This week on the Lectures and History podcast, Tulane University Professor Keely Smith

discusses Native American alliances during the Revolutionary War. She explores how the U.S.

government and American society viewed various tribes during the early republic. Professor

Smith's research focuses on southeastern native nations

in the 18th and 19th century. Her book project, tentatively titled Communicating Sovereignty,

a History of the Mussoge language, 1715 to 1880, investigates the way in which the Muscovy

language enabled the making and maintenance of Muskogee sovereignty in the southeast and the so-called Indian territory from the 1750 Yamasi War through the late 19th century implementation of a written Muskogee language.

More in a moment.

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All right, good morning everyone. Today I'm going to give a lecture on Native American powers, the problems of loyalty and liberty.

So I'll start today's lecture with a painting by the Native American artist Fritz Shoulder.

The painting is called Bicentennial Indian, and it was created in 1975 to commemorate the American Revolution's 200th anniversary from a native perspective.

Shoulder was one of 11 prominent American artists commissioned to create a work that answered the question,

What does freedom mean to you?

And so here we see a native man dressed in traditional regalia.

He's holding a quill.

He's sitting on a European-style armchair, and he has an American flag draped across his lap.

So I thought that I'd start by asking you all, what do you think

this painting can tell us about what American freedom might mean to native people?

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