Reckoning with Racism: Critical Education and Community Museums

Censorship of culturally sensitive topics like race in American schools has rapidly intensified in recent years. At the same time, citizens and institutions are under pressure to address the ongoing legacy of racial injustice in the United States. I argue this turbulent climate may be creating a window of opportunity for many American museums to reimagine their social purpose, target diverse audiences, and develop new strategies to reach those audiences. Drawing on two years of digital ethnography, I describe how two North Carolina museums are responding to entrenched cultural polarization and attempting to overcome widespread organized censorship of critical knowledge. I document the approaches these museums are using to disseminate locally relevant critical education, to mobilize diverse community networks, and to equip a multi-racial public with civic tools to transform social awareness into civic action. This chapter emphasizes that museums have important roles to play in peace education and suggests that museum contributions to peacebuilding and racial reckoning should be further recognized, explored, and expanded.