THE GEORGE WRIGHT Volume 19 2002< Number 4

FtRUTHE GEORGE WRIGHT M Volume 19 2002< Number 4

THE JOURNAL OF THE GEORGE WRIGHT SOCIETY

Dedicated to the Protection, Preservation and Management of Cultural and Natural Parks and Reserves Through Research and Education The George Wright Society

Origins Founded in 1980, The George Wright Society is organized for the purposes of promoting the application of knowledge, fostering communication, improving resource management, and providing information to improve public understanding and appreciation of the basic purposes of natural and cultural parks and equivalent reserves. The Society is dedicated to the protec tion, preservation, and management of cultural and natural parks and reserves through re search and education. Mission The George Wright Society advances the scientific and heritage values of parks and protected areas. The Society promotes professional research and resource stewardship across natural and cultural disciplines, provides avenues of communication, and encourage public policies that embrace these values. Our Goal The Society strives to be the premier organization connecting people, places, knowledge, and ideas to foster excellence in natural and cultural resource management, research, protection, and interpretation in parks and equivalent reserves. Board of Directors ROBERTJ. KRUMENAKER, President • Bayfield, Wisconsin LAURA E. S. GATES, Vice President • Pineville, Louisiana DWIGHT T. PITCAITHLEY, Treasurer • Reston, Virginia DENNIS B. FENN, Secretary • Flagstaff, Arizona GILLIAN BOWSER • Glennallen, Alaska PETER BRINKLEY • New York, New York MARIE BERTILLION COLLINS • Piedmont, California ABIGAIL B. MILLER • Alexandria, Virginia DAVIDJ. PARSONS • Florence, Montana RICHARD B. SMITH • Placitas, New Mexico STEPHEN WOODLEY • Chelsea, Quebec Executive Office DAVID HARMON, Executive Director P. O. Box 65 ROBERT M. LINN, Membership Coordinator Hancock, Michigan 49930-0065 USA EMILY DEKKER-FIALA. Conference Coordinator 1-906-487-9722; fax 1-906-487-9405 [email protected] http://www.georgewright.org

The George Wright Society is a member of US/ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites—U.S. Committee), IUCN-The World Conservation Union, and The Natural Resources Council of America

© 2002 The George Wright Society, Inc. All rights reserved. (No copyright is claimed for previously published material reprinted herein.) ISSN 0732-4715 Editorial guidelines may be found on the inside back cover. Text paper is made of 50% recy cled fibers. Printed by Book Concern Printers, Hancock, Micbigan THE GEORGE WRIGHT FORUM

Volume 19 • 2002 • Number 4

Society News, Notes & Mail 2 The State of the Society: A Report from the GWS President Bob Krumenaker 4 The G WS Strategic Statement, 2003-2007 7

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AT SITES OF CONSCIENCE Guest Editor: Martin Blatt Introduction: The National Park Service and Civic Engagement Martin Blatt 9 InterpretingSlavery and Civil Rights at Fort Sumter John Tucker 15 Frankly, Scarlett, We Do Give a Damn: The Making of a New National Park Laura (Soulliere) Gates 32 Civic Engagement with the Community at Washita Battlefield National Historic Site Sarah Craighead 44 The National Park Service: Groveling Sycophant or Social Conscience? Telling the Story of Mountains, Valley, and Barbed Wire at Manzanar National Historic Site Frank Hays 50 Activating the Past for Civic Action: The International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience Liz Sevcenko 55 Dialogue Between Continents: Civic Engagement and the Gulag Museum at Perm-36, Russia Louis P. Hutchins and Gay E. Vietzke 65

On the Cover: Watch tower and administrative building at the Gulag Museum at Perm-36. National Park Service photo by Louis Hutchins.

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 1 Society News, Notes Sc Mail

Kilgore, Reynolds, Emory Join GWS Board; New Officers Named In an election which saw all four candidates run strongly, Bruce Kilgore and John Reynolds emerged as the winners in the race for the two available seats on the Board. Kilgore and Reynolds surpassed Brad Barr and Bobbi Simpson in the balloting. Kilgore retired from the National Park Service after a long career which saw him make significant contributions to science in the parks, and which earned him the Society's highest honor, the George Melendez Wright Award for Excellence, in 1997. Reynolds retired from the Park Service in August 2002 after a distinguished and extremely varied career which was capped by his lead ership of the NPS Pacific West Region. In addition to these two new elected Board members, at its 2002 annual meeting the Board appointed Jerry Emory to a term. As a freelance writer, Emory has written extensively on a variety of sub jects, including the personal history of George Wright. He is currently a writer/research officer with the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. These new Board members replace outgoing Board members Bob Krumenaker, Laura Gates, Elizabeth Bertillion Collins, and Peter Brinkley.

