Native Speaker Series: Our Voices Remain

About this article: This article was originally published in the Lewis & Clark Trail Annual Report 2024.

Native Speaker Series: Our Voices Remain

This year, Indigenous perspectives of the Lewis and Clark Expedition were reawakened through Our Voices Remain, a Native speaker series organized in part between Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and Partnership for National Trails System (PNTS). Events were held in Omaha, Bismarck, and New Town.

Leading Native scholars for the series included Mr. Mark Charles and Mr. Walter Echo-Hawk. Both spoke on the impacts of the Expedition and the subsequent westward expansion of European Americans into Tribal lands throughout the 1800s, with a focus on the 100th commemoration of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.

Charles gave an overview of how early contact related to the Doctrine of Discovery, and led to the Indian War period which lasted for several decades following the Expedition.

Echo-Hawk discussed U.S. policies enacted during western settlement and shared details of his Pawnee and Otoe background, including a family heirloom - a peace medal given by Lewis and Clark to the Otoe chiefs from whom he is descended.

Partnering with host sites for these events was critical to its success. Many thanks to the University of Nebraska Omaha Native American Studies Program, MHA Interpretive Center in New Town, and United Tribes Technical College’s Tribal Leadership Summit for hosting. Partnership for National Trails System is seeking to expand this series to other partner trails.

By the Numbers

3 Our Voices Remain speaker series events conducted.
83 Tribal and Native-owned business postings on the Lewis and Clark Trail Experience sustainabile tourism website.
622 Recorded hours of Tent of Many Voices speeches and performances editied, transcribes, and made digitally compliant.