SALAMANCA, N.Y. (WKBW) — Odie Brant Porter is a mother, a wife, a member of the Turtle Clan and a Seneca Nation councilor.
She now has another role — on the advisory board for the Smithsonian's future American Women's History Museum.
Porter was just appointed to the position and is eager to help shape how the story of Indigenous women is told.
She posed a question that's on the museum website.
"Why is women's history written in invisible ink? Right? Why is that?"
On Monday, Porter invited 7 News to the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum in Salamanca which is filled with exhibits about Indigenous women.
She's especially interested in exploring the role Indigenous women played in the founding of the United States as well as the suffragette movement.
"Iroquois women… Haudenosaunee women were working side by side with a lot of these colonial women and you would even see the dress. We had freedom of dress, we had, we owned our own land, we were not the property of men, we had control over the children," she said. "That's an interesting story that I think I'd like to explore that more."
The museum is still in its planning stages, likely about eight years away, but the Smithsonian has identified space on the National Mall that they'd like to build it. That will require Congressional approval.
In the meantime, she encouraged people to visit the women's museum website, womenshistory.si.edu, where there's a digital exhibit narrated by actor Rosario Dawson.
She also urged people to find ways to participate, by sharing their stories and donating to the museum.
So far, about $55 million has been raised for the museum.
