Reclaiming the Record: Community-Based Collaborative Projects in Two African American Museums

• In Event: 34.042 - Collaborative Public History: Engaging the Public Through Multimodal Mechanisms and Methodologies

Abstract

African American museums play a critical role in shaping public conceptions of black history. Black museums are, centrally, about people and their narratives rather than about objects or art. They serve as gathering spaces where history, art, and culture are enlivened and truth is projected. This paper interrogates the ways in which the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, Michigan and the Northwest African American Museum (NAAM) in Seattle, Washington have implemented collaborative projects in concert with community to preserve and interpret black history in relevant ways. The oral history project at the Wright Museum and the genealogy project at NAAM employ multimodal strategies to robustly engage the public and heighten historical consciousness among community members.

Author

• LaNesha DeBardelaben