From storefront to monument
Subtitle: tracing the public history of the Black museum movement
By: Andrea A. Burns
Series: Public history in historical perspective
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Amherst; Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 249
ISBN-13: 9781625340344; 9781625340351
Subjects: African Americans; Museums; History; Historical museums; Public history
Description: Today well over two hundred museums focusing on African American history and culture can be found throughout the United States and Canada. Many of these institutions trace their roots to the 1960s and 1970s, when the struggle for racial equality inspired a movement within the black community to make the history and culture of African America more public. This book tells the story of four of these groundbreaking museums: the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago (founded in 1961); the International Afro-American Museum in Detroit (1965); the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum in Washington, D.C. (1967); and the African American Museum of Philadelphia (1976).
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-235) and index.
Table of contents: title: Museums on the front lines: Confronting the "Conspiracy of silence"; title: When "civil rights are not enough": building the Black museum movement; title: "Not in my backyard": The contested origins of the African American Museum of Philadelphia; title: Confronting the "Tyranny of relevance": Exhibits and the politics of representation; title: "To satisfy a deadline but little else": The public debut of the African American Museum of Philadelphia; title: Rocky transitions: Black museums approach a new era; title: A museum for the future: The National Museum of African American History and Culture; title: Conclusion: The ties that bind: Museums as community agents.