Native American Heritage Month at the Museum

Join a Museum educator in the Museum's core galleries for a 10-minute talk to learn about Akiatonharónkwen (Louis Cook), one of the highest-ranking Native American officers in the Continental forces during the Revolutionary War. 

Join a Museum educator at a discovery cart featuring replica artifacts and documents to learn about Tyonajanegen (Two Kettles Together), an Oneida woman who participated in the Battle of Oriskany during the Saratoga Campaign.

"The People of the Standing Stone" explores the crucial but little-known history of the extraordinary contributions of one Native American people who chose to commit themselves to the Revolutionary cause when nearly all others fought on the side of the British during America’s War for Independence. The moving 25-minute film was directed by Emmy Award-winning director Ric Burns and narrated by Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Costner.

Meet people of the Oneida Nation in the midst of a debate about how they will engage in the Revolutionary War. A film and six life-cast figures, bring the discussion to life at the Museum's Oneida Nation Theater. Each of the figures is based on a real Oneida person and dressed in garments representative of what these people wore in the 1770s, combining Native fashion and Euro-American textiles and trade goods. Their words are drawn from a variety of sources and written in the style apparent in recorded Native American speeches, treaty negotiations, and conversations.

More than 250,000 Native Americans lived east of the Mississippi River during the Revolutionary era. They formed more than 80 nations and spoke dozens of languages. The decades of political turmoil and warfare that divided Great Britain and its colonies and led to the creation of the United States profoundly affected native people.

Expanding on themes presented in The Declaration’s Journey, explore the ways that multiple tribes directly invoked the Declaration to demand sovereignty throughout the 20th century.