Tent of Many Voices
Lewis and Clark Traveling Exhibit will be at Kaw Point in Kansas City, June 26-July 5, 2004.
The National Park Service traveling exhibit Corps of Discovery II: 200 Years to the Future is on the road and coming to a Lewis and Clark Trail community near you soon. Named after the 1803-06 "Corps of Volunteers for Northwestern Discovery," Corps II opened at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Virginia, in January 2003. Corps II is a mobile exhibit designed to provide visitors an introduction to the Lewis and Clark story, including the natural history, cultural resources and the people of our nation before, during and after the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
The traveling exhibit includes two tents with interpretive exhibits and a performance tent called the Tent of Many Voices. The Tent of Many Voices provides a 150-seat auditorium for cultural arts demonstrations, folklore, music , living history and audio-visual programs. Programs reflect a spectrum of nature, culture and history. Cultures of Native American tribes and the changing landscape are important exhibit themes. Live performances occur in partnership with Native American tribes, state and local governments, the private sector and partner federal agencies.
Beginning in January 2003 at Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello in Virginia, Corps II has been visiting cities and towns where Meriwether Lewis and William Clark made preparations for the journey West. By the spring of 2004 it will move up the Missouri River into the heartland and eventually to the Pacific Ocean. In the spring of 2006, Corps II will continue to journey from the Pacific Ocean back to St. Louis. The journey will make stops in large urban areas, Native American reservations and small towns along the way.
Corps II serves as the unifying component for the Bicentennial commemoration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. During the Bicentennial, the National Park Service will help link people with each other by providing a venue where we can listen to many voices share stories about impacts of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and how our nation has evolved in the past 200 years.
President Jefferson sent the expedition on a voyage of discovery to the Pacific Ocean in 1803. The maps, journals and natural specimens derived from the journey make it a compelling story. The free public exhibition, commemorating the 2003-2006 Bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, provides opportunities for citizens of all ages to learn more about the legendary 1803-06 exploration and its significance. The exhibit will visit communities across 19 states, places integral to preparation as well as the trail traveled by the historic Corps.
Corps II is a joint effort of federal and state agencies, private and nonprofit organizations, and Native American tribes. The National Park Service is providing major funding, exhibit design, transportation and support staff through the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, based in Omaha, Nebraska.
From June 26 to July 5, The Tent of Many Voices will be at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers at Kaw Point Riverfront Park in the Fairfax district of Kansas City. For more information, contact the National Park Service at 1-402-514-9311 or visit www.nps.gov/lecl.
Whether Lewis and Clark knew it or not, they were the "spearpoints" of an invasion of Native American homelands in the West. Whether or not it was deliberate, they touched off an invasion rarely paralleled in world history, displacing entire peoples and tribal groups with Anglo settlers, backed by the U.S. Army. It is for this reason that many native peoples see no reason to be happy about the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, and why this event should be looked upon by all as a "commemoration" rather than a "celebration."
Accounts of different tribal groups and their interactions with the Corps include: Shawnee & Delaware, Kickapoo, Sac & Fox, Osage, Kansa, Oto, Missouri, Pawnee, Omaha, Yankton, Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, Arikara, Mandan & Hidatsa, Plains Cree, Assiniboin, Shoshone, Salish, Nez Perce, Yakima, and Chinookan.