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Contact: Shawn Gillette, 423-638-3551
Thursday, April 20, dawned bright and beautiful, making it a perfect day for members of the Navajo Nation to perform a blessing ceremony for President Andrew Johnson, his Homestead, and the role he played in helping return the Dine’ people to their homelands.
The Navajo visit to Greeneville to honor our 17th president illustrates that Andrew Johnson’s presidency was as multi-faceted as the man himself. Largely remembered for being the successor of Abraham Lincoln or the first president to be impeached by Congress, Johnson’s work with various Native American tribes is just one of the many stories of his life and presidency that visitors to the park are largely unaware of.
“Johnson is a complex individual,” Says Park Superintendent Aaron Shandor, “There just isn’t enough space in the park museums to capture all the stories of his successes, his failures, and the many other stories that capture his life and times.”
In 1868, Andrew Johnson supported recommendations made by General Sherman, who was negotiating treaties in the West, to remove the Navajo from their forced internment at Bosque Redondo and allow them to return to their traditional lands in the Four Corners region of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. The story of the Navajo People and Andrew Johnson remained an untold story for many years - until the site began collaborating with the tribe in 2018 to tell it. This year, in advance of the Navajo visit, park staff began putting together ideas for a series of temporary exhibits calling attention to the 17th president’s involvement in the Treaty of 1868.
Currently on display in the park Visitor Center, located at 101 N. College Street, Greeneville, is an interpretive panel on the Navajo War 1862-68 and an exhibit featuring artifacts from the park’s collection, including presidential peace medals and traditional Native American gifts. “We’re excited to begin telling these previously overlooked and, yes, sometimes difficult stories,” Shandor says. “Through collaboration and a variety of resources, including original artifacts, we are able to share diverse elements of the life and times of Andrew Johnson.”
Park staff have worked to tell these stories in the past; however, there are many more to tell. Did you know that Johnson loved baseball? What were his dealings with other Native American Tribes? What about the women in his life? What became of the people he enslaved?
In May 2023 the park will celebrate the Centennial anniversary of a familiar building – the Memorial Building housing Andrew Johnson’s original Tailor Shop. Many have seen it, but who constructed it? What events heralded its grand opening?
Current NPS management encourages telling these previously overlooked or difficult stories, and the staff at Andrew Johnson NHS is eager to rise to the opportunity.
www.nps.gov/anjo
Last updated: April 28, 2023