Exhibiting race, creating nation: Representations of black history and culture at the Smithsonian Institution, 1895--1976

This dissertation is an examination of the evolution of exhibitions about African-American history and culture at the Smithsonian Institution to explore issues of racial representation, national identity, and cultural authority. Each chapter is a case study of representative moments in the Smithsonian's history that expose the historically specific political and social interests that shape museum exhibitions. First, a close study of the National Museum's exhibition at the 1895 Cotton States International Exposition shows the Smithsonian's participation in the production of a historical narrative that conveys a racialist cultural heritage. The production of racialist narratives is again evident in the 1920s, a period I examine through a comparison of temporary African-American art exhibits with a permanent display of African artifacts. The rise of the new, modern history museum and the continuing struggle for control over cultural authority is considered in my studies of the Museum of History and Technology and the Anacostia Museum during the 1960s through the 1976 Bicentennial celebrations. I argue that the Smithsonian reflected dominant social and political attitudes which were in conflict with the African American community's own sense of cultural and national identity. Examining the “museum as contact zone” as articulated by James Clifford, each historical moment is viewed as a site of cultural conflict. Over time, what was once considered too “political” for legitimate museum exhibition changes. By tracing the contest over cultural authority and African American culture, I make a historical analysis of discourses on race as played out in the museum medium and its implications for shaping national identity.