Family Fun at the National Museum of the American Indian

This spring we got to do something I personally have not done in years. We spent two whole entire days touring Washington, D.C.

Normally, if we go into the city at all, it is just to see this one thing or to meet a friend some place. It has been years since I did this much touring in our own city. Two days back to back was both fun and far more exhausting than the usual one day out. I’m thankful we go to do it!

We had family in town, and really they did all of the planning for us. That was also nice! I was just tagging along.

This was over a month ago, and my feet have barely now fully recovered! There is something about pounding the pavement of a city, standing in lines, and seeing museums that always destroys my footsies.

Come along and I’ll share some of the things we saw with ya!

I thought I could put it all in one post, but I had more to say than I thought, so today we are just talking about one of the free Smithsonian museums.

I sound like such an oldie, but it’s been twenty years since the last time we went to the American Indian Museum, and it was completely different!

Touring this one was my niece’s choices, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Twenty years ago I don’t think they had the children’s wing with the teepee and pueblo and art center. All I remember back then was art exhibits and the cafeteria. This time there were many history displays, videos, and a large gift shop in addition to the Native American art exhibits.

I had the best time in this museum. It was my favorite thing we did!!

My family has a line of Creek ancestry, and Alan found the Creek tribal flag for me. I should have zoomed in and taken a photo of it, but alas. I get overwhelmed in places and forget to take photos sometimes.

Since Daniel played lacrosse this year, we were excited to see this Iroquois lacrosse display.

It says the Iroquois would sometimes have sixty people per team playing the game, and the field could be up to two miles long! The plaque states that lacrosse was “symbolic warfare and healing ceremony.”

Alan, Daniel, and I have learned so much about lacrosse this year. This was Daniel’s first year, and he was a team goalie. It’s a violent game. The players are allowed to defensively whack the ball player with sticks to get the ball away from him. We are football fans from the South though, so we accept this violence as good clean fun. Ha!!

We had the most fun in the children’s exhibit, so don’t skip it, even if you do not have children. It isn’t only for kids!

Normally, I would have passed right by this section entirely. However, we took part in an art program that day that ended in the children’s area. The art program ended with us getting to do our own art project using their supplies, which I just loved. As a grown up with no little kids, I rarely ever do any art projects. I had myself a ball, sitting at a table with my son and my husband, getting to create bracelets and artwork.

Five out of five stars, y’all. If they do a program while you’re in there touring, show up for it. It was so fun. We got a short guided tour through the art exhibits, and then it ended with arts and crafts. What’s not to love?

Some of us finished our projects before the others, so we scurried off and explored the play area where we found the teepee, a cool canoe rowing simulator, puzzles, and a pueblo!

I feel like we all know canoes were invented by Indians, but I didn’t think about kayaks before. Kayaks originate with Native American tribes in the Arctic regions. Kayaks are so popular now too, but I do like canoes just a little bit better.

This was the most popular thing that we did. ALL of the kids and most of the adults had to try out the kayak balance practice. There were both easy and difficult stations, and they enjoyed trying that out. I guess my adventure-meter was full from arts and crafts time because, though tempted, I did not have a seat in the simulator.

I have always loved learning American history, both of Indians and of pilgrims and settlers.

There were many exhibits on the history and displacement of the Indians and their relationships with colonial America and the early U.S. They had artifacts, maps, displays, and videos. I learned all sorts of things. I would have stayed even longer and read even more, but we were traveling with three children and three other adults. When traveling with a group, one must stay with the group.

I’m often the one waiting at the end of all the displays for the others, but this one had me hooked!

The American Indians were wearing their babies before it was cool. I remember learning about this in school and thinking it was neat. I read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, and she was also fascinated with it. Then, of course, as an adult I ended up wearing my babies too.

The story of the American Indian is a famously haunting one, all those people being driven west on the Trail of Tears. There were so many broken treaties, so much fighting, and precious little peace once the American immigration began.

In our family, we have an ancestor whose death certificate reads, “She watched her family leave on the Trail of Tears.” This was my great-grandfather’s (who I knew) great-grandmother. Even his grandmother was called a “squaw”, though she was only 1/4 Indian.

Google’s AI machine, which popped up when I checked to see if I spelled ‘squaw’ right, says that squaw is a “deeply offensive” term. Geesh. I don’t think they meant it that way. When people back then said that squaw, it was just another word for an Indian lady. Well, I don’t believe AI truly understands humans, so I did some deeper digging and found that, as I suspected, “squaw” was not considered offensive back in the day when my several-greats-grandmothers were called that. You can see that article here. The word indeed came from one of the native American languages.

So much of what we know in the South originates with the American Indians who lived there before us. We have so many counties, rivers, cities, and landforms with Indian names: Muscogee County, Tuscaloosa, Talapoosa River, and the list goes on and on. They saved the earliest pilgrims in Massachusetts by teaching them how to raise corn and fertilize their crops. The Indians led us through the woods of the Southern frontier and across the plains and mountains of the West. We have a long shared history and would not have made it without the Indians, as tumultuous as those relationships were.

I am honored to have ancestors who were Creeks, and I wholeheartedly recommend their museum if you’re coming to see D.C.!

I hope you have enjoyed this little virtual tour. Come back in a week. I’ll show you the Tidal paddle boats and the Library of Congress!