The Emergence of the Field of African American Museums by Jeff Hayward and Christine Larouche, in an article sponsored and published by the NCPH offered a discussion and brief history of the movement to establish a broad and enduring circuit of African American museums in the United States. Hayward and Larouche offered a great deal of information from multiple sources, including community polls, interviews with staff of the Association of African American Museums, and the sources of the funding for such projects.
It was of particular interest that many of these museums are well established and frequently visited, contain a great deal of works, and yet were entirely privately funded. Private donorship and contributions from collectors inspired by the mission of the AAAM to “enhance the ability of those museums to serve the needs and interests of persons of African ancestry and those who wish to know more about the art, history and culture of African-derived culture,” are what allow the movement to thrive.
The article really spoke to me on an individual level, as well as simply being related to the field discussed. I am in fervent support of smaller, independent museums dedicated to the education and interpretation of artifacts from cultures that are woefully without adequate representation in the mainstream.
