Jeff Morgan, (515)
281-3858, Jeff.Morgan@iowa.gov
What:
Lewis & Clark Midwest Trail States Native American Diplomacy Symposium
Times: 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Dates: April 9, 2005
Place: Western Historic Trails Center, 3434 Richard Downing
Ave. Council Bluffs.
Contact: KC Hummel, (712) 366-4900
Schedule: Available
online
The Western Historic Trails Center will host “Lewis & Clark Midwest
Trail States Native American Diplomacy Symposium” April 9, 2005, from 8:30
a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The symposium is sponsored by a National Park Service Challenge
Cost Share Grant, the Iowa Lewis & Clark Commission, the State Historical
Society of Iowa and the Western Historic Trails Center. The symposium is being
held this year in lieu of the Iowa History Forum.
Speakers will discuss Native American health issues and policies in the 200
years since Lewis & Clark traveled through this area. Speakers will include
Robert Miller, Lewis & Clark Law School., Portland, Oregon; Linea Sundstrom,
University of Wisconsin; Karl Reinhard, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Jessilene
Anderson, University of Nebraska-Omaha; and Don Wanatee, Sac and Fox Tribal Member,
with Matthew “Sitting Bear” Jones, University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
as moderator.
The Diplomacy Symposium is one in a series of panel discussions surrounding
the importance of diplomatic relations between the Federal Government, State and
Local governments and American Indian Tribes. The seven Lewis and Clark Midwest
Trail States (Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and North
Dakota) formed an alliance to host the series. The Kansas Lewis and Clark Bicentennial
Commission leads the effort and is managing the overall Diplomacy Symposia Project.
This series of symposia seeks to broaden the circle of interest beyond Corps
of Discovery enthusiasts and give voice to important but under-represented perspectives.
These symposia offer a forum to examine and compare the diplomatic cultural practices
of the new United States and those of the Indian nations met by the Corps of Discovery.
The symposia presentations will focus on three areas of American Indian diplomatic
relations beginning with the diplomatic policies that were in place prior to the
Lewis and Clark Expedition. The second portion of panel presentations will focus
on Federal, State and Local governments’ American Indian policies and diplomatic
relationships in the past 200 years. The final presentations will focus on what
changes are anticipated in the future for American Indian policies of Federal,
State and Local governments. The Iowa symposium focuses on health issues and policies
in the 200 years since Lewis & Clark traveled through this area.
The many goals of this project include increasing public awareness of the importance
of diplomatic relationships with American Indian tribal governments,; encouraging
statewide participation in the Midwest Trail States’ commemorative activities,;
and finally, providing a forum for American Indians to share their heritage in
their own words by participating in the panel discussions. Tribes historically
located within each of the Midwest Trail States have been invited to participate
in the panel presentations to share their own heritage as well as their views
of Tribal diplomacy.
These public symposia seek to reshape and enrich the conversation about the
Lewis and Clark Expedition and the cultural aftermath experienced by the Tribal
Nations following the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It is the hope of the Midwest
Trail States that these symposia will lead to further research and perhaps foster
changes in the diplomatic relationships of the United States and Tribal Nations
across the United States.
A National Park Service Challenge Cost Share Grant awarded to the Kansas Lewis
and Clark Bicentennial Commission on behalf of the Midwest Trail States is making
this series of symposia possible.
Media contact:
For additional information regarding the Midwest Trail States Diplomacy Symposia,
please contact Chris Howell, Vice-Chair of the Kansas Lewis and Clark Bicentennial
Commission at chris@arts.state.ks.us
or (785) 368-6547.
Please call the Western Historic Trails Center or visit www.iowahistory.org
for a complete schedule.
The event is free and open to the public. Please call (712) 366-4900 for more
information.
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