African-Americans now entering the field will have more choices of where they want to work, he says. But while the number of African-Americans entering the museum field grows, “I don’t think that there are nearly as many in positions of influence as there should be. There aren’t as many museum directors, there aren’t as many chief curators or heads of education.”
African-Americans aren’t the only people of color concerned about telling their story, collecting their history and flexing their political clout to celebrate their lives, says Ruffins. She points to the more than 100 existing and emerging tribal museums on reservations, many of which are largely federally-funded or supported by casino revenues. There are also more than 100 relatively new Latino museums, a growth spurt Ruffins says “parallels the Civil Rights Movement.” And when the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., opened in 1993, there were only six such facilities in the nation and about 30 worldwide. Today, says Ruffins, there are about 50 in the United States and 100 around the world.
— By B. Denise Hawkins
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
