The Smithsonian Institution selects Canadian Douglas Cardinal, an Indian of Blackfoot and Metis ancestry, to be the lead architect of the National Museum of the American Indian (see entry for NO VEMBER 28, 1989), slated to open on the Mall in Washington, D. C., in 2002. Cardinal is best known for his design of the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Quebec and of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. Cardinal’s architectural firm has worked with many Native groups using a consensual design process, through which Cardinal asks for input from elders and other representatives of Native communities.
Although Cardinal is given the title chief designer, he is asked to work with the Philadelphia architecture firm GBQC. Over the next five years, Cardinal’s relationship with GBQC and the Smithsonian will sour. His main complaint will be that his contract with GBQC does not adequately compensate him for his time, bringing him and his firm to the brink of bankruptcy. Unable to resolve the dispute, the Smithsonian will fire both Cardinal and GBQC in 1998, after Cardinal’s design has been approved. Aside from minor changes, the museum will be built largely according to Cardinal’s original vision, although, in part because of his dismissal, the museum’s opening will be delayed for two years. (See also entry for SEPTEMBER 21, 2004.)
Actor Kevin Costner unveils plans for a Black Hills resort.
Announcing what is projected to be the largest private building project in South Dakota history, non-Indian actor Kevin Costner and his brother Dan plan to open Dunbar, a $95 million resort, in the town of Deadwood. Located in the Black Hills, an area sacred to the Lakota Sioux, the resort complex is to feature 430,000-square-foot hotel and recreation facilities, including golf courses, billiard halls, squash and tennis courses, and movie theaters.
The resort is named after Costner’s character in Dances with Wolves, a film he directed and starred in (see entry for 1990). Winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, the enormously successful movie addressed the Lakota’s battles for their land in the late 19 th century. Although the tribe largely endorsed Costner’s film, most Lakota are outraged by his plans to develop their sacred lands into a tourist attraction for non-Indians. Echoing the sentiment of many tribal members, Madonna Thunder Hawk of the Black Hills Protection Committee later says, “Kevin Costner only likes his romantic idea of the Indians. He’s not interested in real Indians and our modern problems.”
Early in the next decade, Costner will abandon his plans for the Dunbar Resort, when he is unable to secure the needed financial backing.
The first First Americans in the Arts (FAITA) Awards are held.
Created by Creek-Seminole actor Bob Hicks, the First Americans in the Arts (FAITA) awards are held in Los Angeles, California. In what will become an annual event, FAITA awards are given to Indian performers who have excelled in film, music, and television, and scholarships are presented to outstanding Indian students interested in careers in the arts. Among the evening’s winners are Dakota Sioux actor-singer John Trudell, Oneida actor Graham Greene (see entry for 1990), and Kiowa playwright Hanay Geiogamah.
The hantavirus epidemic breaks out on the Navajo reservation.
A 19-year-old Navajo (Dineh) man is rushed to Indian Medical Center in Gallup, New Mexico, with severe flu symptoms. Soon the patient, unable to breathe, dies. Learning of several similar cases, area doctors consult with the Center of Disease Control (CDC). Within a few days, the CDC identifies the mysterious illness as hantavirus, a virus that has never before caused disease in humans in the Americas.
The disease claims the lives of 16 Navajo before the virus’s carrier is discovered to be the wild deer mouse, whose population has exploded after heavy rains produced an especially large crop of the pinon nuts on which the animals feed. The government immediately launches a public information campaign in English, Spanish, and Navajo in the Four Corners area to inform residents how to avoid contamination.
Indian canoeists set off on the Enatai on Alki.
To help revive their cultural traditions surrounding canoe travel, 15 representatives of seven Pacific Northwest tribes begin a month-long journey from the Puget Sound to Bella Bella, British Columbia. The participants call the grueling 1,000-mile trip the Enatai on Alki, which means “a crossing into the future” in Chinook. When the canoeists arrive in Bella Bella, they join in a potlatch ceremony attended by thousands as part of a Washington State Day celebration.
Ada Deer is sworn in as the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Following his election to the presidency, Bill Clinton names Menominee scholar and activist Ada Deer the assistant secretary of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). During the congressional hearing on her appointment, the Senate gives her a standing ovation, a gesture that displays the popularity she earned while lobbying in Washington on behalf of her tribe (see entry for 1970). As her nomination is confirmed, Ada Deer becomes the first Native American woman ever to head the BIA.
Any more than we would be reluctant to support the permanency of federal or state sovereignty. . . . The role of the federal government should be to support and to implement tribally-inspired solutions to tribally defined problems. The days of federal paternalism are over.”
—Ada Deer, speaking before Congress following her nomination for the assistant secretary of Indian affairs
The House recognizes the Lumbee tribe.
The Lumbee Indians of North Carolina are formally recognized by the House of Representatives. With recognition, the Lumbee are permitted to adopt a constitution, but they are still not eligible for federal funding (see entry for JULY 7, 1956). Recognized by the state of North Carolina in 1885, the tribe has been seeking full federal recognition since 1890.
P
“My vision for the Bureau of Indian Affairs is to create a progressive federal/tribal partnership. First and foremost, the heart of Indian policy must be strong, effective tribal sovereignty. There is no reason for me or for any of you to be reluctant to support the permanency of tribal sovereignty
The Catawba’s federal recognition is restored.
After 13 years of negotiation between the United States and the Native American Rights Fund, Catawba chief Gilbert Blue signs an agreement that settles the claim to lands in South Carolina taken from the Catawba by the Treaty of Nation Ford of 1840. As part of the settlement, the United States restores federal recognition to the Catawba tribe (see entry for JULY 1, 1962), making it eligible for government services reserved for Indians. Congress also awards the Catawba $50 million to purchase land, fund economic and social programs, and make payments to tribal members.
December
The Turner Network Television network launches a series of programs about Indians.
Initiated by Ted Turner, owner of Turner Network Television, the cable network begins a year of programming about Native Americans, starting with the airing of Geronimo, a television movie biography of the 19th-century Apache leader. The project will include six movies about historical Indian figures and a six-hour documentary on Indian history titled The Native Americans. Turner’s Cable News Network (CNN) will also produce The Invisible People, a 20-part series of reports about contemporary Indian issues.
World History
