Drum Back

The front of the drum, the pad is painted with a crosshair design, colored red and black. This drum was given as a diplomatic gift to show how complicated the relationships were between North American native countries and colonial powers. Giving military items like drums as gifts wasn't just a nice thing to do, it was a calculated move to keep power and build allies. The Anishinaabe people didn't just accept these gifts, they used them as a way to negotiate power in the larger setting of colonialism. So, the drum is a physical reminder of how colonial interactions were tangled with politics and money.