Documentary Film Premiere Will Highlight American Indian Perspectives on Lewis and Clark

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Washington State University Vancouver professor Jackie Peterson is one of the creative forces behind a new documentary film that explores the impact of Lewis and Clark’s expedition on American Indian tribes.

“Sovereign to Sovereign: Northwest Indian Nations and Lewis and Clark” will debut at 7 p.m. Sept. 27 at the restored Red Cross building, located at 605 Barnes Road in the Vancouver National Historic Reserve. The event is free and open to the public. A reception will be held afterward in honor of the film’s American Indian narrators.

Peterson, a professor of history and Native American studies, is the writer, producer and co-director of the 26-minute film. Using animation, maps, historic still photographs, interviews, and landscape and live action footage, the documentary describes the social and political significance of Lewis and Clark to American Indian cultures, such as the Nez Perce, Wanapum, Yakama and others.

Peterson has been a faculty member at WSU since 1983 and has taught at the Vancouver campus for the last 12 years. Her previous work about Northwest tribes includes a major exhibition titled “Sacred Encounters: Father DeSmet and the Indians of the Rocky Mountain West” and several videos, an audio loop and an exhibit about the Coeur d’Alene Tribe of northern Idaho and the Bitteroot Salish of Montana. She has also written extensively on the tribes of the Great Lakes and the Metis.

“Sovereign to Sovereign” was made possible through a grant by the National Park Service and additional support from the Washington State Historical Society, WSU Vancouver, and the Oregon Historical Society. The Center for Columbia River History will sponsor of the event.