Native people are nearly invisible in the United States. They make up less than 1 percent of the population, and are mostly absent from today's great national debates. Yet representations of Indians are ubiquitous. Dream catchers, mascots, weapons, place names, fashion, advertising—they wallpaper contemporary American life, so common that they seem to require no discussion. The National Museum of the American Indian suggests these themes and representations deserve a closer look.
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The Americans website launched in tandem with the opening of the exhibition of the same name at the museum in Washington, DC. Americans uncovers the many ways American Indian images, names, and stories have been part of the United States' history, identity, and pop culture since before the country began. Not only does Americans reveal the phenomenon of hiding in plain sight, it asserts that these prevalent images, words, and stories are a powerful way to understand a country forever fascinated and conflicted by its relationship with American Indians.
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