Each Memorial Day, Washington, like cities across the United States, offers events to honor military members who died while serving their countries: a parade through the streets, a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, and motorcycles touring the city.
In addition to these widely known events, there are other services for Memorial Day, which is celebrated on the last Mondays in May. One of these events will honor Indigenous military service members.
According to the Department of Defense, the first national tribute was on May 30, 1868 at the Arlington National Ceremony. Then known as Decoration Day, flowers were added to soldiers’ graves. The holiday later became Memorial Day. Now, celebrations take place across the country, from parades in cities or counties, to larger-scale events like those taking place in Washington.
However, some service members, particularly Native Americans, have in the past been overlooked in commemoration.
Indigenous peoples have participated in every major conflict the United States has fought over the past 200 years, according to the US State Department.
An event this Memorial Day, hosted by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, seeks to specifically honor indigenous service members who have died. Each year, the museum commemorates Memorial Day with a service, such as lighting the flame of its National Native American Veterans Memorial.
“Memorial Day: Honoring Native Service Members” will include a film screening, book talk and book signing. Visitors are also encouraged to explore the museum grounds and the National Native American Veterans Memorial, where they can commemorate service members and honor loved ones.
The event begins with “The Warrior Tradition,” a 56-minute 2019 film directed by Lawrence R. Hott. Investigate the often untold history of indigenous peoples in the military and examine these service members’ tumultuous relationship with the United States government. The screening will be at the museum’s Rasmuson Theater.
Museum visitors can then meet author Alexandra N. Harris for the discussion “Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces,” a book co-written with Mark G. Hirsch. The book, which complements the National Native American Veterans Memorial, is a multimedia exploration that includes photographs, sketches and images of objects from the museum’s collections.
The book tells the “groundbreaking story [que] honors the diversity of indigenous peoples and the complexity of their experiences. In doing so, it challenges stereotypes commonly applied to Native service members and honors the men and women whose contributions have shaped America’s wars and the country’s history,” according to the National Museum of the American Indian website. .
“There is still a powerful feeling in Indian Country, and in most of the veterans I spoke to, to declare that ‘we are still here,’” Harrison said at a symposium in 2019 about the book and the Museum’s projects.
The Memorial Day commemorations are a microcosm of the larger ongoing exhibit, “Why We Serve,” a project created by the National Museum of the American Indian. The project, which examines the history of indigenous peoples in service since the American Revolution, addresses the tension of people serving a government that has taken their people’s lands and suppressed their culture. The interactive online project explores the legacy of these service members and their reasons for joining the military.
“I discovered that I am not only fighting for the little piece of land I speak of, [o] my immediate family. I found out he was fighting for all the Indian people, all the people of the United States,” said Navajo code talker Samuel Tso, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps.
This Memorial Day, amid an afternoon of informational events, the plan is to continue the mission of the “Why We Serve” project to honor Indigenous people who served and died during their time in the military.
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