Native scholars at Missoula panel urge rethinking 'discovery' language and celebratory events for Lewis and Clark and Columbus anniversaries

Missoula — Indigenous scholars and community historians at a Montana Committee for the Humanities panel in Missoula urged a reexamination of how Lewis and Clark and the Columbus quincentenary are commemorated, saying conventional language of "discovery" and celebratory programming too often erases Native sovereignty and ongoing harms.

Jeannie Eder, a member of the Dakota Sioux Nation who told the audience she was completing doctoral work at Washington State University and teaches American history at Western Montana College in Dillon, said indigenous perspectives are frequently marginalized in academic settings. "We were indeed invaded, that we are still sovereign nations, and that we have sovereign rights," Eder said, arguing that classroom treatments too often skip what happened to Native peoples after the Louisiana Purchase.

The panel placed those remarks in historical and contemporary context. Thompson "Tom" Smith, a consultant with the Flathead Culture Committee completing a doctoral dissertation at Yale University, said that the journals and modern secondary literature often emphasize antiquarian…