#15 Lewis and Clark: Currents of Change
September 2006
St. Louis, Missouri
The bicentennial concluded in September 2006 at St. Louis, Missouri, with the final national signature event, Lewis & Clark: Currents of Change, hosted by the National Council of the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial and the Osage Nation, in partnership with the National Park Service.
The event commemorated Lewis & Clark’s successful return to St. Louis after a preparation and journey of nearly 4 years.
Hundreds of American Indian participants, elders, scholars and Tribal leaders from more than 40 Tribal nations participated in a moving conclusion to the Expedition’s 200th anniversary observance, illuminating the deep friendships, mutual respect and understanding that developed among people of different cultures since the commemoration’s beginning on a cold January day in 2003.
Tribal programming includes:
Tribal Nations Represented: Absentee Shawnee, Blackfeet, Cheyenne River Sioux, Chinook, Clatsop-Nehalem, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Cowlitz, Crow, Eastern Shawnee, Fort Peck Assiniboine-Sioux, Grand Ronde, Kaw, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Little Shell Chippewa-Cree, Lower Brule Sioux, Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara, Monacan, Nez Perce, Oglala Lakota, Omaha, Osage, Otoe-Missouria, Pawnee, Ponca, Prairie Band Potawatomi, Rosebud Sioux, Sac & Fox, Shawnee, Shoshone-Bannock, Standing Rock Sioux, Wanapum, Yakama, Yankton Sioux.
The Stories We Tell Symposium: An extraordinary symposium features Pulitzer Prize winning author N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa) as keynote speaker; Gerard Baker; poets Carter Revard (Osage) and Debra Magpie Earling (Salish); Dr. Robert Miller; journalist David Sarasohn; Missouri Historical Society curator Carolyn Gilman, and many others.
Special Evening with Authors of Lewis and Clark Through Indian Eyes: Panel discussion and book signing featuring N. Scott Momaday, Gerard Baker, Roberta Basch, Richard Basch, Roberta Conner, Debra Magpie Earling, Allen Pinkham, Sr., Bill Yellowtail, Craig Howe reading for the late Vine Deloria, Jr. The event is filmed by C-SPAN Book TV and aired nationwide during the months of October and November.
Additional Book Signings: Diane Glancy, Craig Howe, Lanniko Lee, Robert Miller, Carter Revard and Germaine White.
Tribal Presentations: Cradleboard, Commerce of the American Indian, Gros Ventre History and Culture, Blackfeet Culture and History Through Song, Our Songs Continue, Ribbon Work, Horses of Mass Destruction, The Waters Speak, Osage Dress, Sheheke, Pawnee History and Culture, Blackfeet and Lewis & Clark, The Salish People and the Lewis & Clark Expedition, The Otoe-Missouria Meet the Big Knives, Sacagawea, Mandan Music and History, Nez Perce Warriors, When My Chief Returns, InterTribal Games, Absentee Shawnee Culture, Spirit of Sacagawea (film), Living in Two Worlds, Daytime Smoker – the Nez Perce Son of William Clark, Women of the Upper Missouri, Many Kinds of Natives, Universal Language of the Plains, Chippewa-Cree Culture, Taking Culture and Tradition in the 21st Century, Chinook History
and Culture.
A Return to Healthy Rivers: Tribal leaders’ panel focusing on the Missouri and Columbia Rivers, presented by the Circle of Tribal Advisors and featuring, Tillie Walker (Mandan elder), Antone Minthorn (Chairman, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation), Robert Cournoyer (Chairman, Yankton Sioux Tribe), Gary Greene (Nez Perce Tribe), LaDonna Brave Bull Allard (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe), and Charles Hudson (Mandan-Hidatsa, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission).
Arrival of Chinook Ocean-Going Canoes: Saint Louis Riverfront
Bicentennial Closing Ceremony: Tribal flag procession with more than 30 Tribal flags placed in front of the Arch, Osage Singers, poem “Living in the Holy Land,” by Osage poet Carter Revard, closing remarks by Osage Principal Chief James Roan Gray.
Riverfront Extravaganza: Featuring Native blues band Indigenous (Yankton Sioux Tribe) and soul singer Martha Redbone (Choctaw-Cherokee-Shawnee-Blackfeet).
Return to the Middle Waters: Inspirational service and blessing by Osage Tribal elders, on the Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River. No dry eyes.
Corps of Discovery II Closing Ceremony: Corps II ends its bicentennial run and closes its doors forever with warm embraces and tearful closing ceremonies. Chief Cliff Snider (Chinook), who was the first speaker in Corps II’s Tent of Many Voices, is also the final speaker. Corps II’s closing concludes the 2003-2006 Lewis & Clark Bicentennial. It also illuminates the deep friendships, mutual respect and understanding that developed for people of different cultures since the commemoration’s beginning on a cold January day in 2003.
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