Thousands attend opening ceremony for American Indian museum

By Sara Jean Green
Seattle Times staff reporter

J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE / AP San Francisco area Aztecs dance on the National Mall for the start of the Native Nations Procession to help dedicate the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.

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Built on the last available land on the National Mall, the $220 million museum — the newest addition to the Smithsonian Institution — is dedicated to honoring the first inhabitants of North, Central and South America, their cultures and traditions.

"We hope this day marks a new beginning in our nation's understanding of its living history," said Lawrence Small, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. "It will be yours for generations and generations to come — and that is a promise we will keep."

Alejandro Toledo, president of the Republic of Peru, and U.S. Senators Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., and Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, also addressed the crowd.

Hours earlier, actor and director Robert Redford walked with the men and other dignitaries at the head of the Procession of Nations; the procession took more than three hours as up to 20,000 Indian people from more than 400 tribes walked five blocks from the Smithsonian Castle to the new museum opposite the U.S. Capitol.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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