Bonus of writing history

the pro of kicking the crap out of an entire race of people is the ability to write history books that you in a positive light. "It wasn't our fault it was Manifest Destiny!" The National Museum of the American Indian kinda calls BS on that idea. It highlights the wrongs done the American Indian people while still showing them as a persisting culture.

"We're still here" was emblazoned across the Cherokee section of "Our People"

The museum is designed to express the American Indian's side of the story. There was a focus on the tribes as individual communities as opposed to the whole as a culturally homogenous community. Artifacts were organized by tribe and each tribal area was organized so as to detail the individual tribe's fight against oppression.

At the entrances there is a big focus on community and the idea that we are all similar people. (the entrance of one exhibit is lined with video screens that show American Indians walking through as you walk through the entrance) The artifacts are organized to show the diversity of the different tribes.