| From The Director |
“If you have a Native American
as a partner, then I think you’re
way ahead.”
“
Eighty years ago my grandmother
wasn’t looking at patchwork
saying ‘This could be a
museum piece some day.’”
“
We had one foot in the past and
one in the present. But where
was our future?”
“
There are those who say ‘if you
talk to the white man, he’ll take
over and want more and more.’
But if you want to understand
me, I need to let you know as
much as I can about me.”
“
A lot of people do us—give
their version of our history. But
this museum captures our story,
from our viewpoint, and we had
to do that ourselves.”
“
Native Americans lived here a
long time, and there isn’t anywhere
that Native Americans
haven’t touched."
“
We did not want to build a
memorial to a dead past. We
want visitors to see a living
ongoing cultural heritage.”
“
Until Next Time... Peace!”
Billy L. Cypress
September 13, 1942—
April 12, 2004
Development Office
5845 South State Road 7
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314
E-mail address: museum@semtribe.com
Phone: (941) 902-1113
Museum Website: www.seminoletribe.com/museum |
|
| Did You Know? |
|
 Billy
was in the Army and then the Army reserves for 16 years, attaining the
rank of Major.
Billy
contributed to many books about Native Americans, including Native
Americans and Archaeologists: Stepping Stones to Common Ground, and Anthropologists and Indians
in the New South.
Billy
was the first Florida Seminole to receive a four-year college degree,
graduating from Stetson University in 1965.
Billy
was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Smithsonian’s National
Museum of the American Indian, which opens September 21, 2004. He was
also of the subcommittee for repatriation.
Billy
was tribal coordinator for NAGPRA, the Native American Graves Protection
and Repatriation Act, and administrator of the Tribal Historic Preservation
Office.
|
|
Quote from the Past
|
| "I think we are all reminded of how mystical
the Everglades and our life there was."
- Billy Cypress,
August 21, 1997 |
A Seminole Life To
Honor And Remember
To me, Billy Cypress was one of
a kind.
more
|