For 2003, Dennis B. Fenn takes over as president of the Society. Formerly the chief biologist of the U.S. Geological Survey's Biological Resources Division, Fenn now directs the BRD's Southwest Biological Research Center. Abigail B. Miller, our new vice president, is the deputy associate director of the National Park Service for natural resource science and stewardship. Stepping in as GWS secretary is Gillian Bowser, assistant chief of resources at Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. Dwight T. Pitcaithley, the NPS's chief historian, remains as treasurer of the Society. GWS Dues to Increase for First Time in Ten Years The GWS Board has approved an increase in the Society's dues schedule, effective January 1, 2003. These increases are the first since 1992. The Board decided to raise the dues for two reasons: to keep pace with steadily rising oper ating expenses, and to bring our dues structure more in line with those of com parable professional societies. Annual dues for regular individual memberships go to $45 (from $35), institutional memberships increase to $100 (from $35), patron memberships will be $1,000 (from $500), and supporting memberships go to a flat $150. Life memberships will go up to $500 (from $350); these can still be paid in two annual installments. Annual student memberships remain unchanged at $25. In addition, there is now a new category: "sustaining life membership." It is meant to encourage life members to continue to contribute to the GWS on a regular basis by committing to pledge $45 per year over the cost of a life membership. This option is open to both existing life members and newly joining ones.

2 The George Wright FORUM 2003 Joint Conference Preparations in Full Swing Preparations are going full-bore for "Protecting Our Diverse Heritage: The Role of Parks, Protected Areas, and Cultural Sites," the joint meeting of the GWS and the National Park Service Cultural Resources 200.3 conferences. An unprecedented 134 sessions have been scheduled to accommodate a program that is at once that most diverse and most comprehensive of any meeting the GWS has been involved in. With the addition of the CR2003 conference to the event, there is fine balance in the program, with natural, cultural, and interdisci plinary sessions each occupying about a third of the program. By the time you read this, registration for the joint conference should be underway, and you will be able to view the entire program on-line. Go to the conference website at http://www.georgewright.org/2003.html and follow the links to the registration form and program information. Remem ber, GWS members attend at a discount!

Boyd Evison 1933-2002 Boyd Evison, a leading figure in the National Park Service for 42 years, died on October 4, of cancer. He was 69. Boyd began working for the National Park Service as a fire control aide in Grand Teton National Park, and continued as a permanent ranger in Petrified Forest National Park. He served as superintendent of Saguaro, Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Great Smoky Mountains national parks. He was also assistant director for operations in Washington, D.C. and regional director in Alaska during the Exxon Valdez oil spill episode. When he retired from the National Park Service in 1994, he became execu tive director of the Grand Teton Natural History Association, and is credited for expanding scientific and educational programs there. Boyd earned the George Melendez Wright Award in 2002.

