Last featured in the 12-07-2018 Scout Report, this resource allows readers to view the Americans exhibit from home, learning more about the origins of the Thanksgiving holiday and significant aspects of the United State's complicated history with Indigenous peoples.
Americans is a stunning digital exhibition created by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian to accompany the museum's physical exhibition by the same name, which is currently on view in Washington, D.C. until 2022. Both the digital and physical exhibitions showcase how "American Indian images, names, and stories infuse American history and contemporary life." Visitors to the digital exhibition can explore an immense interactive gallery of advertising, memorabilia, and other images from American pop culture depicting representations of Native Americans. Clicking an image brings up a larger view, along with a brief annotation. Viewers will also find four stories integrated into the gallery: "The Invention of Thanksgiving," "Queen of America," "The Removal Act," and "The Indians Win." These stories provide a more in-depth look at historical figures and events, such as Pocahontas and the Battle of Little Bighorn, that have taken on lives of their own in American culture. Americans was co-curated by Comanche author and essayist Paul Chaat Smith and Cecile R. Ganteaume, author of the book Officially Indian: Symbols that Define the United States.
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