Gerard Baker is the Superintendent of the Lewis and Clark National
Historic Trail and the mobile exhibit "Corps of Discovery II: 200
Years in the Future." Mr. Baker has been with the government for
27 years and with the National Park Service for most of that time.
Mr. Baker is a full blood member of the Mandan-Hidatsa Tribe of the
Fort Berthold Reservation in Mandaree, North Dakota.
It is really good to be here. My tribal name is "Yellow Wolf," pronounced
"Zaa-shaa-shee-dish," in my native language.
Two hundred years ago today, an expedition was being prepared. It was
to explore, to learn and to adapt. The Lewis and Clark expedition
went into what was then for America a new land. They went into a land
that was unexplored. They went in to explore the peoples who lived on
that land, and of course, the natural resources of that land. They
traveled by keelboat, by piroque, by foot, and by horseback. I imagine
sometimes running, sometimes limping, and sometimes a little scared.
Along the way, they met a tremendous amount of Native American peoples
that had living cultures that had their own societies, that were friendly,
that were warriors. They were cautious. These people assisted Lewis and
Clark in their exploration to the West coast and back. They helped them.
Along the route Lewis and Clark came in with many different presents for
the tribes. One was the peace medal, the Jefferson peace medal. The
peace medal itself says a lot of things. As you know, on a peace medal,
there is the handshake between many different cultures. In this
particular case, it's between the non-Indian cultures of the new America
and Indian cultures of civilizations that were here since time immemorial.
The peace medal represented just that, but not only peace, it represented
friendship among nations. It represented a time for change for the
positive, and we see that again.
As we go into this bicentennial it is again time to explore. It is time
to go along with Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery. It is a time
to be in the villages of the American Indian people as Lewis and Clark first
encountered them. It is the time to understand who we are as American
people and the various cultures we now have in this proud nation. It is the
time to get together. It is a time to again show our friendship and our
peace, not for ourselves but for our children and for our grandchildren and
for those children who are not even born - to make this country one as a
people and to understand who we are.
So as we go into this, especially with a new nickel coming up, we are so
excited in the Indian country because we still maintain some of the peace
medals. I for one, my family, own an original peace medal of Thomas
Jefferson. Family members of mine are very proud of that, and I meet
people up and down this trail from the Indian communities who are so proud
of that peace medal, because it still means that. It still means peace,
unity and friendship. What it means the most to us, and what it should mean
the most to all of us, is the understanding and willingness to learn. And
the willingness to remember who we are, so that we never lose who we are in
America. Thank you.
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