Ray Dasmann 1919-2002 Raymond F. Dasmann, professor, and pioneer in the field of international environmentalism, died of pneumonia November 5. He was 83. He was instru mental in the formation of several of the early conferences of the Society, and gave the paper "World Parks, People, and Land Use" at the 1986 conference in Fort Collins. Ray Dasmann wrote more than a dozen books, including "The Destruction of California," "Environmental Conservation" and "Wildlife Biolo gy." Also, earlier this year he published his memoir "Called by the Wild: The Autobiography of a Conservationist." He was a native of San Francisco, and after WW2 he studied under Starker Leopold, earning a B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California- Berkeley. He was a professor of wildlife management at Humboldt State Univer sity, and later, professor of biology at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 3 Bob Krumenaker The State of the Society: A Report from2 the GWS President he Board of the George Wright Society recently concluded its annual meeting and as I prepare to step down at the conclusion of my term as president and as a Board member, it seems appropriate to share with Tthe membership a status report. In my opinion, the Society is strong as we begin 2003. On pages 7 and 8 in this issue of Strategic Statement each year so that The George Wright Forum, you’ll see we indeed do achieve the “stretch” the Society’s new five-year Strategic goals within the five-year timeframe. Statement in which the Board defines Former Board member Neil Munro who we are as a Society and what we really pushed us towards the adoption hope to accomplish over the next five of a simple, workable, strategic plan, years. There’s always been some ten- and deserves all of our thanks. sion between the pride over what we accomplish well and the desire to The finances of the Society are become something more, and this sub- sound for the time being, although the ject of “who we want to be” is always a last two years have been tough ones topic of vigorous discussion at Board due to the market’s downturn. Early meetings. We have now said that we in 2002, at outgoing Board member want to grow about 50% in member- Peter Brinkley’s urging, we modified ship, and broaden somewhat who we our investment mix to reduce the reach out to. We’ve set some targets Society’s stock market exposure. for growth that are ambitious but That decision did the Society achievable. Critically, however, we extremely well this year considering have said that we are proud to be the the poor performance of the stock sponsor of the conferences and the market. The anguish over that deci- Forum and believe that those shall sion, however, and subsequent discus- remain our primary “products.” In sions about further refining our asset other words, we do not intend to allocation, demonstrated amply that change the face of the Society signifi- the Board needs to do a regular review cantly. While to some that may look of our portfolio, and an efficient like a statement of contentment and means of making changes when they lack of ambition, I think it is a modest are appropriate. We need to measure but forward-looking and realistic our performance against benchmarks assessment of who we are and what we we set in advance, and be dispassion- do best. Hopefully the Board will ate about decisions to hold tight or measure its progress against the move our assets, always while keeping

4 The George Wright FORUM foremost in our minds the long-term mittee, led by Dave Parsons, reviewed goals for the Society. I’m very pleased the abstracts and set up the framework that at this meeting we adopted a of the program for the 2003 confer- financial strategy that does just that, ence. With the explicit addition of the thanks to efforts of Dwight Pitcaithley. NPS Cultural Resources 2003 com- Still, we recognize that while we are in ponent, this conference looks like it reasonably good financial shape for could be the largest and most success- the short term, our long-term financial ful to date. The prospect of travel sustainability is worrisome, and so freezes and budget cuts in the federal we’ve established a fundraising com- government, however, loom over the mittee, led by Rick Smith. The com- conference and threaten to derail it, mittee’s charge is to develop realistic, and with it, the needed influx of cash achievable strategies for raising funds the Society relies on in non-confer- that fit within the scope of the GWS ence years. While this makes me very strategic statement. Lastly, we made nervous, I’m also confident that the some decisions about membership conference committee and the execu- dues, conference registration fees, and tive staff are monitoring this closely the pricing of our conference services and will do whatever is appropriate if that will improve our bottom line. We circumstances change. If the confer- hope the membership will be support- ence is successful, it’s my hope that we ive, particularly of the dues increase, finally lay to rest the myth that the the first since 1992 (see “Society GWS conference is primarily for and News, Notes & Mail” for details). about natural resources, and that the cultural community embraces this I’m very pleased to report that we venue fully. My hope is that we con- (finally) established a framework, and tinue to have the broad and balanced set aside funds, for a modest retire- participation but that we no longer ment program for Executive Director need to label the conference as a joint Dave Harmon this year, something GWS-CR meeting—that it is under- that is long overdue. We will match stood that a GWS meeting is for all Dave’s tax-deferred contributions up resource management professionals. to 5% of his salary. We also brought Emily Dekker-Fiala onto the staff, on a The Board, of course, is the leader- part-time basis, which has been an ship body of your Society. The 2002 outstanding decision and has both election was one of the most contested improved our capability and provided in years, and we are very pleased to some modest stability for Emily as add John Reynolds and Bruce Kilgore well. Previously, Emily has been a to our midst. With Rick Smith, that contract employee, providing confer- will now make three NPS retirees on ence services on a reimbursable basis. the Board, an interesting trend. The Board has also appointed Jerry Emory, The biannual conference, is, of a research officer at the Moore Foun- course, the Society’s flagship event, dation in San Francisco. The Board at and in November the conference com- this writing is considering one addi-

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 5 tional appointment to fill out its ranks, the April conference for the member- but has not yet make that decision. ship to talk with the Board to express The Board will be holding quarterly its concerns and goals for the next conference calls so the momentum of year. the annual meeting is not lost and we continue to make progress on our In sum, I believe we are in good goals. It will be my pleasure to turn the shape and will be in even better shape president’s gavel over to Denny Fenn, in the next few years provided we use who will have a one-year term as pres- the strategic statement and financial ident since he only has the one strategy as guidelines and targets for remaining year on the Board. In many our programs and actions, revising ways, this will be a transition year as and updating them as needed when there are many new members of the circumstances and goals change. It Board and collectively the Board and has been my pleasure and honor to be the membership will have the chance president of the Society these last two to determine where we are heading for years, and a Board member for the last the next several years. We decided to six. make sure there are opportunities at

