Karah English, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

Karah English is a Cultural Arts Specialist at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

English stands in front of a wall covered in portraits of native community members and museum employees.

English is part of the team responsible for museum public programs including movies, music, theater, dance, and a lecture series, all intended to inform museum visitors on the diverse native peoples from throughout the western hemisphere.

English is a Concow-Maidu native woman from northern California. Her work at the Smithsonian is inspired by her personal drive to bring awareness to native peoples, cultures, and arts.

English says her work with the museum is important because few people, even in California, know about her own Maidu people. The community is one of over 300 communities originally present in the state, and her family is part of three different valley Maidu communities with land in Oroville, Calif., a small town near Sacramento.

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