u/Hillbilly_Historian

Somebody asked about the Aleut experience during WWII the other day, so I thought this art piece at the Anchorage Museum might be interesting. Here’s the exhibit description:

In My Country, Athabascan and Unangan artist Rebecca Lyon depicts the painful events following the Japanese invasion of Attu and Kiska during World War II, when Unangax from the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands were forcibly removed from their homes and imprisoned in internment camps. Lyon's assemblage centers on a mother holding the shrouded body of a dead child, the first documented death of an Unangan US citizen aboard the USTS Delarof in 1942.
The three-day-old infant perished due to the inhumane conditions on the boat and was buried at sea. The mother is clothed in a snarl of rope and bears a version of an Unangax peg calendar in the center of her chest. Although these calendars typically used wooden pegs to mark important dates, Lyon says she used rusty nails instead "to illustrate the pain and suffering the people felt during this sorrowful time when they lived day to day never knowing how long it would be before they could return home." For Lyon, the ghostly human handprints flanking the figure "speak of how racism, then and now, tries to cover-up the undeniable truth of our shared humanity."

Image 1 — An unnamed AIM fighter holds his AK in the air, posing for photojournalist Keith McKiernan.

Image 2 — Two Lakota teenagers man an armed checkpoint leading into Wounded Knee, a small town on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Roads both leading into and out of town were manned by armed guards from both sides, leading most residents to be trapped within town for over two months.

Image 3 — WWII veteran Oscar Bear Runner confronts a journalist with his rifle, becoming the most well-known symbol of the conflict.

Image 4 — Oglala child stands next to graffiti. “Say it Loud, I’m Red and I’m Proud.”

Image 5 — FBI Marksman takes aim at an unknown target. Over the 71 day occupation, constant gunfights between law enforcement and AIM (American Indian Movement) members saw over 500000 bullets fired

Image 6 — US Marshals hold up a native man attempting to flee the town

Image 7 — The Funeral of Lawrence “Buddy” Lamont. A beloved member of the Wounded Knee community, Lamont has shot and killed by an FBI sharpshooter as he stood up from a foxhole along the firing line. He marks one of only two native casualties over two months of constant fighting.