Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / First Peoples of Alabama - TPR's In Focus - Nov. 5, 2026

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First Peoples of Alabama - TPR's In Focus - Nov. 5, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Janice Hawkins Cultural Arts Park on
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  the main campus of Troy University, featuring the International
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  Arts Center, the Fred Noll Hollis Museum,
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  and the Hua Bao Zhu Gallery. More information at
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  troy.edu/artspark.
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  From Troy Public Radio,
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  this is In Focus, and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson. November is
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  Native American Heritage Month. Heritage Month,
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  and on November 14th, the Alabama Department
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  of Archives and History will host the grand opening of
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  its new First Peoples of Alabama exhibit.
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  A special feature of the celebration is a Native
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  American art festival, and Dr. Alex Colvin,
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  exhibits, publications, and programs coordinator,
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  joins us with a preview Dr.
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  Alex Colvin, thank you so much for joining us.
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  Thank you so much for having me. Alex, you and I are on a first-name
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  basis because we've known each other for several years, but we
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  are here to discuss an important exhibit.
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  Yes, I am so excited to tell you all about the First Peoples of
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  Alabama gallery that's going to be opening on November 14th.
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  In the history of the Alabama Department of Archives and History,
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  we've had some iteration of a Native American exhibit.
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  Previously, it was called the First Alabamians Gallery.
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  That's been open from 2011, and then it was closed
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  in 2021. Now we have redesigned it
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  and reimagined it as the First Peoples of Alabama Gallery.
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  So what was behind the reimagining of the exhibit?
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  There's always a moment when you want to kind of take a look at an
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  exhibit and think through what can you do better, what can you do differently,
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  what interpretations have changed. But there's also this
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  very important component that we were getting into compliance
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  with something called NAGPRA, which stands for the Native American Grave
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  Protection and Repatriation Act. This is a federal law
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  that was passed in 1990. It tells you to look into
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  your collection and to find out where your archaeological collection came
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  from and ensure that it's didn't come from a funerary
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  context. So, we took a look at our collection.
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  We got to work contacting Tribal Nations across
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  the United States in Oklahoma, Alabama, North Carolina.
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  There's about 20 federally recognized Tribes that call Alabama home,
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  and we began that process of consulting with them about our collection
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  and repatriating or returning objects that are
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  from a funerary context, so from a gravesite. So,
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  returning those objects to them. In doing so, we realized
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  that we need to also think through what kind of items are we putting in
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  an exhibit, how are we talking about the past, and how can we
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  bring these Tribal partners into our exhibit process.
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  And so that's really what helped inspire Going Towards the First Peoples of Alabama.
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  In other words, the First Alabamians exhibit has morphed into
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  the First Peoples of Alabama exhibit.
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  Exactly. Which opens mid-November. This is so
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  exciting. It is. We're so excited for people to be able
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  to come into the space and see all of the hard work that our exhibit
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  team has been doing with our design firms and our tribal partners
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  in order to get this exhibit ready. It's so bright and colorful and vibrant,
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  and it's full of a lot of archaeological objects, some really awesome reproductions,
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  and a lot of really great interviews and photographs and images.
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  Can you give us some examples of items in the exhibit?
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  So in our exhibit, we have a lot of
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  really great art that is done by modern Native artists who
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  have done reproductions of artifacts or archaeological objects.
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  So we have some copper pieces by this amazing
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  artist named Amanda Rutland. She is a Muscogee copperwork artist,
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  and she's recreated a copper plate and a copper pendant and
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  even a headdress that has copper maces in it.
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  She's recreated these items for us so that we'd be able to display them alongside
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  some archaeological objects that went through the consultation process.
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  These archaeological objects include ceramics and
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  stone pieces and tools and everything, so people can
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  come see both archaeological evidence as well as reproductions
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  based on that archaeology all in this wonderful space.
