The first national museum to present exhibitions from the perspective of American Indians of South, Central, and North America will open in Washington, D.C. on September 21.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) will open on the National Mall.
"Visitors will leave this museum experience knowing Indians are not part of history. We are still here and making vital contributions to contemporary American culture and art," the museum’s director, W. Richard West, a Southern Cheyenne, explained in a press release circulated by the Smithsonian Office of Public Affairs.
Over a period of more than four years, the NMAI exhibitions were designed over decades in consultation with 24 tribal communities—12 from the United States and 12 from Latin America and Canada. As a result, the museum promotes "cultural continuance" using exhibits, educational programs, and outreach to help indigenous people of the Americas invigorate and sustain their cultural heritages.
The museum's six-day opening festivities will begin September 21 with a Native Nations Procession on the National Mall in which tens of thousands of American Indians from North and South America, many in traditional dress, are expected to walk together to the stage of the grand opening ceremony. Following the morning’s ceremonies, the NMAI’s collection—approximately 800,000 objects representing over 10,000 years, from more than 1,000 indigenous cultures throughout the Americas—will be open to the public. For more information, or to register for the Native Nations Procession, visit the NMAI website.
