New exhibit highlights Native American impact at Texas A&M

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) - A group at Texas is highlighting Native American Aggies and their impact on campus since Texas A&M was founded.

HERE: Faces and Voices of Native Aggies exhibit can be found through July at the Forsyth Galleries at the Memorial Student Center. George Hass is a senior getting ready to graduate. He is featured in the exhibit for his work in the Corps and for being of Native American descent.

Now, his impact on campus along with many Native American Aggies will forever be remembered in the exhibit and the virtual tour.

“The presence is still felt even if the demographic is small,” Hass said. “It’s nice to have people actually stop and reflect and know that we’re still around.”

When students began doing research for the exhibit, Ph.D. student Olivia Brill, said this dated back over a century.

“I hope they see just how special our Native American classmates are, how they’ve been a part of this school since the very beginning and are a huge part of our school’s history,” Brill said.

But, when the exhibit was completed, they found the Native American presence and influence started even earlier. Dr. Angela Hudson, a professor of Native American history and faculty advisor for the Native American and Indigenous Student Organization, said it began with Texas A&M being a land grant university. That process sold native land in order to fund education.

“They’re contributing to the identity of the united states, of Texas, of Texas A&M as an institution so I think that’s really important just to remind people that the participation of these largely underrepresented groups has also been vital to the identity of a place like Texas A&M pretty much from its inception,” Hudson said.

A virtual tour of the exhibit can be found here, along with expanded information from the exhibit here. QR codes can be found around the exhibit that has more details on the history and presence of Native Americans on campus.

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