Covering Indian Country Blog

Personal Stories

On Museum Tour, Disappointment by the Bucketful

The last time I visited the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington—about a month after it opened last year—I looked in vain for any trace of my tribe.  I was disappointed.

That experience and reaction are not unusual for many Native people visiting their new museum, large though limited. Proud of the museum we are, like it we do—but what would make us really LOVE the place is if all 560 tribes of Native Americans got equal time and space in the museum’s many displays.

Or if the whole place were devoted to just one tribe: our own. Especially mine, the Osage Tribe of Oklahoma.

During Monday’s museum tour for the traveling seminar journalists, I broke off after a few exhibits to continue my quest.

Ah, finally, I found it. There it was, a mention of my tribe—and I was thrilled.  Until I started reading.

In the Kiowa tribal exhibit in a fourth-floor section called “Our Peoples” was this headline:  “Osages MASSACRE Adante’s Band.”

The description was almost newspaper-style, quoting survivors. It reported an 1833 attack by Osages in a place now called, gulp, “Beheading Mountain.”

“The Osages had beheaded their victims with swords and left the heads in brass buckets the Kiowas had. Not many escaped.”

Ouch.

It’s a good example of being careful what you ask for.

It’s also a good example of how an “Indian story” can fall short and disappoint.

Now, next time I tour the museum, I’ll look for a NICE mention of my tribe—for what media critics are fond of calling a “positive story.”

Now, let me tell you about my ancestor, Three Buckets …

Denny McAuliffe, reznet project director, University of Montana

Posted on 03.08.05 at 2:13 AM by Victor Merina