"The Peabody Essex Museum chose an appropriate weekend to open "Shapeshifting," its latest exhibit of Native American art that includes works from its own collection and other sources.

For on this weekend we celebrate the birthday of the great civil rights leader, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who was instrumental in breaking the stereotypes that had for centuries divided white from black in America. In "Shapeshifting" one of the goals is to disabuse people of the notion that there is such a thing as "indian" art made by nameless people from indistinguishable tribes whose work was meant solely for utilitarian purposes."

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Our View: New exhibit takes aim at racial stereotypes (The Salem News 1/16)