Smithsonian’s “Americans” exhibit comes to Native American Studies Center in Lancaster — opening Aug. 22

All about the exhibit

Developed by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and adapted for travel by Museum on Main Street, the exhibit will tour six communities statewide from August 2026 through June 2027. The tour is made possible in South Carolina by South Carolina Humanities.

Based on a major exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., “Americans” highlights the ways in which American Indians have been part of the nation’s identity since before the country began. Images of American Indians are everywhere, from imagery on commercial products and professional and high school sports mascots, to classic Westerns and episodes of Seinfeld and South Park. Indian names are everywhere too, from state, city, and street names to the Tomahawk missile. Beyond these images and names are familiar historical events and stories—Thanksgiving, Pocahontas, the Trail of Tears and Battle of Little Bighorn—that have become part of everyday conversation.

Through photographs, hands-on interactives, objects, and videos, the exhibition offers a new way of understanding a country forever fascinated, conflicted and shaped by its relationship with American Indians.
The exhibition examines three stories that are part of American national consciousness and popular culture. The first is devoted to Pocahontas, the young Powhatan woman who played a key role in saving the colony of Jamestown. Another story explores the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

Signed by President Andrew Jackson, the act envisioned a United States without Indians. One of the boldest and most far-reaching laws in American history, removal transformed the country—generating great wealth for the nation and catastrophe for Native Americans. The third looks at the complicated story of the Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as Custer’s Last Stand. “Americans” explores how these events have been remembered and represented throughout the years.

The exhibition title is a play on words and nods to the name originally given to this country’s Indigenous inhabitants by Europeans. It is meant not only as a reminder of the primacy of American Indians in the territory known as the United States but also of the tangled relationship between Indians and the people now called Americans.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. That day, a vendor market features homemade honey and jams by Bridgett Addy (Black River Tribe of Winyah-Dawhee), salves and jewelry by Stephanie Peak (Tuscarora Indians of Kahtenuaka Territories), copper jewelry by Steve Peak (Tuscarora Indians of Kahtenuaka Territories), and pottery by Joshua Shumak (Wassamasaw Tribe of Varnertown Indians). Following at 11 a.m., USC Lancaster Assistant Professor of History Dr. Evan Nooe presents “The Trail of Tears & Indian Removal in U.S. History,” exploring the motivations, resistance, and legacy of the many Indian Removals taking place in early U.S. history; the lecture will take place in person and virtually.

 

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