AMERICAN INDIAN SYMPOSIUM: Annual event begins with full day of programs

Apr. 17—Indigenous scholars will be speaking on the Northeastern State University campus about sovereignty 100 years after the "Indian Citizenship Act," as the 51st annual Symposium on the American Indian got underway Wednesday.

Fifty-minute sessions are scheduled throughout the three days, April 17-20. Topics include McGirt v. Oklahoma, Cherokee language, social art movements, Cherokee medicine, indigenous sustainability, and more.

For the opening ceremony, NSU's ROTC served as the color guard, with Noah Shadlow drumming as the colors entered the room and made their way onto the stage.

NSU President Rodney Hanley gave the welcoming speech.

"I'm offering words of welcome to folks who have come to our campus," Hanley said before the event. "I hope the attendees will get a chance to tour our campus and check out some of our buildings and get a sense of the rich history we have — with the Cherokee Nation in particular."

Hanley said he would talk in his opening remarks about the history of NSU and tribal partners — most notably the Cherokee Nation.

"I think a lot of what is going on in Indian Country — there are a lot of great things going on, but there are also a lot of pressures and challenges coming against different tribes," Hanley said.

By sparking dialogue and being a forum for dialogue, Hanley believes the symposium will serve as a conduit for tribes to address challenges coming at them "fast and furious."

"It's a tricky world out there for tribes, but I think through mutual dialogue and with partners like NSU, we can make positive headway," Hanley said.

Michelle Brown, a Cherokee tribal citizen and representing the Department of Sociology at the University of Tennessee, will present a session on social movement art.

"Contemporary political art — like the work we've seen at Standing Rock and how people create graphic art in real time — is then shared on protest signs and moves across the digital world," Brown said. "So some of these images have been shared millions of times."

Brown's grandfather was born in Tahlequah.

"It's been a minute since I've been back, so I have a lot of feelings, but it's beautiful to be here — a sacred experience," Brown said.

Daniel Littlefield, director of Sequoyah Research Center at the University of Arkansas Little Rock, had a table set up on the periphery of the ballroom, where many of the sessions will be held. His research was on the Freedman within five tribes.

"Most people who are doing dissertations on this subject come to us during their process, because outside the National Archives, we probably have the best research collection on that subject," Littlefield said.

Keynote speakers are Robert Miller and Kasey Keeler. Miller, Eastern Shawnee, is a legal scholar specializing in federal Indian law. His most recent publication is "A Promise Kept" on the circumstances and implications of McGirt v. Oklahoma.

Keeler, Tuolumne Band Me-Wuk, focuses her research on federal Indian policy, land and dispossession, placemaking and contemporary issues impacting Native people. Her address will examine the nature of race and citizenship in the early land-based polices in the U.S.

A powwow will be held on Saturday at 2 p.m. and will run until 11 p.m.