March 2008

by Naomi Ishisaka

Naomi Ishisaka Editor

“…  I always thought there was a lack of African-American history in the textbooks. We’re always relegated to the little box. So my father would take me down to the local library anytime I had questions… And that’s how I came to learn about my own culture. But I always thought, ‘why isn’t there a museum?’ I’d go down to the local museum and there weren’t my people there, there wasn’t my story there. And my family would sometimes go to Seattle and it was the same issue. There were no museums or cultural institutions that were dedicated just to our story. So I always thought that was something that I wanted to do.”

-  Brian J. Carter, Northwest African American Museum education director

The ability to pass on our own history and to create and transmit culture is one of the key ways we are human. From the African griots and fables of Asia to the ethnic American subcultures in the United States, communities pass on their worldview to successive generations through storytelling and shared history.

Yet for most of our nation’s history, these rich stories were omitted from the “master narrative” of our primary schools, colleges, government records and museums. If our stories were even told, it was from the worldview of the dominant culture – Westward expansion through the eyes of the white man, for example, leaving out the views of Native people who were the original inhabitants.

Worse, for many museums in the U.S. and Europe, non-white people were not only seen as without viable and valuable cultural contributions but as exotic freak shows. In the worst cases, such as that of a South African Khoi woman Saartjie Baartman, later dubbed the “Hottentot Venus,” a living human being was paraded around Europe during the early 1800s so that people could gape at her partly naked body. After her death, her skeleton, brains and genitals were displayed in jars in a Paris museum until as recently as 1974.

Even as museums such as the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., began to recognize the contributions and importance of non-European cultures, many did so with appropriated art and artifacts attained – that many would say stolen – through a long history of European and white conquest. Their presentation in mainstream museums was often without context and was directed by those outside the culture.

Today, some things have changed. Museums such as the Seattle Art Museum have staff members, such as African art curator Pam McCluskey, who take a different approach to representing African art. McCluskey looks for not only classic African art but contemporary art that reflects the current political and cultural dynamics of the myriad cultures and countries on the continent. In her 2002 exhibit “Art from Africa: Long Steps Never Broke a Back,” the museum collaborated with those from the communities represented to create audio guides instead of wall titles that used storytelling and multiple interpretations to demonstrate the complexity and richness of the material represented.
While greater cultural competency and inclusion in mainstream art and history museums are important first steps to a more accurate and balanced representation of our world, many in communities of color feel we must make sure that we tell our own stories.

To this end, museums like the International District’s Wing Luke Asian Museum (see upcoming story in May) have reclaimed their own history by taking over the curatorial helm and telling their own stories.

And finally, after more than 30 years of activism, organization and sacrifice, a similar dream is being realized for the African-American community in the Puget Sound area. This month, the Northwest African American Museum will open as another vehicle for telling our own stories from our own perspectives. Thanks to the vision of the activists who initially dreamed of the project, the Urban League that got the vision off the ground, and now to the museum leadership who is seeing it to fruition, the museum promises to serve as a hub for those who want to make sure that their culture continues to be transmitted and that their stories are not forgotten.
 

We love your letters! Send them to: Naomi Ishisaka naomii@colorsnw.com.