Bob Krumenaker, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Route 1, Box 4, Bayfield, Wisconsin 54814; [email protected] 1

6 The George Wright FORUM Martin Blatt

Civic Engagement at Sites of Conscience Introduction: The National Park Service and Civic Engagement

am pleased to serve as the guest editor for this special issue of The George Wright Forum which focuses on the National Park Service (NPS) and the agency’s incipient civic engagement initiative. Although civic engagement is Iequally relevant to sites based in natural and cultural resources, this issue focuses on cultural resource parks and sites. Civic engagement encompasses both the ability to distinguish between right and wrong and a commitment to act accordingly.In a democracy such as ours, every citizen needs to make moral dis- tinctions in civic life and act upon them. In Democracy is a Discussion, Sondra Myers writes that the engagement of citizens “in discussion of public issues for the purposes of making informed decisions, resolving conflicts, seeking common ground, and affirming their rights and responsibilities, is essential to the development and sustenance of democracy.”1 These notions have real implica- ment initiative. In response to a num- tions for the practice of public history ber of critical challenges in National in the National Park Service. In a Park Service sites and programs, she report published in 2001, Rethinking asked that superintendents, educa- the National Parks for the 21st Centu- tional and interpretive specialists, and ry, the National Park System Advisory resource professionals of the North- Board called on the agency to fulfill its east Region organize a workshop promise in the 21st century. The focused on civic engagement and the board asserted that, “in many ways, agency. I had the distinct privilege of the National Park Service is our serving as the coordinator of the work- nation’s Department of Heritage.... shop, which was held in New York Parks should be not just recreational City in December 2001. The meeting destinations, but springboards, for brought together park managers, personal journeys of intellectual and resource specialists, public historians, cultural enrichment.... [We] must scholars, and museum professionals to ensure that the American story is told discuss how national parks can faithfully,completely,and accurately.... become centers for civic engagement. Our nation’s history is our civic Out of that workshop the agency glue.”2 developed the 2002 report, The This report strongly influenced National Park Service and Civic the thinking of NPS Northeast Engagement, which serves both as a Regional Director Marie Rust, who summary of the workshop and an out- conceived the agency’s civic engage- line for further steps. During the work-

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 9 shop sessions, participants sought to panel at the annual meeting of the pursue the recommendations of the National Council on Public History. National Park System Advisory Board Also this spring there will be a session and to build on similar concepts artic- on the initiative at the George Wright ulated in NPS policy, as well as on Society–National Park Service joint changes in interpretive programming conference, “Protecting Our Diverse that have been developed during the Heritage.” In addition, the Northeast past decade. Regional staff of the National Historic The workshop participants rec- Landmarks (NHL) program has ommended the following preliminary recently developed, in conjunction actions: with the Lower East Side Tenement • Publishing and distributing the Museum in New York City,the Sites of report from the workshop. Social Conscience initiative within the • Holding additional workshops in NHL program. other parts of the country. How does the present collection of •Providing professional develop- essays fit within the civic engagement ment opportunities for park man- initiative? For one thing, most of the agers, interpreters, and resource authors—Laura Gates, Frank Hays, managers to cultivate a broader Sarah Craighead, Liz Sevcenko, and context in interpretation, to facili- Gay Vietzke—participated in the New tate work with communities on York City workshop. All of the essays complex issues, and to embrace presented here address issues at the civic engagement in day-to-day very core of this initiative. The Nation- park operations. al Park System Advisory Board report • Convening an NPS-wide working stated the matter succinctly: “The group on civic engagement to study of our nation’s history, formal advance the initiative. and informal, is an essential part of our •Creating an internal website to civic education. In a democratic socie- facilitate communication through- ty such as ours, it is important to out the NPS and to promote suc- understand the journey of liberty and 3 justice, together with the economic, cesses in the agency. social, religious, and other forces that There has been progress towards barred or opened the ways for our the realization of these preliminary ancestors, and the distances yet to be action items. As noted above, the covered.”5 At the NPS Discovery Northeast Region of the NPS pub- 2000 conference, John Hope lished the workshop report in 2002.4 Franklin, chair of the National Park In December 2002, the NPS South- System Advisory Board, elaborated east Region convened a civic engage- upon this idea in his keynote address: ment workshop in Atlanta. (The pub- “The places that commemorate sad lication deadline for this introduction history are not places in which we wal- precluded a report on this meeting.) low, or wallow in remorse, but instead In spring 2003, I will report on the places in which we may be moved to a civic engagement initiative as part of a new resolve, to be better citizens....

