‘Cherokee People and the American Revolution’
The MotCP.
File photo
A first-of-its-kind exhibition centering Native voices, perspectives and creativity in response to the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, the exhibition “Unrelenting: Cherokee People and the American Revolution” is currently being showcased at the Museum of the Cherokee People (MotCP) in Cherokee.
On view through Dec. 30, the exhibition features historic objects in conversation with works by Cherokee artists, merging cultural heritage, military history and contemporary art for a nuanced examination of a pivotal moment in Cherokee and American history.
“As a sovereign nation and the tribal museum of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, we are so pleased we can present this self-funded, independent exhibition from a Cherokee perspective,” said MotCP Executive Director Shana Bushyhead Condill (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians).
With research beginning in 2022, the exhibition’s curators — MotCP Director of Education Dakota Brown (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), MotCP Director of Collections and Exhibitions Evan Mathis and guest curator Brandon Dillard (Cherokee Nation), director of Historic Interpretation and Audience Engagement at Monticello — sought Cherokee accounts of the American Revolution (1775-1783) and the Cherokee American War (1776-1794), highlighting the complexities of memory and commemoration.
“For those of us from the South, memory is inscribed on the landscape in countless ways that are so naturalized that they feel omnipresent,” Dillard said. “Most people drive by roadside markers commemorating long-forgotten battles every day. We pass statues in public squares, learn and work in buildings named after complicated and often fraught people, and we partake in rituals commemorating historical events. But how often do most people sit around and actually talk about those events?”
In addition to showcasing historic objects, including weapons, adornments and archival materials, MotCP invited Cherokee artists to create new works in response to historic treaties and documents from the Revolutionary era. Ranging in mediums from spoken word songs to paintings to beadwork, these contemporary creative expressions “make it impossible for the viewer to put us, as Cherokee people, in the past,” Condill said.
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As the nation commemorates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the curators of the exhibition aspire to spark conversation about American identity and sovereignty among visitors of all walks of life, sharing new research in the first exhibit about Cherokees in the American Revolution by Cherokee scholars.
“Because American nationalist mythology pretends like Native people belong in the past, our contemporary existence contradicts the dominant memory and commemorative landscape of the United States,” Dillard said. “With ‘Unrelenting,’ we just wanted to invite people to think about some of those things and recognize how complicated it all is and, most importantly, to welcome complexity when thinking about the past.”
General admission tickets are $15 for adults, $8 for children ages 6-12 and free for children ages 5 and under. MotCP offers free admission to members of federally recognized tribes and museum members. Student, educator, senior and military rates available. Admission to all changing exhibitions is included in the general admission ticket price.
For more information, visit motcp.org.
