By Rob McDonald
NDN Wire Service writer
MONTICELLO, VIRGINIA
Cold January temperatures drove hundreds of people into large warming tents as a dozen dignitaries outside told 3,000 people why the Lewis and Clark expedition is important to them.
The kick-off event at Thomas Jefferson's historic home drew people like Philadelphia-area schoolteacher Nicole Pritchett. The more she understands history, the better she can teach, she reasoned.
As she took cover in the tent, Pritchett was surprised to see five Indian men dressed in fancy dancer regalia. In all, about 200 Indian elders and leaders from around the country came to Monticello for the inaugural commemoration.
She asked to have her picture taken with them so she could show her grade-school students.
"I was surprised they chose to be here,'' Pritchett said. ``We did take their land.''
She's not alone in wondering why members of the Native community chose to attend.
Well-known Lakota columnist Tim Giago expressed the same question in a column after watching the event covered by CBS This Morning.
The fact is American Indians have been a key part of Lewis and Clark from the beginning. But now, the tribes are taking control of their story, say organizers.
Obviously, that wasn't always the case.
Thomas Jefferson, the man who conceived the expedition, is commonly referred to as the father of archeology for digging through the burial mounds of the Mohegans in Virginia.
Unlike that era, organizers of the three-year commemoration of the Lewis and Clark expedition sought Indian participation in the early planning stages. The outreach was an attempt to ward off the kind of demonstrations generated during the 1992 500-year anniversary of Christopher Columbus.
Their participation, some tribes reasoned, gives tribes control to tell their side of the story the way they want it told.
"We fully expect that at some point someone will protest that these (tribes involved) are the sellouts," said Bobbie Conner, a Umatilla Indian woman who has emerged as a national figure in the Lewis and Clark commemorations. Even so, she said, "We learned a long time ago if you're not at the table when negotiations take place, it's very difficult to make your case."
Today, more than half of the nearly 60 Indian tribes encountered by the explorers have representatives involved in the three-years of events planned from Indiana to the Oregon Coast.
For Indian leaders and representatives it is important to establish that the anniversary is not a celebration for Native people.
The expedition was the beginning of the end, they say.
Less than 50 years after the expedition, most tribes had been strong-armed into treaties.
A lot has happened in two centuries.
Now many tribes are looking at the economic possibilities of playing host to thousands of history seekers who'll want to bring home a piece of their nation's history.
"This is a chance for us to lobby for our efforts," said Nez Perce tribal councilman Allen Slickpoo Jr.
The Nez Perce are planning several events, before they host one of the signature events in 2006 that will include a ceremony in the Weippe area, where Lewis and Clark fist encountered the Nez Perce.
But, not all tribes along the trail may be so eager to be involved.
"Some may want to bar the gates," Conner said. "Some tribes may be silent witnesses to another migration through their homelands."
What can be counted on, Conner said, is that Indian voices will be a significant part of the Lewis and Clark anniversary events.
Conner said it's time for the Native side to be told, like in the instance of her tribe.
Clark, who couldn't write very well, recounted his version to an attorney who wrote that Clark encountered members of the Umatilla tribe.
He was hunting birds when he saw several Indian people running from his party. Clark followed in a canoe, entered their village and threw open the door of a large shelter.
"From our perspective, they thought they were being chased," Conner said.
The Lewis and Clark journals said Clark thought he has impressed the Indians.
"He thought we believed he came down from the clouds and was a god," Conner said with amusement.
The whole "noble savage" motif that fueled the Hollywood Indian image got its start from the Lewis and Clark journals, she said.
Proudly, Conner holds up air-dried fish and pounded deer meat prepared the same way her people did it when Lewis and Clark arrived.
"We had some superior food preservation techniques when Lewis and Clark came through," Conner said.
They are many many stories to tell.
"Against incredible odds, we have survived the last 200 years," said Conner during a panel discussion in Virginia in January.
"I submit to you, that we are the story (of the Lewis and Clark expedition)."
The North American tribes have been on the land for 10,000 years, Conner said.
"We've been here longer than anyone else," Conner said. "Everyone else in the story is a Johnny-come-lately."
"We have no word for wilderness. What a surprise," Conner said. "It's not wilderness to us. It's home."
"It is our time to teach the outside world about who we are and what we're about," said Gerard Baker, a National Park Service manager who's heading up the national events.
If people want pleasant stories that gloss over the ugly truths, they should look else where, said James Rhonda, historian and author of "Lewis and Clark Among the Indians.''
"We need to see this emblematic American journey story through fresh eyes, through Native eyes," Rhonda said. "We need to get right with Lewis and Clark. And that means getting right with an often deeply troubled, troubling past.
"The journey begun here is yet unfinished," Rhonda said. "Dear friend, the trail beckons. The voices from the past call out to us. Now is the time to begin."
January's event was the first of 15 national signature events planned through 2006. The next signature event will be held in October in Clarksville, Ind., near where Lewis met up with Clark.
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