10/12/2026
American Indians are about 2 percent of the population, yet images of Indians are everywhere. From imagery on commercial products and professional and high school sports mascots, to classic Westerns and episodes of Seinfeld and South Park, we are surrounded by American Indian imagery. Indian names are everywhere too, from state, city, and street names to the Tomahawk missile.
Based on a major exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC, our “Americans” traveling exhibition explores how deeply intertwined American Indians are in the culture of the United States.
How is it that Indians can be so present and so absent in American life? Pervasive, powerful, at times demeaning, the images, names, and stories reveal the deep connection between Americans and American Indians.
The exhibition highlights the ways in which American Indians have been part of the nation’s identity since before the country began and offers a new way of understanding a few familiar events like Thanksgiving and Little Bighorn. Learn more: https://s.si.edu/47eBaVk
📷: Americans" Entry Gallery at the National Museum of American Indian, Washington DC