Walk in Two Worlds

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Their names mark rivers, valleys, schools and communities across the state, recalling the people who were settled in Arkansas when Europeans arrived in the 1500s.

But while the names may be familiar to many, the history of the Quapaw, Osage and Caddo American Indian tribes might not.

To help change that, the Historic Arkansas Museum has opened a permanent exhibit called "We Walk in Two Worlds” to pass along the history and culture of the three American Indian nations that once were settled in Arkansas.

The exhibit was set up to describe the history of the tribes through American Indian voices, beginning just before European contact, moving through their forced relocations to Oklahoma about 1830 and into the cultural revival that has defined recent decades. It includes more than 160 artifacts from the tribes.

"We try to make sure that the words you read are from Native Americans,” Swannee Bennett, the museum’s chief curator, said. "We wanted to have a Native American interpretation.”

To do that, the museum sought tribal advisers from each nation who helped mold the exhibit into a reflection of their historical and contemporary experiences, as passed down in the tribes.

Ardina Moore is a Quapaw tribal historian and a teacher of the Quapaw language, but is also part Osage. She said the name Arkansas comes from early French explorers who were told by an Illinois tribe that the people who inhabited what is now the state were the "Akansea,” which means "People of the South Wind.”

"What pleases us the most is the idea that people are going to recognize our heritage and our culture, which to this point has been kind of ignored,” Moore said. "It helps to be appreciated.”



by the associated press