I must admit I have only dipped into this thread off and on and I don't
fully have a handle on where it started or all of the paths it has taken.
That having been said I would like to add a thought.  Most of what I have
read have been concerning exhibits that effect people in a postive way, ie
inspiring awe or a few chuckles.  I would like to offer up one of the most
unforgettable exhibits I have ever seen that moved me to revulsion and
horror. I want to make sure it gets mentioned because it is in a museum most
of you would overlook and also because it is in a town many of you will be
visiting in May.  I also have to say now that I have not seen or heard about
the exhibit in some time and much of what I have to say may be out of date.
So be it.

The exhibit I am talking about is an exhibit on lynching at the Great Blacks
in Wax Museum in Baltimore.  Say what you want about wax museums and I would
probably agree with most of it, but this particular wax museum has pushed
the envelope of the genre.  They understand that what they have to offer
over the rest of us is a humanizing element most of us can only achieve
periodically in our history exhibits, usually with the help of mannikins
ironically enough.  Take their lynching exhibit.  You can display all the
KKK hoods and nooses you want.  You can blow up newspaper accounts of
lynching victims to 112 point type.  And you can display all the grainy
black and white photos of black men hanging from a tree you want.  Nothing
compares to the emotional impact, however, of a very lifelike pregnant black
woman having her baby ripped from her body next to a newspaper account of
just such an occurance. Nothing compares to the horror you feel of seeing
wax human genitals (both genders) floating in jars next to accounts of
people taking just such items as trophies. There are literally no words to
describe the impact. This is no subsitute for more sober consideration of
horrible events such as this and their place in the grand scope of human
history.  But perhaps the true nature of these events may only be
understood, truly understood, if you can look at the act (or a reasonable
representation thereof) in the face. I think the exhibit has problems.
Things like text panels and lighting seem too amaturish (or they did a year
ago) for the large and important museum they are becoming.  They need to
work on this.  But this is an excellent exhibit. It is troubling and not for
the young, (and tastefully kept in an out of the way gallery downstairs) but
my personal opinion is that every American should have to see this exhibit
just as I feel that every World citizen should have to walk through the
Holocaust Museum.  I would encourage all delegates to AAM in May to find the
Great Blacks in Wax Museum and see this exhibit if it is still up.

A thought though.  The museum is in a very "off-the-beaten-path" location.
I would predict that many of you, were you to ask your concierge or
convention center staff where it is, would be warned from going into that
neighborhood.  I have always wondered that if they were more a central part
of the Inner Harbor Tourism Industrial Complex if they would be able to get
away with such troubling and important exhibits. My guess is no.  The
presentation would be much more tepid and much more forgettable. Just a
thought.

Matt

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