{"id":19763,"date":"2023-12-07T12:59:24","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T17:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=19763"},"modified":"2023-12-07T12:59:24","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T17:59:24","slug":"acts-of-faith-new-art-exhibit-explores-the-impact-of-faith-on-us-westward-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/12\/acts-of-faith-new-art-exhibit-explores-the-impact-of-faith-on-us-westward-expansion","title":{"rendered":"\u201cActs of Faith.\u201d New Art Exhibit Explores the Impact of Faith on US Westward Expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_19781\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19781\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2023\/12\/acts-of-faith-art-exhibit_credit-New-York-Historical-Society-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19781\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2023\/12\/acts-of-faith-art-exhibit_credit-New-York-Historical-Society-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-19781\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">New-York Historical Society<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A new exhibit at the New York Historical Society is exploring the impact that faith had on the United States\u2019 westward expansion during the 19th century, while also detailing how that expansion affected America\u2019s religious expression. Called <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nyhistory.org\/exhibitions\/acts-of-faith-religion-and-the-american-west\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Acts of Faith: Religion and the American West<\/span><\/em><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, the exhibit covers a variety of religious movements as America pursued its \u201cManifest Destiney\u201d westward. Rather than focusing on the familiar staples of westward expansion- cowboys, gold rushes, and gun fights- the exhibit \u201ctakes visitors beyond the mythologized \u2018Wild West\u2019 of popular culture to present a fuller and surprising picture: a West populated by preachers, pilgrims, and visionaries and home to sacred grounds and cathedrals that kindled spiritual feeling from the woodlands of New York all the way to the valleys of California.\u201d The exhibit also doesn\u2019t just focus on Christianity but \u201cdiverse Native peoples, Protestant missionaries, Mormon settlers, Catholic communities, African American migrants, Jewish traders, and Chinese immigrant workers.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> The exhibit contains somewhere around 60 artifacts, including Robert Weir\u2019s portrait of Seneca chief Sagoyewatha, more commonly known as \u201cRed Jacket,\u201d and an emigrant trunk labeled \u201cFrom Basel to Salt Lake City, Utah\u201d from a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The exhibit divides itself into three eras: \u201cHomelands &amp; New Lands, 1810s\u20131840s,\u201d \u201cTrails &amp; Trials, 1840s\u20131860s,\u201d and \u201cInsiders &amp; Outsiders, 1860s\u20131890s.\u201d \u201cHomelands\u201d emphasizes how religion responded to the call for westward expansion through either resistance or participation. \u201cTrails\u201d features some pathways familiar to the American imagination, such as the Trail of Tears and the Oregon Trail. This section looks at how faith formed the newly growing communities that went westward, including Chinese immigrants, the beginning of Mormon westward expansion, and displaced Native American tribes. \u201cInsiders\u201d focuses on how faith impacted inclusion for different religious groups, such as the passage of laws banning polygamy and the banning of sacred Native American dances by the US government.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Writing for <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/arts-culture\/history\/acts-of-faith-religion-and-the-american-west-review-new-york-historical-society-religion-manifest-destiny-4a2f24fa?mod=arts-culture_feat7_history_pos3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Wall Street Journal<\/span><\/em><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, Edward Rothstein called the exhibit\u2019s scope \u201cdizzying.\u201d \u201cIn how many national histories would such varied beliefs and convictions vie with one another and transform one another? And in how many other nations\u2019 experiences are there so many expectations that, despite injustices and flaws, something of importance was coming into being? In retrospect, we glimpse the evolution of one aspect of American exceptionalism.\u201d Indeed, in an America that seems to be increasingly trying to secularize itself, the choice of such a theme for a New York art exhibit seems unusual. That religion in the normally portrayed \u201cwild, wild west\u201d of prostitutes, gamblers, and gunslingers would be the subject seems even more unusual. And yet, the American western experience is one of those few things that is truly American. The recent popularity of shows like \u201cYellowstone\u201d and \u201c1883\u201d shows the American hunger for that imaginative identity. The new show, \u201cLawmen: Bass Reeves,\u201d connects both faith and the Wild West as\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Acts of Faith<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0does. The show, which tells the story of African American lawman Bass Reeves, who would become America\u2019s first black US Marshall, displays Reeves\u2019 Christian beliefs. David Oyelowo, who plays the titular character,\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-features\/david-oyelowo-lawmen-bass-reeves-journey-interview-1235679670\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">called<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0Reeves\u2019s faith \u201cthe core value on which his notion of justice was built.\u201d Oyelowo said Reeves\u2019s faith is what attracted him towards the part. \u201cIn fact, to me, it was one of the things that I gravitated toward. I\u2019m a Christian myself. I know how that informs my choices, my life, my marriage, my kids, and that we rarely see that.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Acts of Faith<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0will be on display through February 2024.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new exhibit at the New York Historical Society is exploring the impact that faith had on the United States\u2019 westward expansion during the 19th century, while also detailing how that expansion affected America\u2019s religious expression. Called Acts of Faith: Religion and the American West, the exhibit covers a variety of religious movements as America&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":19781,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u201cActs of Faith.\u201d New Art Exhibit Explores the Impact of Faith on US Westward Expansion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A new exhibit at the New York Historical Society is exploring the impact that faith had on the United States\u2019 westward expansion during the 19th century.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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