Review for the Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow Exhibit

 

    Public History exhibits provide an opportunity to inform a general public on specific parts of history by walking through it themselves. They allow an unparalleled way for a visitor to engross and learn about a subject that they might not have ever learned about deeply otherwise. “Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow” is one of these types of exhibits, organized by the New-York Historical Society that took place between September of 2018 and March of 2019. The exhibition details the struggle for black citizenship that occurred in the United States in the post-Civil War era, detailing much of the struggle that African-Americans would go through under the Jim Crow laws. Originally a public display, it would later become one available to be seen online years after the original display had been taken down. Viewing the exhibit helps to tell about what type of audience that this exhibit is for, and how effective it is at delivering the information that it presents to that same public. 

Through viewing the exhibit fully, it is clear that it is meant to be viewed by a general audience. The exhibit itself is available to be viewed by all for no fee, and when the display was available for view, tickets to view it were cheap. Indicators as to what kind of audience the exhibit is meant for also exist in the content of the exhibit itself. For example, a map that displays the continental United States during the time of the civil war displays not only the east coast and the Midwest, but also the states of Oregon, California, and Nevada. The indicator is in how the remaining land between the west coast and the Midwest is labeled, being noted only as “Territories”. A small label tells much about the information they would rather display for the guest viewing the exhibit, as labeling the lands specifically would lead to the viewer having thoughts about something unrelated to the Jim Crow laws which the display features. 

The online exhibit is able to effectively deliver its information due to the way it presents itself on the website. Praises are given as to how accessible the website is for those who are not able to attend the display physically. On the website, you have as much access to the resources available at the area as you would be able to have walking through it. It provides the viewer with a variety of interactive panorama shots, having the ability to click on and view the documents attached to a specific piece displayed. Clicking on any painting displayed shows at least two slides, one that shows the painting as if you were facing in front of it, and if provided, the plaque that details the context of the painting. This is what makes the exhibit feel great to go through online, as there is no feeling that an online viewer is missing out more than what a person going through the exhibit felt while walking through it. Practically everything in the exhibit is well documented, leaving nothing out and lost, if a visitor to the website wishes to click on anything that seems notable within the display, they are able to do so with little to no difficulty. 

The website does not only allow the viewer to see the exhibit as if they were actually there, but also provides a chronological history of what the exhibit displays. It provides options for the different types of learning styles that the visitor to the site may be, either preferring to view the information in a more open and free manner by inserting themselves directly into the exhibit, or in a concise and defined manner, doing so in a way which the creators of the exhibit wanted it to be viewed as. What seems like something simple gives the audience some type of freedom of choice, allowing them to consume this information in whichever way they please  Accessibility is a key responsibility of being a public historian, and having the materials in the exhibit available for public viewing years later, and in a manner that provides some freedom of choice in going through it, is a great indicator that the exhibit is successful when viewing it from the perspective of one. 

The “Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow” exhibit by the New-York Historical Society is a fantastic overview of the topic in which it covers. The audience which the display is meant for is that of a general audience as it has been freely available online by anyone at no cost even after the original exhibit was taken down years ago. The way in which the exhibit delivers the information presented on the website is also done well, putting the viewer in the position as someone would be as if they were viewing the exhibit physically. Visitors to the site are also given a semblance of an option as well, due to the different ways in which one can view the content of the exhibit, allowing for accessibility to be a key feature for the exhibit. Public History exhibits allow an opportunity like no other to inform the public by viewing these historical texts in physical form, and can be done through seeing it in person or online. The exhibit continues to be put on display, with it most recently being shown at the National World War I Museum and Memorial. Public historians themselves have a duty to the public to create these different types of exhibits, and not keep these cultural texts and artifacts to be locked away from view. Doing so fulfills their duty, creating a well-informed public that will enrich the society that they participate within.  

 

You can visit the site by viewing the hyperlink below

Black Citizenship in The Age of Jim Crow



Works Cited

National Endowment For The Humanities. (n.d.). Black citizenship in the age of Jim Crow. National WWI Museum and     Memorial. Retrieved December 18, 2022, from  https://www.theworldwar.org/exhibitions/black-citizenship  


 “CIVIL WAR 1861-1865.” Black Citizenship In The Age of Jim Crow, September 7th, 2018, Accessed December 18th, 2022  

  https://blackcitizenship.nyhistory.org/introduction/

    

Location: 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024, USA

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