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Exhibition Reviews
Edward T. Linenthal and Kym S. Rice
Contributing Editors
Introduction
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The contributing editors encourage readers to suggest representations of history in American public culture that might be reviewed. In addition to continuing coverage of museum exhibitions, they are interested in covering living history projects, historical pageants and reenactments, memorials, historic preservation projects, and virtual museums. Please contact:
| Edward T. Linenthal |
Kym S. Rice |
| Department of Religious Studies |
Museum Studies Program |
| University of Wisconsin |
George Washington University |
| Oshkosh, WI 54901 |
2035 F St., NW |
| <etl@uwosh.edu> |
Washington, DC 20052 |
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<kym@gwu.edu> |
We would like to thank the American Association for State and Local History for providing information on the work of its members.
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"Middle Passage Exhibit." Robert and Dee Leggett Special Events Center, Millsaps College, 1701 N. State St., Jackson, MS 39210.
Temporary exhibition, Feb. 21–22, 2003. 1,200 sq. ft. James L. Petty and Mary Anne Petty, project directors; Shelly Ritter, Howard Jones, consultants.
Narrative card, Middle Passage Museum. Brochure, Millsaps Forum Spring 2003. Millsaps Monthly Forum 2003, Feb. 21, moderated by Kristen Tegtmeier of the Department of History, with an address by James L. Petty, founder of the Middle Passage Museum, "From Slavery to Freedom: Two Hundred Years of African American History and Artifacts."
Internet: press release
about exhibition <http://www.millsaps.edu/news_events/releases/feb/middle.shtml>
(Sept. 4, 2003). The searchable Web site for the Middle Passage
and African American History Museum includes highlights of the collection,
a calendar of events, traveling exhibit information, photographs,
and plans for the permanent museum: <http://www.middlepassagemuseum.org>
(Sept. 4, 2003).
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| Exhibitions inform, educate, and entertain. Sometimes they can not only elevate our sensibilities but also heighten our consciousness. The "Middle Passage Exhibit" sponsored by the Department of History at Millsaps College at the behest of Dr. Kristen Tegtmeier does just that. |
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The exhibition opened with a lecture by James L. Petty, who with Mary Anne Petty assembled the artifacts on display in this exhibit from their collection of fifteen thousand items. Petty traces his interest in African American artifacts to the 1960s urban race riots. After Petty had read widely on African American history, a learned friend suggested that truly to understand our (African American) history, Petty would need to move to the Deep South, perhaps Mississippi, and to collect slavery artifacts. |
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"You need to hold the items," Petty told the audience, "and let them tell you the true story." Over time, the collection expanded to encompass African American history from slavery through the civil rights era. The "middle passage" refers to the painful voyage to the Americas forced upon African people held in bondage. The narrative card, provided free to each museum patron, outlines the Pettys' hope that by addressing our African American past, a past that has often been ignored and misrepresented, we can build a future premised on "tolerance and understanding." |
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