Warriors of the plain: 200 years of Native North American honour exhibition at The British Museum

With such a grandiose title, Warriors of the plain: 200 years of Native North American honour, I expected quite a lot from the new exhibition at The British Museum, and while it is very cool throughout, giving a great insight into the honourable warrior way of life for plains Indians, it misses out on the opportunity to chronicle more about the history of Native Americans.

Nothing is mentioned, for example, of the impact of the European colonisation of America. Conflict, genocide and the introduction of new diseases by the European expansionists is completely overlooked. Whereas the introduction of reservations in the 1900s in which American culture was forced upon the Plains Indians has but a short paragraph in one of the information boards.

In 1973 Sasheen Littlefeather took to the podium at the 45th Annual Academy Awards to decline the best actor Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando. He refused the award because he felt unable to accept it in the light of the portrayal of Native Americans in movies at the time and reruns on TV. The Warriors of the plain exhibition goes some way to explain Brando’s decision, highlighting the rich complexity of their way of life.

The exhibition has a lot of interesting artefacts, and does a good job of chronicling the mix of warrior and honour of the Plains Indian’s way of life. However, it is too small to really impress and leaves you wishing for more of the overall history of the Native American people.

The Warriors of the plain exhibition is running between 7th Jan – 5th April 2010.

3.2/5