As my mom and I crossed out of the Southwest into Arkansas, we came face-to-face with Fort Smith. For those who don’t know, Fort Smith is widely considered the last stop on the Trail of Tears, a genocidal displacement of southeastern Indigenous people. At Fort Smith, Indigenous people were sent into what is now known as Oklahoma, which the U.S. government deemed “Indian” territory at the time. While I was nervous to explore this site, my Mom and I thought it was important to sit with the pain of this place.
Fort Smith is a National Historic Site run by the National Parks Service. Upon walking in, we were immediately ushered into a movie theater to watch a 10-minute video about the history of the fort. From that moment on, my expectations plummeted. For a site so central to the Trail of Tears, there was barely any mention of Indigenous people. Instead, five minutes were spent on one white judge and his rulings made at Fort Smith. Outdated language was also used to describe Indigenous people, and other racial minorities present in the region (like Black freedmen or Mexican farmers) were completely left out entirely. The museum itself wasn’t much better. The history of the Trail of Tears was given only a few feet of space in one room, while the aforementioned judge had an entire room dedicated to his story. I walked out of Fort Smith incredibly frustrated. So did my mom.
The next day, we shrugged off our negative feelings and made the drive to a different museum. (If you can’t tell, we are nerdy museum people.) We went to the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, a small local museum that focused on the Ozark region and its history. The second I walked in, it felt like a breath of fresh air.
We were greeted at the front desk by an employee who was very passionate about public history and archival work. She directed us to their temporary exhibit on display — all about a local Black family’s genealogical history. As a budding archivist myself, I was pleased to see that all the captions for images were written in both English and Spanish for accessibility. Once my mom and I entered the permanent exhibit, my opinion of the museum shot into the stratosphere. The opening section was all about Indigenous history in the Ozarks; instead of the vaguely racist mannequins of Indigenous people popular in history museums, Shiloh chose to recreate an archaeological site of an Indigenous area, complete with replicated petrographs and petroglyphs. This was the first time I had ever seen such a take on Indigeneity in a museum. Indigenous history wasn't included just in the opening section either, instead being woven into the continuing areas of the exhibit. I walked out believing (and still believe) that this was the best museum I’ve ever been to.
When talking about Indigenous history’s portrayal in museums, I often hear that museums do not have the obligation to center Indigenous people all of the time. This is a true statement — no singular view or version of history can explain every historical event, nor is necessarily relevant. Museum curators, too, have to pick and choose what materials to highlight over others to create a comprehensible narrative. However, in the case of Fort Smith, vital Indigenous perspectives and history were minimized in favor of a white-centric perspective. This is very problematic.
In my opinion, Shiloh got it right. Indigenous history was not the sole focus of the museum, but its inclusion was vital to giving a complete understanding of the Ozarks and its development over time. When dealing with the topic of genocide, the museum was extremely tactful, and gave respect to the dark moments of the history it was exploring. I was shocked at how moving the museum was for me, and I attribute that to how well the museum was thought-through.
This tiny museum in a small town in Arkansas is proof that there is no excuse to not treat Indigenous peoples and history with proper respect — something the National Parks Service failed to do at Fort Smith. If you ever find yourself in Arkansas, please make your way to the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History: You won’t regret it.
