Native Truths at the Field Museum of Natural History -

Do you like to tell people about yourself? What do you tell them? It is important to be able to tell your story the way you want to. At the Field Museum in Chicago, there is a new exhibit about stories and people. It is called Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories. In the exhibit, Native Americans [people whose ancestors lived in North America before the arrival of Europeans] tell their own stories the way they want to.

This is Lerris Keahna. He is dancing in front of a picture of himself. His picture is in the Field Museum exhibit. Lerris is part of the Meskwaki Nation. This is a nation of Native Americans that is located in Iowa. He is wearing handmade Meskwaki clothes. The clothes are for special events. Lerris is showing how to do a Meskwaki dance. The dance is part of the Meskwaki story.

Photo Credit: Holly Henderson, Gun Lake Tribe

Our belongings are also part of the stories we tell. Belongings are things people own. They are things people used in the past and use today. People can tell stories about the things. They can tell how they are used. This picture shows some of the belongings in the exhibit. You can see a boat and baskets. You can see art and tools. Learning about these items helps us learn about the people.

These baskets are also in the exhibit. The baskets were made by people from the Native American Chitimacha nation. People made some of these baskets more than 100 years ago. Some of the baskets were made only a few years ago by John Paul Darden and Melissa Darden. Can you see things that are the same about the baskets? Chitimacha people today make baskets the same way their ancestors did. Their story is connected to the story of people long ago. Their story continues today. They share that story with the visitors to the museum.

What Do You Think? Imagine somebody asks you to tell about yourself. What do you say? What do you share? Why is it important to tell your own story?