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by | Mar 16, 2018 | Hosta

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Gabrielle Tayac is a historian and curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.[1] She is a member of the Piscataway Indian Nation, a state-recognized tribe in southern Maryland.[1] Tayac is active in matters of Indigenous land and water rights as well as U.S. government treaty compliance.[2][3][4][5]

Early life and education

Tayac was born in Greenwich Village, New York City.[6] She received her BS in social work and American Indian studies from Cornell University in 1989 and her PhD in sociology from Harvard University in 1999.[6][7] She is the niece of Piscataway Chief Billy Redwing Tayac.[5]

Professional life

Tayac began her career at the National Museum of the American Indian as a research consultant in 1999.[1][8] Previously, she had worked to develop a school curriculum that would present the complexity of native peoples and address contemporary issues such as intellectual property.[1] Tayac helped develop the museum's education department, and her research assisted in shaping its educational role and framework.[1]

After the museum's inauguration in 2004, Tayac joined the full-time staff as a curator.[1] She co-curated one of the museums inaugural permanent exhibits, "Our Lives: Contemporary Life and Identity."[1] She was the sole curator of the exhibit "Return to a Native Place: Native Peoples of the Chesapeake Region", which opened in 2007.[1][8] She also co-curated the traveling exhibit "IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas".[8] Her latest exhibit, "Native New York: Where Nations Rise", is scheduled to open in 2019.[8]

Activism

Tayac has been active on various matters relating to Native American civil rights and tribal sovereignty.[9][5][2] She is a co-founder of the League of Indigenous Sovereign Nations, a hemispheric alliance of Native peoples.[8] Currently, she serves as communications director for the Spirit Aligned Leadership Program.[8]

In 2014, Tayac marched with the Cowboy Indian Alliance to protest the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.[10][4][3] In 2016, she participated in protests against the imprisonment of Leonard Peltier, a member of the American Indian Movement arrested in the Pine Ridge Reservation protests in the 1970s.[4] In 2017, Tayac provided one of the opening remarks at the People's Climate March on President Trump's 100th day in office.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "NMAI profile; GABRIELLE TAYAC - Indian Country Media Network". indiancountrymedianetwork.com. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  2. ^ a b c "Watch the Indigenous Water Ceremony That Opened the People's Climate March in Washington, D.C." Democracy Now!. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  3. ^ a b "The struggle doesn't stop at Standing Rock". SocialistWorker.org. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  4. ^ a b c "The Militant - December 26, 2016 -- Protests in Washington: 'Free Leonard Peltier!'". www.themilitant.com. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  5. ^ a b c Herman, Doug. "A Smithsonian Scholar Revisits the Neglected History of the Chesapeake Bay's Native Tribes". Smithsonian. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  6. ^ a b "Dr. Gabrielle Tayac - Historian, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian - VisualCV". www.visualcv.com. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  7. ^ "Research | National Museum of the American Indian". nmai.si.edu. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  8. ^ a b c d e f "Spirit Aligned". www.spiritaligned.org. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  9. ^ "Anacostia River: From then till now". Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  10. ^ Photographers, International League of Conservation. "Cowboys and Indians Stand Together Against Keystone XL. – National Geographic Society (blogs)". voices.nationalgeographic.org. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
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