10 The George Wright FORUM Explaining history from a variety of war tell a terribly flawed story. They angles makes it not only more interest- also fail to provide an environment ing, but also more true. When it is wherein visitors can have a civic more true, more people come to feel engagement experience that teaches that they have a part in it. That is the entire truth about the past and where patriotism and loyalty intersect allows them to make linkages between with truth.”6 that past and contemporary America. I will now turn to each essay and A 1998 report from the superin- provide some brief introductory tendents of Civil War battlefields, remarks that place each within the Holding the High Ground: Principles framework of the civic engagement ini- and Strategies for Managing and tiative. Interpreting Civil War Battlefield Fort Sumter National Monument Landscapes,provided direction for and Cane River Creole National His- placing battlefield stories within the torical Park both feature slavery in social, economic, and political context their park stories. With respect to Fort of the period. In 1999, Congressman Sumter, Superintendent John Tucker Jesse Jackson, Jr., inserted important indicates how his park’s treatment of language into the fiscal year 2000 slavery has shifted its focus recently to Department of the Interior appropria- provide greater context for how slav- tion legislation, which concluded, in ery was a root cause of the outbreak of part, that “Civil War battlefields are the war that is commemorated at the often weak or missing vital informa- site. Interpreters at Fort Sumter also tion about the role that the institution relate the park’s historical themes to of slavery played in causing the Amer- more recent issues by choosing to ican Civil War.” The Secretary of the interpret civil rights at the site. Cane Interior was directed to encourage River, as Superintendent Laura Gates NPS managers at Civil War sites to relates, is expanding the context for “recognize and include in all of their understanding plantations by having public displays and multi-media edu- visitors enter the cultural landscape of cational presentations the unique role this new park through the working that the institution of slavery played in part of the plantation, thus positioning causing the Civil War and its role, if the story of the work lives of the for- any, at the individual battle sites.” mer slaves in the forefront of the narra- There has been significant change at tive. NPS Civil War sites—and also resist- In both instances, what is demon- ance to broadening the story. NPS strated is the centrality of historical Chief Historian Dwight Pitcaithley context. Although furnishings of his- has been a national leader in this effort toric houses and troop movements of a to transform the NPS culture at battle- specific battle are critically important field sites from places where only the to a place, the value of a particular site story of the battle is told to a place goes far beyond the details of that site. where the battle is placed within its Civil War-era parks that fail to address critical context. Pitcaithley has also slavery as being a chief cause of the written about these developments.7

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 11 The report Rethinking the Nation- landscape of this prison center for al Parks argues that NPS should make Japanese Americans remains intact efforts to connect indigenous peoples and thus it is difficult for visitors to with “parks and other areas of special comprehend the harsh conditions that significance to strengthen their living the internees endured. Without that cultures.”8 Sarah Craighead, formerly context, however, visitors will also find superintendent at Washita Battlefield it a real challenge to understand the National Historic Site, and now super- story of massive denial of civil liberties intendent at Saguaro National Park, and due process, the relevance of this writes about the Washita site, estab- episode to racial profiling in today’s lished in 1996. It marks the place of America, and more. So, largely as a Custer’s 1868 attack on a sleeping result of the active participation of Cheyenne village. The collaboration Japanese Americans in the planning which she describes between the process, the park’s general manage- Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, while ment plan calls for the reconstruction not without problems, is emblematic of the camp’s barbed wire fence and of how civic engagement can work to entrance sign, which have been com- enhance a park’s operation and its pleted, the reconstruction of one relationship with key stakeholder guard tower, and the attempt to relo- groups. cate and restore one or more of the Superintendent Frank Hays writes camp barracks buildings. about a new park, Manzanar National Liz Sevcenko writes about the Historic Site. According to Pitcaithley, International Coalition of Historic a string of congressional acts in the Site Museums of Conscience, estab- 1990s designated new kinds of histor- lished in 1999. It was founded by nine ical parks, “parks that require that we agencies and organizations from understand the past, not simply cele- around the world, including the brate it. They require us to think Northeast Region of the National Park about the past, not merely feel good Service and the Lower East Side Ten- about the past.” These new parks ement Museum. The central purpose include Brown v. Board of Education of the coalition is the strengthening of National Historic Site, Lower East connections between the past and the Side Tenement National Historic Site, present. Clearly, this aim is central to Little Rock Central High School the successful realization of civic National Historic Site, Tuskegee Air- engagement. In order to be active citi- men National Historic Site, Selma to zens, visitors to international sites Montgomery National Historic Trail, need to understand the past and its and Sand Creek Massacre National relationship to the present. The Historic Site.9 The lessons of civic National Park System Advisory Board engagement with respect to Manzanar report states: “Understanding the rele- focus on two important areas: how we vance of past experiences to present manage our cultural resources and conditions allows us to confront how we cooperate with key stakehold- today’s issues with a deeper awareness ers. Today, very little of the cultural of the alternatives before us.”10

