Who Promotes History? (Reaction paper 8)

This question applies to everyone because we all spread history about our families to new family members. Often times, people see rich white aristocrats tell history because their belongs were not demolished and the fact that most rich white males are congressmen.  Other histories are pushed aside to make room for main stream history about the framers of the constitution. Its important that historians work with minority groups so we can learn their history and understand marginalized groups better.

It can be extremely difficult to talk with such groups about sensitive historical topics such as the Vietnam War, and Slavery. The impact on these events so big that we hear people still discussing that past today. Sometimes the impact has a reverse effect. In Presence of the Past  pine ridge Sioux tribe don’t celebrate 4th July because its the start of their destruction page 168. When Lincoln is taught in schools teachers don’t talk about him condemning 24 Indians and having them hung. The federal government’s ethnic cleansing stirred emotions it should not have stirred. One Pine Ridge Sioux Tribe member said to an Interviewer “I want to kill you.” Page 169. Its easy to spot the difference of how history is told between the two groups.

African Americans have a different history than Indians do, but both can be secptatible to public education’s white history. Young African Americans get to hear stories of their grandparents that were slaves. African Americans also rate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr as the number 1 most important historical figure during the survey of Presence of the Past Page 171. That’s because the death  Dr. King Jr. lead to the civil rights act in 1964. Yet, W. U De Bois fighting the system before Dr. King Jr. De Bois talks about having one foot in both white and black world because he is a mix of the two (Page 172). African Americans sometime struggle to identify with De Bois because De Bois thoughts are complex and difficult to understand.

Another struggle is to decide who should set up museums for particular groups? Should it be Historians or the people? An example of this can be found in Thomas Cauvin’s Public History: A Textbook Practice page 224. A Canadian War  Museum was built to honor the Canadians who fought in WW2, but there was an issue of who was going to be displaying the history. Should the veterans or the Historians set up the Museum? The ideal is for both parties to work together, but that might not always be realistic. Another way could be to let the veterans set it up displays while the curator can assist them in showing them the best places the displays can go.