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HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC — a VOA Special English program aboutmusic and American life. And we answer your questions.
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This is Doug Johnson. This week, we answer a question about theobservance of Thanksgiving in America. And we play Native Americanmusic performed by Joanne Shenandoah. But first – a progress reporton a new museum being built in Washington, D.C., to honor the firstpeople of this land.
American Indian Museum
HOST:
November is Native American History Month in the United States.So this is a good time to tell about progress on the Museum of theAmerican Indian in Washington, D.C. Shep O’Neal has our report.
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The new museum is to open inSeptember of two-thousand-four. Visitors will learn about the nativepeoples of North, Central and South America — about their lives,languages, history and arts.
Members of these living cultures played an important part increating the new museum. They helped decide what will be shown tothe public and how it will be shown. The National Museum of theAmerican Indian will have objects from the past and the present.Native people will provide explanations about the meaning andimportance. Research will also take place.
Indian leaders say building the museum in the center of thenation’s capital represents a kind of cultural justice. It isconsidered a sign of cooperation between people whose ancestors cameto these shores and the people who were already here.
The museum is on the National Mall, just across from the Capitolbuilding where Congress meets. It is also across from the VOAheadquarters, and the National Air and Space Museum.
Native influence can be seen in the shape of the museum. Goldenlimestone walls form waves around the building. It all seems to flowas if formed by wind and water. Glass windows provide light and aconnection between inside and out.
The museum will have areas where Native Americans presentpictures, songs and other materials to tell about their past andpresent. It will also have two theaters: one for live performances,the other to show a film that explains the museum.
The building will be surrounded by trees and a grassy area.Native American crops will grow there. Water will flow in and aroundhuge rocks, and continue to a small lake. The rocks are to showrespect for ancient things.
The new museum is part of the Smithsonian Institution.Smithsonian officials are planning special opening celebrations andprograms. The Web site for the National Museum of the AmericanIndian is w-w-w dot n-m-a-i dot s-i dot e-d-u. Again, w-w-w dotn-m-a-i dot s-i dot e-d-u.
Thanksgiving
HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes from India and Nigeria.Sampath Kumar and Okezie Okoro both ask about Thanksgiving Day. ThisAmerican holiday is observed on the last Thursday in November.
As the name suggests, it is a day to give thanks. Millions offamilies and friends gather for a traditional meal on Thanksgiving.It usually includes turkey, sweet potatoes, squash, corn,cranberries and pumpkin pie. Many of the same foods from the autumnharvest were eaten on the first Thanksgiving centuries ago.
Settlers from England calledPilgrims are believed to have held the first Thanksgiving meal inNorth America in sixteen-twenty-one. They had arrived in what is nowthe northeastern United States a year earlier. More than half theirnumber died from disease or lack of food.
Those who survived held a day of thanksgiving. They thanked Godfor protecting them. They also thanked the Native Americans wholived in the area. These Indians were part of the Wampanoag tribe.
The Wampanoags helped save the Pilgrims by showing them how tofish and plant crops. The Pilgrims celebrated Thanksgiving for aboutthree days. About ninety Indians joined the celebration. They atedeer, ducks, geese, turkeys and pumpkins. The two groups also made apeace and friendship agreement. This gave the Pilgrims an area tobuild their town.
This friendship, though, was not for long. More English settlerscame to America. They did not need the help of the Indians. Manysettlers forgot about the help the Indians had provided. Within afew years, the two sides were at war. Many of the Wampanoags werekilled in battle or died from diseases that arrived with theEuropeans.
NAMA/Joanne Shenandoah
HOST:
The Native American MusicAssociation held its sixth yearly awards ceremony earlier thismonth. One of the winners this year is American Indian song writerand recording artist Joanne Shenandoah. More from Faith Lapidus.
ANNCR:
Joanne Shenandoah is a member of the Oneida Nation, a tribe inNew York state. She is known for mixing traditional songs of herpeople with modern folk music. Here is an Oneida song called “SheCarries the Sky.”
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Joanne Shenandoah has performed with many artists across NorthAmerica and in Europe. She has performed at Earth Day celebrationsand other events. Here she sings a song from the Lakota Indians ofthe Great Plains. It is called “Creator’s Song.”
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This year she won a Native American Music Award for her recordalbum “Peace and Power: The Best of Joanne Shenandoah.” We leave youwith the title song.
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HOST:
This is Doug Johnson. Our program was written by Nancy Steinbach.The producer was Paul Thompson. And our engineer was Audrius Regis.
I hope you enjoyed AMERICAN MOSAIC and will join us again nextweek for VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.