This collection explores the lives and roles that trailblazing Native American women have assumed from as early as the 1800s up to the 2010s. With few rights granted to women and Native Americans, Native American women had to choose to assimilate to succeed in a western world. Still, these women fought to preserve their culture, customs, and traditions. With institutions such as the government boarding school, this became especially hard. Civil War veteran Richard Henry Pratt founded the institution in 1879 to “civilize” children from Indigenous tribes around the country—in other words, a project of forced assimilation to Euro-American culture, or cultural genocide. Would you give up your heritage if it meant you would have a better future?

This Learning Lab collection was created by Maya Rodgers in the summer 2021 Smithsonian Affiliate Digital Learning and Engagement Internship, in partnership with Emerson Collective and The Durham Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate. #SAintern #DurhamMuseum #SocialInjustice #WomensHistory #NativeAmerican #Indigenous