Road Reports

Lakota Night at the Museum

The MoMS experience often highlights the ways in which stories from all towns, organizations and nations within America strengthen the story of the country as a whole. This past March, Lonnie Little Hoop of Alliance, Nebraska discussed the unique facets of  Lakota culture during a New Harmonies program.

Lakota language, stories and culture were celebrated during Knight Museum and Sandhills Center’s “Lakota Night at the Museum.” Lonnie Little Hoop opened the Lakota presentation with a victory song, while his daughters danced in elaborate regalia. During the celebration Little Hoop also shared his experience growing up as a young Lakota in Alliance, NE, highlighting the prejudice he faced due to his cultural heritage. The Nebraska Times-Herald reports; “For him, growing up as a minority in the schools and township of Alliance was tough…when he was a boy, the schools didn’t teach Native American history.” While Little Hoop admitted that he and other Lakotas “got by by surviving,” he made sure to acknowledge the progress of acceptance and equality that has developed throughout his lifetime.

    

We are enthralled by these powerful images, and are always thrilled when such meaningful narratives arise from innovative programming.

Thank you to The Knight Museum and Sandhills Center, and to Alliance Nebraska’s Times-Herald for the detailed report and photographs from this event.

 

-          Roxanne Berschler, SITES, Washington, D.C.

On the Road Again (and We Love It)

One of the things I most appreciate about working with Museum on Main Street is the opportunity we have to visit so many interesting places in the U.S. and to meet wonderful people from every corner of the country. In response to a question posed by our Publications office earlier this week, my MoMS Smithsonian-based colleagues Carol Harsh and Terri Cobb and I sat down to figure out just how many miles we had logged traveling this year for MoMS.

Can I get a drum roll, please? After Carol visits Indian Springs, Georgia next week, the three of us will have traveled 67,299 miles for MoMS in 2009. And, we got the chance to visit fascinating places big and small like Alliance and Omaha in Nebraska; Kodiak, Alaska; Kirksville, Missouri; Renton, Washington; Tuscumbia, Alabama; Berkeley Springs, Grafton, and Petersburg in West Virginia; Kingsland and Carrollton in Georgia; Hagatna and Asan in Guam; Sidney, Ohio; Sycamore and Chicago in Illinois; Austin, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Lindsborg, Kansas; Clinton, Mississippi; Okmulgee, Oklahoma; Enderlin and Bismarck in North Dakota; Ocean City, Maryland; and Hanley Falls, Minnesota. We can't even begin to imagine how many additional miles our Federation of State Humanities Council colleagues, our state humanities council partners, and the exhibitions themselves traveled as part of this project. My math-challenged brain can't handle it. But, one thing is sure, we have the enormous privilege of serving and experiencing communities everywhere.

We're looking forward to visiting your state and meeting you during our travels in 2010.

-- Robbie Davis, MoMS/SITES, Washington, DC