Signs of an Era?

Tangible Things is a collection of stories surrounding the objects that make up a Museum Exhibit of the same name. Throughout the book the authors make the point that just about anything can become a piece of history by giving the historical background of things that may seem to be rather average like an old tortilla or a tortoise shell. At first glance these things don’t seem to be historically rich, and I am sure that at the time the presumably Mexican women mashing the corn into what would become the tortilla did not think it would end up in a museum - rather she was just performing a common task in her daily life. This lead me to think what kinds of tangible things do we use, or have used that we never thought would carry historical significance? What actions do we take daily that may some day be of great debate in the future?

The Smithsonian Institute for African American History and Culture has recently begun collecting signs and other artifacts from the protest in Ferguson Missouri, as well as the entire Black Lives Matter movement wherever it manifests.  Lonnie Bunch – the museum’s director – stated that he is interested in the collection because his job is not just to look into the past but also to preserve the future at the same time. This decision alone allows us to step back from our day-to-day task and delve more deeply into what is happening around us. It is clear that we are in the middle of an era concerning the Black Lives Matter Movement – this moment will undoubtedly go down in history and we will all be able to say we lived through it. Whether we participate in the movement, agree or disagree with it, it doesn’t matter – nor does it change the fact that this is history in the making and that is something we cannot ignore. Ulrich, Gaskell, Schechner and Carter remind us of the significance of not only having artifacts preserved but also questioning their existence and history and most importantly how they can be seen from different angles and disciplines.

Like the items mentioned in Tangible Things, what will these memorabilia say about this moment in history? What kinds of stories will be told as a result of their presence? In what kind of museum or public space would they fit best? And finally, what kinds of questions will they evoke 100 years from now?

Take for instance the photo below which shows a young protester holding a sign that reads “Comfort is staying quiet when you should be speaking up” along with a mask that reads “I cant breathe,” the now famous last words of Staten Island resident Eric Garner who died from complications of a chokehold placed on him by NYPD officers. This is a story we all know too well. But, imagine that we do not live in the age of the internet and all that remained of this history was the sign, mask and this photo. Placed in a museum, years from now this would undoubtedly raise questions in the minds of its viewers. What might the museum label say about this particular set of objects and how would that label differ if the exhibit opened tomorrow?

More importantly, what does this sign mean to her? When she was creating it, was it to sympathize with Garner’s pain? Or was she making a statement about her own life through Garner's?

What about this next sign, made by a woman during a protest who is clearly concerned for her child’s life, because at this moment in time the next life could be anyone’s? One does not need to be hooded or un-hooded; it need not be either daylight or night; one does not need to be committing a crime. In creating this sign she does not think that she is creating some sort of great historical piece, rather that she is just unleashing her frustrations through protest.

One question that was persistent throughout the book was the question of placement. This question is important, because it can make an exhibition fun and interesting or it can have the counter effect and bore its visitors. Equally important is where would items – many of which cover multiple subjects – end up? In some cases the museum curators allowed the museumgoers to decide for themselves with signs that simply read “Sort Them!” This allows for the public to become the curators and use their knowledge of history and best judgment to engage in the exhibit itself. The question I pose to you and Lonnie Bunch alike is: How will these new historical artifacts be displayed in an exhibit? In what category would they fall? It would be quite easy yet striking to put up an exhibit dedicated strictly to the Black Lives Matter movement, but would it not be just as powerful to juxtapose these items next to some civil rights memorabilia like pictured below?

To say that anything is history is easy enough, yet that doesn’t mean everything will be placed in a collection like the one the authors created. Your grandmother’s old sock may not make the cut, since even though it has history it doesn’t necessarily have a history that affects a wider audience. This is the difference between everyday items and the things that can be found in the exhibit. All of the items came from Harvard’s personal archives and therefore were persevered or obtained with the idea that they were of importance, interesting, and were likely able to enter into a conversation much larger than themselves. 

If one were to grasp any one thing from the book Tangible Things, as well as the collection of Black Lives Matter artifacts, it is that everyone, every day, is actively participating in the making of history whether they intend to or not. The everyday things we do are fixed in a context larger than ourselves. Sometimes that is easily evident, like with the Black Lives Matter movement, but sometimes it is subtler, like in the making of a tortilla. Regardless, people need not be curators, archivists, or even historians to participate as history creates itself. We just live in it