12 The George Wright FORUM Louis Hutchins and Gay Vietzke way of doing business. The museum relate the experiences of the NPS tech- becomes ... an active, visible player in nical assistance team that visited one civic life, a safe haven, and a trusted of the International Coalition mem- incubator of change.”11 The National bers. Established only a few years ago, Park System Advisory Board’s 2001 the Gulag Museum near Perm, Russia, study concluded: “As a nation, we preserves one of the last surviving protect our heritage to ensure a more Stalinist-era labor camps. Like other complete understanding of the forces Coalition members, the Gulag Muse- that shape our lives and future. um not only preserves and interprets National parks are key institutions cre- the powerful history of the site but also ated for that purpose, chapters in the acts as a stimulus for discussion, ever expanding story of America.... By debate, and civic engagement in pres- caring for the parks and conveying the ent-day Russia. The mission of the park ethic, we care for ourselves and Gulag Museum is “to promote demo- act on behalf of the future. The larger cratic values and civil consciousness in purpose of this mission is to build a contemporary Russian society citizenry that is committed to conserv- through preservation of the last Soviet ing its heritage and its home on eart- political camp as a vivid reminder of th.”12 In this sense, national parks are repression, and an important histori- implicitly centers of civic engagement. cal and cultural monument.” However, as these essays demonstrate, One could easily substitute successful civic engagement requires “national park” for “museum” in the focused and deliberate attention. Fully following: “Civic engagement occurs implemented, civic engagement will when museum and community inter- enable the National Park Service to sect—in subtle and overt ways, over realize its mission for the 21st century. time, and as an accepted and natural

Endnotes 1. Sondra Myers, Democracy is a Discussion—Civic Engagement in Old and New Democracies (New London: Connecticut College, 1996), p. viii. 2. National Park System Advisory Board, Rethinking the National Parks for the 21st Century (Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 2001), p.14. 3. National Park Service Northeast Region, The National Park Service and Civic Engagement (Philadelphia: National Park Service, 2002), p. 14. 4. To obtain a copy, please write to: Northeast Regional Director, NPS, 200 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106-2878. 5. Rethinking the National Parks, p.14. 6. Cited in The National Park Service and Civic Engagement,p.6. 7. See Dwight Pitcaithley,“Barbara Kingsolver and the Challenge of Public History,” and James Horton, “Presenting History: The Perils of Telling America’s Racial Story,” in The Public Historian,Fall 1999, Vol. 21, No. 4. 8. Rethinking the National Parks,p.21. 9. Dwight Pitcaithley,“Evolution of the NPS Since 1990,” talk at the Civic Engagement workshop, New York, December 6, 2001. 10. Rethinking the National Parks,p.10. 11. Eileen Hirzy, Mastering Civic Engagement: A Challenge to Museums (Washington, D.C.: American

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 13 Association of Museums, 2002), p. 9. 12. Rethinking the National Parks,p.30.

