stayed with sitting bull for four years. At the time this was a Major International incident. The United States wanted sitting bull back in the United States on a reservation. Eventually sitting bull and strike the kettle returned to the United States. Sitting bull was killed by Lakota Tribal police. When he was killed, strike the kettle was with him. Sitting bull was surrounded by his friends trying to protect him. Strike the kettle was wounded in this incident. He went on to paint this muslin. Its unique because of its size. The other thing is it does not represent one single event, which is usually what these paintings do. The museum brought up a lifesize photograph of this muslin to the pine ridge reservatiohn to work with elders to try to understand what going on in this painting. What they say what they think is going on is that a series of preparations leading up to a ceremony or an event is probably taking place. They point out pairs of pipes and the pipe bowls and stems are close together, signifying a ceremony is about to take place. They point out that there are two pairs of wands. These are used in a ceremony, which very loosely translated is a making relations ceremony. Its a ceremony in which an individual will adopt a nonkin member of the tribe and in doing so establishes kin relationships with that person. What the lakota people pointed out is that many women are depicted. Theyre saying perhaps women are being honored. And theyre saying the event that might be taking place is either this ceremony or womans coming of age ceremony. They say this because both of these events and in what is known as a giveaway. They interpret the scene in the upper righthand corner as a giveaway. On the one side are for teepees with a woman standing in front of each. And in the center are horses loaded down with trappings. They are saying these are going to be gifts that are given away to tribal members. They also suggest that all of the symbols underneath the horses represent headdresses. And that these headdresses will be given to very prominent members of the community. And so what lakora people say are going on here is not only that strike the kettle was painting a lakota way of life as it existed before the reservation period, but that hes also representing everything that is important to the lakota. Hes representing lakota spirituality, the importance of kin relationships. Hes representing the important of generosity as a cultural value. Strike the kettle was a veteran of the battle of the little bighorn. He knew that the battle of the little bighorn, as were all other battles in the late 19th century between the lakota and the u. S. Army, they were fought from the perspective because their entire way of life was under assault. Once they were to be confined to reservations, the United States government was determined to prohibit religious ceremonies. They were determined to force lakota to stop living their traditional way of lives, to become farmers, to adopt christianity, to send their children to schools, which meant to forbid them from speaking their own languages. So what strike the kettle has depicted is everything that was under assault and everything that was of intense importance to the lakota people. This eagle feather headdress is placed right in the center of our gallery. And we worked with the lakota elder duane Hollow Horn Bear to interpret the headdress for us. Duane Hollow Horn Bear is a direct descendent of a veteran of the battle. And he is also an educator. As he explained to us, eagle feather headdresses, which had become an iconic american it drip american image, eagle feather headdresses were worn by very few lakota men. They were worn by men who, once again, had to exhibit certain lakota virtues. As duane Hollow Horn Bear explained, when men wore an eagle feather headdress, he would only have the best interest of his society in mind when he was wearing it. Each eagle feather that is on the headrest was gifted to the man, and it was gifted to acknowledge some deed that he performed. As duane Hollow Horn Bear explains it, that deed could be a small as sharings ones food with somebody or as large as saving someones life during battle. Each eagle feather represents a moment in what that particular individual was honored by his community. For a man to have an eagle heather that eagle feather headdress with a trail this long, that means he was somebody who was revered and respected within his own society by his own people. While eagle feather headdresses are very closely associated with plains indian warriors and lakota warriors in particular, theyre not the only style of headdress that lakota men wore. There are various styles of headdress, so while this style of headdress would have been worn by some individuals in the battle, and we know this from lakotass own depictions of the battle, for example, red horses, we do know that there were lakota men who did where the eagle feather headdress in the battle of little bighorn, it was by no means worn by a great number of men. The other objects in the exhibit are objects that are associated with men. They are war shirts and shields. The shirts are showing the the pride that leaders had in themselves. They are exclusively decorated with porcupine quill work, with fringe, with horse hair ornaments. In displaying the shields, we are explaining that the imagery on the shield represents the spiritual being who protect indivisual warriors during battle and provide them with power. And were making the point that in the lakota belief system, a spiritual being will only come and help the warrior if that warrior is deemed worthy. So youre getting the idea that in lakota society, an individual always has to be able to demonstrate and prove their worthiness. The two sections of our gallery are divided by a curtain which is covered with imagery of newspaper coverage of the battle of little bighorn. Were very interested in the fact that the news spread rapidly, and it spread rapidly throughout the entire country and it spreat rapidly throughout the entire country as americans were celebrating the centennial of the United States. So, this devastating news came just as americans throughout the country were sharing in jubilation. So, three things made the spread of the news possible. It was the telegraph, the fact that they were, for the first time in history of the country, when a major event occurred, newspapers virtually in every territory, in every county, in every city, and every town. And it is also at this time that newspapers have started using headlines and, of course, sensational headlines. So all americans are caught up at the same time in the news of the battle of the little bighorn and news of this devastating defeat is seared interNational Consciousness literally within a few short weeks after it occurs. During the 1870s, this is the period when the United States army is trying to confine American Indians throughout the country onto reservations. Its a period when theres still ongoing battles and skirmishes, but its also a period when the countrys feeling very confident that its westward expansionism is virtually achieved and the country is going to be moving forward. So the battle for little bighorn was not, by any means, the