Denver Museum Consulting With Native American Tribes Over Sand Creek Massacre Exhibit

By The Associated Press

The Sand Creek Massacre NHS continues to consult with a number of partners concerning the natural and cultural resources at the site. Here, park rangers meet with area landowners, tribal members, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Colorado State Forest Service, and othersCredit National Park Service — The Sand Creek Massacre NHS continues to consult with a number of partners concerning the natural and cultural resources at the site. Here, park rangers meet with area landowners, tribal members, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Colorado State Forest Service, and others
Credit National Park Service

Colorado’s state museum has agreed to consult with Native American tribes after the museum closed an exhibit on the Sand Creek Indian massacre over complaints from descendants of the slaughter’s survivors that they weren’t consulted about the display.

The consultations, which will begin Tuesday, will include Colorado officials, History Colorado museum officials, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana, the Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma.

State historic preservation officer Ed Nichols says consultations are a good first step before discussing museum exhibits.

A U.S. Army force led by Col. John M. Chivington swept into a sleeping Indian village in southeastern Colorado on Nov. 29, 1864. Troops killed more than 160 Cheyenne and Arapaho, most of them women, children and the elderly.