DIRECTOR’S LETTER .............................
AN ONONDAGA ODYSSEY O
BY KEVIN GOVER
ne of the joys of my job is to meet visitors to our Museum and hear their fascinating stories. Earlier this Fall, I was honored to host citizens of the Onondaga Nation, members
of the Onondaga Canoe and Kayak Club, who had just completed a remarkable journey to at- tend the opening of our major new exhibition Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations. The group, headed by Hickory Edwards, paddled traditional waterways from Buffalo, N.Y., to landfall at Annapolis, Md., a distance of 510 miles, and then walked the remaining 43 miles to Washington, D.C., arriving just in time for the exhibit opening. As they explain the endeavor, “For millen-
nia The Haudenosaunee – the Six Nations con- federacy of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora – navigated the waterways from their places of origin north on the continent to as far south as the maple leaf grows – the Carolinas. But U.S. assimila- tion policies of the first half of the 20th
century
removed many Haudenosaunee children from their homes to far away boarding schools, and generations lost the knowledge of the tradi- tional waterways. For the past six years the Onondaga Canoe
and Kayak Club, have re-learned the traditional waterways and have made epic journeys rival- ing those of their forebears. The longest, from Buffalo, N.Y., to Washington, D.C., occurred this summer. In July, Hickory paddled his kayak 183 miles
from Buffalo to Onondaga, where he stopped to attend the four-day reading of the “Great Law of Peace” that created the confederacy of the once warring nations. Realizing the tra- ditional waterways were also routes of peace, Hickory raised enough funds to continue his journey, now a diplomatic mission, from the capital of the Onondaga Nation to the capital of the United States. His goal – to arrive on Sep- tember 21, the day the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian was opening its epic Nation to Nation exhibition. Ten years in the making, the Museum has mounted the largest exhibition ever ex- ploring the relationship between the United
Kevin Gover, director of the National Museum of the American Indian, visits the Nation to Nation exhibit with Onondaga kayakers Hickory Edwards, John Edwards and Noah Onheda.
States and Native Nations through the trea- ties they made with one another. The first on display in the exhibition is the Treaty between the Haudenoseonee and the United States. Signed by Red Jacket, Corn Planter and Handsome Lake, among others of the confederacy, and George Washington in 1794, the Canandaigua Treaty is on national display for the first time ever. Hickory want- ed to be there to represent the Onondaga Na- tion to honor the treaty. And he did. Leaving Ononadaga Nation on September
3, and joined by his friend and fellow Onon- daga citizen Noah Onheda, the two traversed 510 miles down the Susquehanna River. Through storms and rapids, and beautiful sunny days, the highlight of their journey came mid-way when they encountered “In- dian Rocks.” Here is where Handsome Lake, a religious leader of the Six Nations as well
as a signer of the Canandaigua Treaty, con- templated the spiritual future of his people. Hickory and Noah entered the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay 16 days later, arriving at An- napolis Harbor on September 19 – the fur- thest they could journey by water. They then set out on foot, and walked the rest of the way to Washington, D.C., arriving at the museum at 4:30 pm, September 21. It was my honor to receive a rock from
them from the Chesapeake Bay shore com- memorating their odyssey and to tour the new exhibit with them. We were all awed to view the signature of Handsome Lake and George Wash- ington on the Canandaigua Treaty of 1794. I encourage all of you to visit us in Washington and share this experience, although perhaps not by such an arduous route! X
Kevin Gover (Pawnee) is the director of the National Museum of the American Indian.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 7
KEVIN WOLF/AP IMAGES FOR THE SMITHSONIAN'S NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN
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