Final Native American Diplomacy Summit to be at Dole Institute - Wes Studi among speakers
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To Be Held At The Robert J. Dole Institute Of Politics
On September 12, 2008
Wes Studi, Kevin Willmott, Robert J. Miller, Todd Fuller
Scheduled To Speak
Eleven States Have Hosted Events Over The Past Three Years
Lawrence, Kansas (September 2, 2008) – The final stop in a three-year,
eleven state series of symposia focusing on diplomatic relations
between American Indian Tribes and various levels of the U.S.
government will take place in Lawrence, Kansas on Friday, September
12, 2008. Actor Wes Studi (Last of the Mohicans, Geronimo) will
appear, along with filmmaker Kevin Willmott (CSA: Confederate States
of America, Bunker Hill); Robert J. Miller, Professor at Lewis & Clark
Law School of Portland, Oregon; Todd Fuller, President of Pawnee
Nation College of Pawnee, Oklahoma and Dan Wildcat, Director of the
Haskell Environmental Research Studies Center and of the American
Indian Studies Program at Haskell Indian Nations University.
The symposium will take place at The Robert J. Dole Institute of
Politics on the West Campus of The University of Kansas, beginning at
8:30am and ending at 4:30pm CT. It is free and open to the public.
Speakers will discuss Native American issues and policies during the
200 years since Lewis & Clark traveled through this area, and look
into the future. The opening presentation will focus on Lewis and
Clark’s political interactions with Indian Nations. Subsequent
presentations will focus on the preservation of indigenous Native
American languages, and the history of Native American boarding
schools.
The event will premiere exclusive clips from the upcoming film The
Only Good Indian, starring Wes Studi and directed by Kevin Willmott.
Thomas L. Carmody, writer and producer of the film, will also attend,
along with fellow producers Greg Hurd and Scott Richardson.
The symposium will open with a special Tribal Flag Ceremony presented
by The Prairie Band Potawatomi Color Guard. Outside the Dole
Institute, flags representing the tribes encountered by the Lewis &
Clark expedition will be on display. As part of the National Lewis &
Clark Bicentennial Commemoration, the flags were thoroughly
researched, carefully rendered with state-of-the-art computer
graphics, screen-printed on high-quality bunting – and made available
for the first time as an integrated collection.
In 2003, The Lewis and Clark Midwest Trail States formed an alliance
to host a series of events surrounding the importance of diplomatic
relations between the Federal Government, State and Local governments
and American Indian Tribes. The eleven Lewis and Clark Trail States
include Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota,
North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. The Kansas Lewis
and Clark Bicentennial Commission has been the lead state and managed
the overall Diplomacy Symposium Project.
“Through these public symposia, we have sought to reshape and enrich
the conversation about the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the cultural
aftermath experienced by the Tribal Nations following the Lewis and
Clark Expedition,” said Chris Howell, Vice-Chair of the Kansas Lewis
and Clark Bicentennial Commission and coordinator of the events. “It
is the hope of the Midwest Trail States that these symposia will lead
to further research and perhaps foster changes in the diplomatic
relationships of the United States and Tribal Nations across the
United States.”
A National Park Service Challenge Cost Share Grant awarded to the
Kansas Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission on behalf of the
Midwest Trail States is making this series of symposia possible. This
final event is sponsored by a National Park Service Challenge Cost
Share Grant, the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, Kansas State
Historical Society, the Kansas Lewis and Clark Bicentennial
Commission, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation and the Kickapoo Tribe
in Kansas.
Media contacts:
For additional information about the September 12 symposium, please
contact Scott Richardson at 785-865-3439 or
ScottRi...@Sunflower.com; or Greg Hurd at 785-550-3605 or
Greg...@Sunflower.com.
For additional information regarding the Midwest Trail States
Diplomacy Symposia, please contact Chris Howell, Vice-Chair of the
Kansas Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission at ch...@arts.ks.gov or
785-368-6547.
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