A museum of women's history is long overdue -- and so are many others
Earlier this month, the House of Representatives passed a bill to establish a National Women's History Museum. The announcement of the new museum immediately sparked praise on social media as long overdue. The most common criticism was not about the museum but was reserved for Liz Cheney as the only woman who voted against the measure. A handful of well-placed critiques rightfully raised concerns about how inclusive the new museum would be, a point that resonates with many women's historians who have long been familiar with the need for the field to more evenly address the histories of women of color and of working class women.
The bill that passed explicitly mandates the museum "represent a diverse range of viewpoints," apparently largely because Republican lawmakers fret about how the issue of abortion will be treated. As for the expansion of new museums reflecting the diversity of the country, last fall the House had its first hearing on establishing a Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino, and although New York is now the likely future site of a national LGBTQ museum, one could be forgiven for wondering whether we will end up with a fractured national narrative, embodied in a segmented museum corridor along our National Mall in Washington.
I am more concerned, however, about a different museum and what it becomes in this moment -- the already existing Museum of American History. As we work to recover histories of marginalized people and subjects for a more inclusive national history presented in our museums, we must also change how the Grand Narrative is told in a museum that purports to cover all of American history. For too long, for example, one of that museum's most popular exhibits related to women's history has been the gowns of first ladies.
Where might my own research on sexual violence against enslaved men be best understood? In the context of a museum of women's and gender history? African American history? Sexual violence under slavery is as central to our history as the Model T -- so perhaps within the American History museum is where it belongs.