Friday, September 12, 2008
Kansas is the 11th and final state for the Native American Symposium. The only states to hold this symposium are those that Lewis and Clark traveled through during their expedition from 1804 to 1806.
Other states and locations of the Native American Symposium:
Missouri — March 13, 2004 at the Missouri Historical Society
Illinois — May 13, 2004 at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
South Dakota — Oct. 1, 2004 with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Iowa — April 9, 2005 at the Western Historic Trails Center
Nebraska — Oct. 19, 2005 at the Metro Community College, Fort Omaha Campus
North Dakota — Aug. 10, 2005 in New Town, N.D.
Montana — Nov. 4, 2006 in Great Falls, Mont.
Idaho — May 12, 2007 in Cottonwood, Idaho, Monastery of St. Gertrude
Washington/Oregon — Aug. 11-15, 2008 in Ellensburg, Wash.
Kansas — Sept. 12, 2008 in Lawrence
Historical controversies within the American Indian community will be the focus of a symposium on campus today.
The Dole Institute of Politics will play host to the free symposium from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The University will be one of the stops on the Native American Diplomacy Symposium’s 11-state tour across the country.
The event will focus on relations between American Indian tribes and the U.S. government since the Lewis and Clark expedition. The main speakers during the symposium will include actor Wes Studi from “Dances with Wolves” and “Last of the Mohicans,” Kevin Willmott, filmmaker and associate professor of theater and film, and Dan Wildcat, director of the Haskell Environmental Research Studies Center and the American Indian Studies program at Haskell Indian Nations University.
Bill Lacy, director of the Dole Institute, said the Kansas Arts Commission brought the idea to the Dole Institute.
“We’re also trying to find different opportunities to bring groups in that focus more on history,” Lacy said. “We understand that this is an exciting and eventful election year, but we also want to broaden our scope.”
Chris Howell, vice chair of the Kansas Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Commission and coordinator of the symposium, said the symposium would cover many topics, but would focus on the history of boarding schools within the Native American culture. Howell said issues dealing with boarding schools and what American Indian education is like today would be discussed.
“From the opening presentation to the closing, the speakers will focus on Indian education in a way that many people may have been unaware even took place,” Howell said.
During the closing presentation, Willmott and Studi will talk about the film “"The Only Good Indian,” Willmott’s film which starred Studi as Sam, a bounty hunter.
Willmott said the focus of his film was on boarding schools that Native Americans were forced to attend after the Plains Indian wars.
“This went on well into the 1950s and ‘60s,” Willmott said. “I think most people in general are totally unaware of this historical fact. One of the hopes that we have for the film is that it will allow the public to be aware of these boarding schools and forced assimilation.”
The majority of the filming took place in the summer of 2007 in the Flint Hills of Kansas. Some of the film was also shot in Lawrence, as it revolves around Haskell Indian Nations University when it was a boarding school.
Howell said the symposium was a good opportunity for the audience to learn about what it didn’t learn from history books.
“We will have people from tribes come forward, unencumbered and uncensored,” Howell said. “We’re not going to censor anyone’s story. Everyone has their own stories, passions and they have a right to share whatever they want to share.”
There will be a flag presentation presented by the Prairie Band Potawatomi Color Guard at the beginning of the ceremony. The flags will include the American flag, Kansas state flag and American Indian tribal flags.
“We’re hoping to have the look of an embassy or United Nations feel when people arrive,” Howell said.
— — Edited by Kelsey Hayes
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