Many Voices--One Story? Public History Narratives of Native American and African American Histories

Hosted by the Department of History on 17 April 2010, the Many Voices--One Story? conference was a great success.  Since the emergence of social history in the 1960s and 1970s, public history venues like museums, historic sites and parks, and historical re-enactments have wrestled with expanding their narratives to incorporate voices that had been silenced for so long. African Americans and Native Americans had been largely absent from public history narratives, a consequence of insufficient resources and interpretive biases that evidenced the authority of dominant racial and class powers. But publications like James and Lois Horton’s Slavery and Public History, programs like Colonial Williamsburg’s Revolutionary City, and the opening of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and plans for a Smithsonian African American Museum herald the new voices being heard in historic interpretation today—voices empowered by grassroots public history projects and movements that have contributed to a new pluralism of interpretative narratives. This conference explored interpretive narratives about Native American and African American histories, and the ways in which they have challenged the traditional narrative at America's historic sites, parks, and museums.

Praise for Many Voices--One Story?

It was such a wonderful experience and I feel fortunate to have been a part of it. The presentations were remarkable and I learned a great deal about public history at other sites and about what is going on in North Carolina (and other regions) as well. I will definitely be back to North Carolina soon to visit many of the sites I learned about through the conference. You did an outstanding job of organizing the conference and pulling together such an incredible group of presenters working with Native American and African American public history. The presentations were all engaging and the dialogue that emerged between presentations was provocative and inspiring. I look forward to continuing this dialogue with this group in the future through connections made at the conference. It was just a wonderful experience on every level.  Your students are fortunate to be part of such a unique program . . .--Lori Lee, Syracuse University and Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest

Thank you for organizing such a fantastic conference! I really can't remember the last time I learned so much and felt so inspired by a conference!--Jessica Swigger, Western Carolina University

I wanted to write and say how much I enjoyed being a part of the conference.  It really corresponded well with the course I'm currently teaching on race/ethnicity and public history, and it helps that I could pass around the conference program to my students so they could see that what they're doing in this course matters.--Andrea Burns, Appalachian State University

[Unfortunately, while the conference was video recorded, audio quality is too poor to post for viewing.  Our apologies.]