A new exhibit at the Gilcrease Museum’s Helmerich Center for American Research in Tulsa is highlighting the role of Indigenous Americans in the formation of the United States.
“Indigenous Independence: America at 250” will be housed in the Helmerich Center’s gallery from June 15 to Aug. 7. It includes manuscripts, maps, artwork, treaties and documents that focus on Indigenous Americans’ relationship with white colonists and the development of the United States government 250 years after its founding.
William Smith, director of the Helmerich Center and a Cherokee Nation citizen, said the exhibit focuses on three main themes: diplomacy and alliances, the rhetoric of savagery, and Native land and contested boundaries…