Nicole Dawn Strathman discusses photographs from the first 100 years of the medium, between 1840-1940, created by and for Native Americans. Most early photographs of American Indians were taken by anthropologists and emphasized the “disappearing race” narrative. However, the pictures made by the people themselves tell a very different story—of tribal communities adapting and thriving in the face of adversity.

Nicole Dawn Strathman is a lecturer in the Department of Art & Design at California State University, San Bernardino. She is a former Smithsonian Fellow, and author of Through a Native Lens: American Indian Photography (University of Oklahoma Press, 2020).