Nation to Nation

Suzan Shown Harjo Presents "Nation to Nation" Reading and Book Signing


Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne/Hodulgee Muscogee) reads excerpts from the new book she edited, Nation to Nation: Treaties Among the United States and American Indian Nations (Smithsonian Press, 2014). The book features essays from Native and non-Native historians, legal scholars, and tribal activists. Copies will be available for purchase and signing. 

Nation to Nation explores the promises, diplomacy, and betrayals involved in treaties and treaty making between the United States government and Native Nations. One side sought to own the riches of North America and the other struggled to hold on to traditional homelands and ways of life. The book reveals how the ideas of honor, fair dealings, good faith, rule of law, and peaceful relations between nations have been tested and challenged in historical and modern times. The book consistently demonstrates how and why centuries-old treaties remain living, relevant documents for both Natives and non-Natives in the 21st century. Published in conjuction with an exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, the book also commemorates that museum's tenth anniversary.


Suzan Shown Harjo is an internationally renowned advocate for American Indian rights as well as a poet, writer, lecturer, and curator. A lead consultant on the Penn Museum's Native American Voices exhibition, Harjo is president of the Morning Star Institute, an American Indian rights advocacy group in Washington, DC, and a recipient of the 2014 Presidential Medal of Freedom.

This event is free with regular Penn Museum admission. For more information, see the Penn Museum website.