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• 2004 SYMPOSIUM READINGS

2004 Symposium & Festival Audio Clips

Nettukkusq Singers
An Iroquois Social Song
Patricia Baptista-Reis discusses her tribe, the Wampanoag, followed by the Anthem of the Wampanoag tribe.

Susan Power
Reads a section from her unfinished book War Bundles. This excerpt is part of the story of Jude Reynolds, a young Potawatomi struggling with her Native identity while growing up in a modern American city.

Laura Tohe
Laura Tohe reads from her book No Parole Today, an exploration of the Indian boarding schools, particularly Carlisle Indian Industrial School, established by General Richard Henry Pratt in 1879. Pratt worked to "solve the Indian problem" by converting Indian children into "normal" Americans. Discussions of Pratt often focus on the famous quote:

"In Indian civilization I am a Baptist, because I believe in immersing the Indians in our civilization and when we get them under holding them there until they are thoroughly soaked."

"Dear General Pratt", an open letter to General Richard Henry Pratt "Our Tongues Slapped Into Silence", a poem exploring how Indian children were forced to give up their native languages and cultures in the boarding schools. "No Parole Today", a poem from the book of the same name, inspired by the 1980 Santa Fe Prison Riots, an event which paralleled the experiences of Indian boarding school students.

Craig Womack
Craig Womack reads from an unfinished book, an historical novel about Lynn Riggs, the Cherokee playwright most famous for his play Green Grow the Lilacs, which became the basis for the musical Oklahoma! Womack tells the story of a young Native American boy working on his father's farm while he dreams about fictional stories and learns about his culture and family.

Richard West
The keynote address of the Native Lands conference was also a part of the Richardson Lecture Series sponsored by the American Studies Program at Georgetown University. Richard West, Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, discusses how the changing face of history, particularly European colonization, affected native cultures.