Eiteljorg Museum presents Red/Black: Related Through History, on view February 12, 2011 – August 7, 2011.
From the first arrival of African slaves in North America, the interactions between people of African and Native American heritage has been a combined story of conflict, cooperation, and cultural destruction and survival. Partnering with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, the Eiteljorg has been pioneering in this field and draws together important artifacts that demonstrate shared traditions of food, dress, and occupation. Some American Indians held Black slaves and others helped them to escape. There was intermarriage and a blending of traditions. This is an essential story of personal identity that questions who gets to define someone’s identity and why judgments about a person’s race can be so easily misguided.
The object portion of the exhibition is produced by the Eiteljorg Museum under the title of Red /Black: Related through History. This will be combined with the Smithsonian’s traveling panel show entitled: Indivisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas.
The Eiteljorg Museum, which opened in 1989, was founded by Harrison Eiteljorg. The museum showcases Western and Native American art and cultural objects. The museum’s design is also inpired by the land, people, and architecture of the American Southwest.
www.eiteljorg.org