first utter defeat of u. S. Cavalry officers, but it was the first time that there was such a huge defeat that could be telegraphed literally throughout the country and that all americans would understand what had happened from an American Perspective at the same time. So, the American People want to know the names of the officers who died. They want to know their biographies. They want to know the names of the enlisted men. Then they want to know exactly how the battle occurred. They want to see a map of where it occurred. They want to know where the soldiers were, where the indians were, then they want to know if any blunders occurred. But at no time does there ever seemed to be any interest in understanding the battle from the lakota perspective, or how this battle impacted the lakota. As far as americans were concerned, lakotas were impeding westward expansionism, and thats as far as thier perspective was going to go. We are looking at how a national shock, the battle of little bighorn, became a national myth, the winning of the frontier, or the settling of the west. Were looking at how both the news of the battle and the imagery of the plains indian warrior literally rode a wave of technology from 1876 into the 20th century. So, we begin with the telegraph and the spread of the news of the battle via telegraph and newspaper offices and then we look at the wild west show. The wild west show phenomenon took off in 1883. This is only seven years after the battle. It with the wild west show you get the romanticization of westward expansionism. The wild west shows coincided with the commercialization of entertainment in the United States. In other words, with the emergence of an entertainment industry. Meaning that the wild west shows had professional promoters who were in touch with theater managers throughout the country so they could have their wild west shows shown throughout the country. And in order to do this, they had to have investors, backers who would help provide funds upfront so they could travel their shows and importantly so they could advertise them. These wild west shows really were an Investment Opportunity for the entrepreneurs like buffalo bill and pawnee bill and for their backers. The thing about the wild west shows is they were these equestrian extravaganzas that very often included reenactment of the battle of little bighorn, and quite often these reenactments were the finale of the battle. So wild west shows were advertised through huge color posters that were created through the latest printing technology. These posters combined many bold colors along with words. They were arguably the most advanced form of Mass Communication in the late 19th century. Invariably wild west posters depicted plain indian warriors, astride a horse, wearing buckskin and an eagle feathered headdress intent on murdering pioneers and cavalrymen so just as newspapers seared news of the battle into the consciousness of americans, the wild west shows and the posters in particular feared the image of the plains indian warrior into the National Consciousness and popular culture. The real significance of the wild west show is that with them, they are shaping americas sense of history. In these shows, which are now, just seven years after the battle, at this point the shows and these reenactments become rousing fun for americans. But plains indian warriors are being presented as valiant, formidable foes. In other words, the are being presented as a foil to justify manifest destiny, the westward expansionism of american settlers, which, from an American Point of view, necessitated confining American Indians and subjugating American Indians. While the wild west shows are still ongoing, the image of the plain indian warrior moves into the 20th century with the latest Technological Advancement in the form of mass entertainment, moving pictures, and the battle of little bighorn is portrayed in silent films and in talkies all throughout the heyday of hollywood and 1940s and 30s technicolor period of the 50s and well into the counterculture films. For example, in the silent films in 1925, there is a film considered one of the great epics of the silent era, and in this movie its made clear in the written dialogue that plains indian warriors and lakotas in particular were impeding the advancement of white men and western frontier. So this storyline of American Indians standing in the way of progress continues to be told throughout, as i say, the golden age of hollywood, the films of the 50s, and even in the counterculture films. The counterculture films obviously begin to reflect a little bit more than ever before of what actually was going on in the west in the 1800s. Native people are still being portrayed frozen in time, and thats a problem. There are no other people in the world that really others insist on locking them into a certain time. With the battle for little bighorn, with a wild west shows, and with the Motion Picture industry, you are getting images or an image of the plains indian warrior that is stereotypical and is always frozen in time. With it all, American Indians, plains indian warriors, are being presented always as formidable foes, and this is carried on and used by high schools and colleges across the country with their sports mascots, and its carried on in the u. S. Military who names helicopters and weapons after American Indian tribes. So on the one hand, people might think theyre being honorific. The point is, and the aim of the show, is to get across that there is a history that lies behind this imagery and that this imagery was created and perpetuated as a foil to justify manifest destiny, and to justify confining indians to reservations and subjugating them. Weve titled this section, who really won the battle of little bighorn . Its complicated. There seems to be a backandforth. It seems that lakota won a battle, but then they are confined to reservations. But then they emerge almost as celebrities and as a symbol of america. So who did win the battle . For us, where this rests is with the fact that the lakota continue to fight to this day for the restoration of the black hills. After the battle of little bighorn in 1877, the United States unilaterally took control of the black hills. The black hills that were acknowledged in sovereign lakota territory in the treaty of fort laramie. Ever since that happened, ever since 1877, lakota have been trying, they have been fighting to get control of the black hills. Their fight for the black hills made it to the supreme court, and in 1980, the United States supreme said that yes the United States of america did illegally seize the black hills. They did not order the United States to return the land to the lakota. They ordered for the lakota to be financially compensated. To this day the lakota has not accepted this money, because the black hills remain important to their religious belief, their religious ceremonies. So we title this section who won . Its complicated because this is an ongoing history that has yet to be played out. All right, good afternoon its great to see you all here. My name is kevin gover im the director at the National Museum of the American Indian. Where here to talk about the National NativeAmerican Veterans mi