SmithsonianNMAI | Session 6—Legacies of Indian Bondage @SmithsonianNMAI | Uploaded October 2021 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
Vanielle Blackhorse, Mary Elliott, Brandie Macdonald, Royleen J. Ross, The Honorable Brian D. Vallo, Michelle Delaney
This panel explores the legacies of Indian slavery today, from forced removals to weakened cultural grounding in Indigenous communities. Topics include intergenerational trauma and public health, including the effects of COVID-19 on Native communities. The conversation also touches on how museums can foster discussions on slavery in the United States, including decolonizing perspectives.
Vanielle Blackhorse, a member of the Navajo Nation, was born in Chinle, Arizona, and raised in the small town of Kayenta, Arizona. She works for the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority in Kayenta. Blackhorse is of the Red Bottom people, born for the Folded Arm people; her maternal grandparents are of the Bitter Water people, and her paternal grandparents are of the Red Running Into the Water people.
Mary Elliott is curator of American slavery at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). She co-curated the museum’s Slavery and Freedom inaugural exhibition and she is a team member of the museum’s Slave Wrecks Project. She also curated and wrote the special broadsheet section of the award-winning New York Times-featured publication entitled “The 1619 Project.”
Brandie Macdonald (Chickasaw/Choctaw; she/her) is the director of decolonizing initiatives at the Museum of Us which resides on the unceded ancestral homeland of Kumeyaay peoples located in San Diego, California. Her work focuses on the implementation of anti-colonial/decolonial theory and practice in museums which centers truth-telling, accountability, and actionable change to redress colonial impact, structural racism, and inequity.
Royleen J. Ross, PhD, is from the Pueblo of Laguna, Village of Paguate, in New Mexico. She received her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of North Dakota, as a member of the Indians into Psychology Doctoral Education program. She currently serves a regional southwest Native population and previously worked in remote northwest Alaska providing mental health services.
The Honorable Brian D. Vallo, a member of the Pueblo of Acoma tribe in New Mexico, is serving a third consecutive appointment as governor of the Pueblo. Prior to his appointment as governor of the Pueblo, Vallo served as director of the Indian Arts Research Center at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Michelle Anne Delaney, PhD, session moderator, is the assistant director for history and culture at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), leading the museum scholarship division. Delaney directs NMAI and pan-Smithsonian collaborative projects and is a historian of photography, specializing in Native American photography and photojournalism.
Christina Maria Salazar was born in Pasadena, California, and raised in the nearby communities of San Marino and San Gabriel. She is Gabrieleño from both her mother’s and father’s sides, a Gabrieleño/Tongva elder, and has long been an active member of the Gabrieleño San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians. She has served as a board member and worked as a docent for the San Gabriel Mission. She has also served as treasurer and trustee for the San Gabriel Historical Association.
Helen Louise Salazar was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in San Marino. Salazar is a Gabrieleño/Tongva elder and has been deeply involved with the Gabrieleño San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians for many years. Her family has lived in San Gabriel and San Marino for generations and she has a deep connection to the city of San Gabriel and its history. Her fourth-generation grandmother, Eulalia Pérez de Guillén, was the keeper of the keys and her great-grandmother was Estefana Duarte.
Anthea M. Hartig, PhD, session moderator, is the Elizabeth MacMillan Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the first woman to hold the position since the museum opened in 1964. Hartig oversees more than 250 employees, a budget of over $40 million and a collection that includes 1.8 million objects and more than three shelf-miles of arc
Vanielle Blackhorse, Mary Elliott, Brandie Macdonald, Royleen J. Ross, The Honorable Brian D. Vallo, Michelle Delaney
This panel explores the legacies of Indian slavery today, from forced removals to weakened cultural grounding in Indigenous communities. Topics include intergenerational trauma and public health, including the effects of COVID-19 on Native communities. The conversation also touches on how museums can foster discussions on slavery in the United States, including decolonizing perspectives.
Vanielle Blackhorse, a member of the Navajo Nation, was born in Chinle, Arizona, and raised in the small town of Kayenta, Arizona. She works for the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority in Kayenta. Blackhorse is of the Red Bottom people, born for the Folded Arm people; her maternal grandparents are of the Bitter Water people, and her paternal grandparents are of the Red Running Into the Water people.
Mary Elliott is curator of American slavery at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). She co-curated the museum’s Slavery and Freedom inaugural exhibition and she is a team member of the museum’s Slave Wrecks Project. She also curated and wrote the special broadsheet section of the award-winning New York Times-featured publication entitled “The 1619 Project.”
Brandie Macdonald (Chickasaw/Choctaw; she/her) is the director of decolonizing initiatives at the Museum of Us which resides on the unceded ancestral homeland of Kumeyaay peoples located in San Diego, California. Her work focuses on the implementation of anti-colonial/decolonial theory and practice in museums which centers truth-telling, accountability, and actionable change to redress colonial impact, structural racism, and inequity.
Royleen J. Ross, PhD, is from the Pueblo of Laguna, Village of Paguate, in New Mexico. She received her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of North Dakota, as a member of the Indians into Psychology Doctoral Education program. She currently serves a regional southwest Native population and previously worked in remote northwest Alaska providing mental health services.
The Honorable Brian D. Vallo, a member of the Pueblo of Acoma tribe in New Mexico, is serving a third consecutive appointment as governor of the Pueblo. Prior to his appointment as governor of the Pueblo, Vallo served as director of the Indian Arts Research Center at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Michelle Anne Delaney, PhD, session moderator, is the assistant director for history and culture at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), leading the museum scholarship division. Delaney directs NMAI and pan-Smithsonian collaborative projects and is a historian of photography, specializing in Native American photography and photojournalism.
Christina Maria Salazar was born in Pasadena, California, and raised in the nearby communities of San Marino and San Gabriel. She is Gabrieleño from both her mother’s and father’s sides, a Gabrieleño/Tongva elder, and has long been an active member of the Gabrieleño San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians. She has served as a board member and worked as a docent for the San Gabriel Mission. She has also served as treasurer and trustee for the San Gabriel Historical Association.
Helen Louise Salazar was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in San Marino. Salazar is a Gabrieleño/Tongva elder and has been deeply involved with the Gabrieleño San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians for many years. Her family has lived in San Gabriel and San Marino for generations and she has a deep connection to the city of San Gabriel and its history. Her fourth-generation grandmother, Eulalia Pérez de Guillén, was the keeper of the keys and her great-grandmother was Estefana Duarte.
Anthea M. Hartig, PhD, session moderator, is the Elizabeth MacMillan Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the first woman to hold the position since the museum opened in 1964. Hartig oversees more than 250 employees, a budget of over $40 million and a collection that includes 1.8 million objects and more than three shelf-miles of arc
