Drexel U. Exhibit Downplays Lewis and Clark Discoveries in Favor of ‘Tribal Knowledge’
“While the plants ‘discovered’ were considered firsts for Western science, they were intimately known for millennia by the Indigenous communities”
Of course. We can’t recognize accomplishments by evil white men.
The College Fix reports:
Drexel exhibit downplays Lewis and Clark discoveries in favor of ‘Tribal Knowledge’
Drexel University recently opened an exhibit in connection with the 250th anniversary of the United States that showcases plants from Lewis and Clark’s collection from the perspective of Native American “Tribal Knowledge.”
The “Botany of Nations” exhibit at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University opened March 28. It displays artifacts and plant specimens from Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s early 19th century Corps of Discovery expedition.
According to the academy website, the exhibit “presents plants as portals to Indigenous storytelling and knowledge,” and “Center[s] the voices of Native Nations who have protected and cared for the lands for thousands of years.”
“Learn how the Native Nations Meriwether Lewis met on the trail shaped America’s plant knowledge long before Western scientists claimed these ‘discoveries,’” the website says.
When The College Fix visited, a land acknowledgement sign just outside the exhibit discussed the Native Americans who lived in Pennsylvania before settlers arrived.
“The land upon which the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University stands today is part of Lenapehoking, the ancestral homeland of the Lenape … whose enduring relationship to the places that we know today as Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and southern New York spans thousands of years,” the sign states.
It continues, “The Academy of Natural Sciences honors the Lenape people and all affiliated tribes as the Indigenous stewards of their homelands, as well as the spiritual keepers of the Lenape Sipu, or Delaware River.”
The sign concludes with, “It is vitally important that we not only understand and honor the history of this land many of us today call home, but also commit to amplifying and strengthening Indigenous knowledge, voices, stories, perspectives and narratives.”
One wall of the exhibit de-emphasizes Lewis and Clark’s natural science discoveries by placing the word in quotation marks.
“While the plants ‘discovered’ were considered firsts for Western science, they were intimately known for millennia by the Indigenous communities who shared their cultural insights with the explorers as they traversed 49 sovereign nations over the course of their expedition,” it states.
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Comments
Claim≠fact. These bigots can shout until the end of time.
so fkn tired of this bs romanticized dictate
people were here before the english etc
they got into a war and the euroguys won…end of that story
the losers are treated overall great and with the same hate towards them as every group faces by others
lefty controls the narrative b/c we allow them to control the schools>>msm
White people were also guilty of informing native populations that they had been poisoning themselves, their children, and their unborn babies with seafood from mercury-rich regions, and improperly-prepared manioc and cassava (cyanide poisoning).
Evil, evil white people!
Can White people stop sending money and food to Africa? Stop your soft racism White people, let Africa grow up and feed itself
So much of these stories are complete bull. The old wive’s tale of “Indians used foxglove (digitalis plants) for heart problems” is just that—folksy but false. Foxglove is a poisonous plant that was NOT native to the Americas. It was introduced as a flowering plant by Europeans. Same goes for “biopiracy” and “biothievery”. That some people may have used plants or wild substances for medicinal purposes at some point in their past does not make it their inherent intellectual property. Case in point: penicillium mold and the discovery of penicillin. Penicillium molds that produce a 6-APA (6-Aminopenicillanic acid, the core of penicillins and derivatives) are ubiquitous to every continent on earth, save for Antarctica. How can some company “steal” that?