“Talkin' Bout a Revolution: A Haudenosaunee Response to the 250th”
As we welcome 2026, towns and cities across the country are preparing to celebrate a pivotal milestone in American history. The 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence declared the colonists’ intent to establish an autonomous new country. Parades, reenactments of battles, patriotic tie dying, coins, postage stamps, and commemorations of the founding fathers bring to light the struggle for independence with a heroic and celebratory storyline.
While these efforts to bring together a deeply divided country by honoring our shared colonial past might be useful, they often omit the decisive impact of the American Revolution on Indigenous sovereignty and cultural traditions. The Revolution splintered the long-united Haudenosaunee Confederacy when the six nations, and individuals within those nations, chose to support opposite sides of the revolt. The costs to those who sided with the British was extensive. The Sullivan-Clinton Campaign implemented a scorched earth policy that destroyed 40 Iroquois towns. The establishment of the United States would herald massive displacement from traditional homelands and, regardless of allegiance, usher in an era of forced assimilation and residential schools. This exhibit will provide a platform to explore this alternate narrative. Eighteen artists including Peter Jemison, Sayokla Kindness, Carla Hemlock, and others from across Haudenosaunee Country will offer their insightful, at times divergent, viewpoints on this foundational American anniversary. The exhibit will feature sculpture, beadwork, painting, digital works, and more.
“Separated but Unbroken: The Haudenosaunee Boarding School Experience,” was principally inspired by guest curator Erin Keaton's grandfather William Conners/Connors; as well as by her uncle Stanley’s and aunt Cecelia’s time at Thomas Indian School in western NY. Over the last year Erin, in collaboration with museum staff, has researched and developed the exhibit to include letters, photographs, and objects from the school itself. Contemporary responses to the residential school experience by Haudenosaunee artists Hayden Haynes and David Fadden will round out this disturbing accounting of our shared history.
As we welcome 2026, towns and cities across the country are preparing to celebrate a pivotal milestone in American history. The 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence declared the colonists’ intent to establish an autonomous new country. Parades, reenactments of battles, patriotic tie dying, coins, postage stamps, and commemorations of the founding fathers bring to light the struggle for independence with a heroic and celebratory storyline.
While these efforts to bring together a deeply divided country by honoring our shared colonial past might be useful, they often omit the decisive impact of the American Revolution on Indigenous sovereignty and cultural traditions. The Revolution splintered the long-united Haudenosaunee Confederacy when the six nations, and individuals within those nations, chose to support opposite sides of the revolt. The costs to those who sided with the British was extensive. The Sullivan-Clinton Campaign implemented a scorched earth policy that destroyed 40 Iroquois towns. The establishment of the United States would herald massive displacement from traditional homelands and, regardless of allegiance, usher in an era of forced assimilation and residential schools. This exhibit will provide a platform to explore this alternate narrative. Eighteen artists including Peter Jemison, Sayokla Kindness, Carla Hemlock, and others from across Haudenosaunee Country will offer their insightful, at times divergent, viewpoints on this foundational American anniversary. The exhibit will feature sculpture, beadwork, painting, digital works, and more.
“Separated but Unbroken: The Haudenosaunee Boarding School Experience,” was principally inspired by guest curator Erin Keaton's grandfather William Conners/Connors; as well as by her uncle Stanley’s and aunt Cecelia’s time at Thomas Indian School in western NY. Over the last year Erin, in collaboration with museum staff, has researched and developed the exhibit to include letters, photographs, and objects from the school itself. Contemporary responses to the residential school experience by Haudenosaunee artists Hayden Haynes and David Fadden will round out this disturbing accounting of our shared history.