The question of a memorial’s appropriateness as a tribute to its subject has become a hot topic of discussion since the unveiling of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial. Everything from the massive size of the MLK statue to the selection of the quotations inscribed in stone have faced scrutiny, with some critics arguing […]
Read more "Commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."Since Iris Morales visited us last week, I have been thinking about the particular power of art to promote change and social justice. Ms. Morales clearly believes that art is a key part of any social movement. It is not ancillary, but rather has its own unique and necessary role to play. I think that […]
Read more "Freedom Highway"We in the museum world sometimes wonder if curators can change the world. No one, however, asks that question about Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, curator emeritus at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. We know that she has and will continue to do so. To read more about her life as a scholar, curator, […]
Read more "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon"One Saturday a few weeks ago, while having a documentary mini-marathon on my couch, I came across A Class Divided. What it showed was so fascinating (and sad) that I found myself searching for more information it ended. Given this week’s discussion on white hostility and violence toward blacks, I thought it would be an […]
Read more "Brown Eyes vs. Blue Eyes: Discrimination in a Third-Grade Classroom"As we are gearing up for a semester’s worth of explorations into issues of class, race, and gender in twentieth- and twenty-first-century America, I thought it would be appropriate on this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to point out one of the ways in which CGP — specifically our own Professor Gretchen Sullivan Sorin — […]
Read more "Martin Luther King, Jr. and CGP"
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