Race and Ethnicity in the U S 11 14 Pubic History history that interacts with the public o Not like a classroom experience Contested History Who writes history o Historians o Historians are mostly talking to one another amongst their books that are published o They regularly don t agree with each other What happens when two stories conflict with one another National Museum of African American History and Culture Washington D C Document African American history Apart of the Smithsonian Institute African Americans Other examples In the past 30 years there have been an abundance of museums interested in o Riley house museum Tallahassee o National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Cincinnati Also known for its exhibits on contemporary modern day slavery o Charles H Wright Museum of African American History Detroit Focuses very much on culture hair salons nail salons etc Very outside of the box Plantation Museums 1000s of visitors every year Beautiful landscapes Amazing architecture Often in the south but not exclusively Nostalgia what is being remembered What is being celebrated o People want to see their wealth opulence decadence Plantation Museums and Slavery Slavery built the economy before 1861 Absent from many antebellum museums places built before the war plantations Why o Its is depressing o Not good for marketing o The audience decides this How o Passive voice Ex At Thomas Jefferson mansion in Virginia there were very innately carved doors When you go to the museum all they say is these doors were installed when in reality they should say The same goes for saying crops were grown instead of saying slaves carved the doors slaves tended to the crops o Few to no slave quarters Mostly made out of wood They are usually no longer staying because the wood structures did not make it to the present day Enola Gay Boeing B 29 Super fortress Bomber August 6 1945 Hiroshima Dropped first Atomic bomb Little boy Pilot Paul Tibbets o Named after his mother Credited with ending WWII The Crossroads the end of WWII the Atomic Bomb and the Cold War 1995 NASM American Legion and Air Force Association o Said that this exhibit was too sympathetic to Japanese o There were too many pictures where the Japanese people were portrayed as victims What about all of the Women and children in America that lost husbands and brothers o This exhibit dishonors WWII veterans The exhibit was pulled The director of the museum is fired People vandalized the plane 2003 NASM as an example of the Boeing B 29 Super fortress Bomber o It was put back on display but in a VERY different way o It was more about the plane itself rather than what happened because of it o It is de politicized
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