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  But we also have some really cool pieces in our Alabama Voices Gallery,
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  which is open, and one of those pieces is one by
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  Jake Tyker. He is a Seminole artist who does textiles,
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  and he's actually recreated 2 outfits for us,
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  one of Haposelemiko, who was a member of
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  this treaty delegation that went to New York in 1790,
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  and he's also recreated the outfit of Minawa, a Muscogee
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  delegate to the Treaty of Washington in 1826.
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  You can see how fashion changed over time between 1790
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  and 1826. But we also get to highlight
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  these wonderful stories of these men who were going and
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  trying to negotiate on behalf of their nation. Alex Jake
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  Tiger has been a guest on Troy Public Radio,
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  and he has appeared in film.
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  He has also worked with schools in Georgia, in Alabama,
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  and also in Florida. Coming up on November
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  14th, how will you celebrate this opening?
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  Well, we wanted to celebrate this opening by bringing Native artists here
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  to Montgomery so they will be able to talk with the public,
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  be able to explain their process, and to showcase
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  all these different wonderful mediums. So we'll have a copperwork
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  artist, a shell artist, basket makers,
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  painters, textile artists that can really celebrate
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  Native culture, both from the past, but also the perseverance and
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  the continuation of that culture today by all
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  these tribal artists. I really hope people are able to come and meet them.
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  Jake is going to be one of them, as well as Amanda and so many
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  other artists. This amazing painter who we've developed a relationship
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  with as a part of this gallery, his name is Johnny Diacon,
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  and he is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation and Saploco Tribal
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  Town, and he has created 5 brand-new pieces for this gallery
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  that showcase how foodways,
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  technology, art, community, and history are
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  interpreted through a Muscogee perspective. He brought
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  the Mississippian period to life through this amazing artwork
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  and has been able to bring this vibrancy and color and
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  life into the gallery with his artistic depictions
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  of the Mississippian period. Are you actually saying that we can
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  meet these artists on November 14th at the Alabama Department
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  of Archives and History? Yes, you'll be able to meet them, talk to
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  them, hear about their process, and be able to even see some of
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  the items that they've created. What are the hours that day that
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  the celebration will take place? The celebration is going
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  to be Saturday, November 14th, from 10 to 3 o'clock,
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  and you can check our social media for a detailed schedule of programming because we're
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  going to have programming throughout the day. One of the things that we're really excited
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  about for this gallery is that we can show the history
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  of the First Peoples who came to this area. Covers 560
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  generations ago, which is about 14,000 years ago, through to
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  today, and show that the descendants of the First Peoples are
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  still alive and thriving, and to be able
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  to make connections back in their ancestral homeland,
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  to be able to showcase how they are keeping their ancestors' history
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  and culture alive today. What part of the exhibit
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  really spoke to you? There was this idea of thinking about time
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  differently, thinking about the past as something as a generational
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  line. It changes our relationship to the past and how
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  we think about the past. When you hear that something happened
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  560 generations ago, and then you find out that contact
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  between Europeans and Native Americans happened 20 generations ago, and that
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  removal happened 7 generations ago, it changes the way you
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  think about history and the way you think about how we are connected to that
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  history. And that I hope that people find a resonance with.
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  Where can people find a description of this event online?
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  You can find all the information on our website,
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  archives.alabama.gov, or on our Facebook
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  page. Alex, thank you for sharing the preview
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  with the listeners. Thank you so much, and I hope to see everybody
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  on November 14th. That was Dr. Alex Colvin,
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  Exhibits, Publications, and Programs Coordinator at
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  the Alabama Department of Archives and History. More information
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  about the November 14th grand opening of the
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  First Peoples of Alabama exhibit and the Native
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  American Art Festival can be found at the archives.alabama.gov
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  website. Thanks for joining us for Native
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  American Heritage Month on InFocus. It's a
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  podcast wherever you get your podcasts. And feel
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  free to get in touch by email at infocus@troy.edu.
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  I'm Carolyn Hutcheson, and this is listener-supported
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  Troy Public Radio.