Martin Blatt, Boston National Historical Park, Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts 02129-4543; [email protected] 1

14 The George Wright FORUM John Tucker Interpreting Slavery and Civil Rights at Fort Sumter National Monument

s we waited for Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., to arrive late one fall day in 1997, we wondered aloud as to the real purpose of his visit. To my knowledge, never before had a twentieth-century African American congressman representing a Northern state set foot on Fort Sumter— Amuch less any congressman from Illinois. As with any good bureaucratic system, the park received calls from other Civil War battlefield superintendents as Jackson traveled through Georgia following the trail of General William Tecumseh Sherman traveled some 133 years past. As he moved about the South, we heard about his impression of the battlefields and the ongoing interpretive efforts. Was Jackson planning to lay waste to these park interpretive efforts and the park managers? What would be his impression of Fort Sumter and the interpretive efforts underway? Would he be impressed with Fort Sumter and the story surrounding its important role in American history? Would the congressman chastise the staff for not accomplishing his agenda items? As is the case for most VIP tours, the congressman was running late. Fort Sumter National Monument Grand Army of the Republic in the was authorized in April 1948 by a sim- post-Civil War period. Most efforts by ple act of Congress. The legislation these patriotic and civic organizations states that the monument “shall be a focused on healing the division public national memorial commemo- between North and South. Reuniting rating historical events at or near Fort the country was a top priority.Military Sumter.” Without further direction parks were authorized to commemo- from Congress, the National Park Ser- rate the heroic events and deeds that vice (NPS) relied upon its staff to clar- occurred on the hallowed grounds ify the interpretive purposes for Fort where blood was spilled by both Sumter National Monument. Interpre- Northern and Southern soldiers. Con- tation consisted of guides leading gress had abandoned efforts at Recon- small groups to interesting spots with- struction in the South and lacked the in the fort. resolve necessary to guarantee the During this period, the NPS inter- rights of citizenship to newly freed pretive focus for battlefields was on slaves. The country was not ready for the “slice of time commemorative the social revolution reflected in the experience.” In all likelihood, this 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to approach to interpretation came out of the Constitution. The role of slavery the battlefield commemorations con- and the rights promised to black ducted by veteran’s groups such as the Americans were forgotten in the rush Sons of Confederate Veterans and the to reunify the country and memorial-

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 15 ize a brothers’ war. The nation’s mili- after Fort Sumter was authorized, the tary parks reflected this atmosphere. nation was again struggling in a very Mid-twentieth century America public fashion with questions of race was fraught with civil unrest as the and equality.From the adoption of the freedoms promised 100 years ago Constitution in 1787 to the 1950s, began to emerge. It was during this era questions of citizenship and equality of emerging civil rights that Fort were enmeshed in the power of poli- Sumter’s interpretive program began tics. Although the Civil War had freed to take shape. When NPS published the slaves and for a short time visited the first master plan for Fort Sumter in certain rights on them, by the turn of the 1950s, the fort’s interpretive pro- the twentieth century freedom was still gram was based on the 1860 election very limited for African Americans. of President Abraham Lincoln, the As the nation entered the 1960s, secession of South Carolina, and the Fort Sumter was preparing for the subsequent movement of Major Civil War Centennial in 1961. Fort Robert Anderson from Fort Moultrie Sumter was sitting in Charleston to Fort Sumter. The major focus was Harbor, surrounded by one of the on the initial Confederate attack of most conservative communities in the 1861 and the Federal bombardments nation, as slave descendants began of 1863 and 1864, known as the Siege demonstrating for their rights across of Charleston. These components America. The seriousness of segrega- made up the interpretive programs tion was highlighted by events of the offered at the fort. Civil War Centennial Commission in During the following decade, once Charleston: the archeology was completed, perma- The manner in which those controver- nent exhibit facilities were needed to sies and disputes could generate an atmosphere bearing at least some enhance the visitor experience at Fort resemblance to a century earlier was Sumter. A new museum was con- illustrated at Charleston, South structed with Mission 66 funding in Carolina, in April of 1961, at the com- the disappearing gun position of Bat- memoration of the centennial of the tery Huger—an Endicott Battery com- beginning of hostilities at Fort Sumter. For that occasion, the Civil pleted in 1899. But the focus of inter- War Centennial Commission, an offi- pretation did not appreciably expand cial body established by act of with the museum exhibits. The events Congress, had arranged a “national of 1861 and the bombardments of assembly” of centennial organiza- 1863-64 remained the central inter- tions of the various States. When a Negro woman member of the New pretive themes. Throughout the Jersey Centennial Commission report- 1970s and 1980s, interpretation ed that she had been denied a room changed little at Fort Sumter. at the headquarters hotel in Clearly, two major influences were Charleston because of her race, the at work during the early years of Fort Commissions of several “Northern” States announced that they would not Sumter National Monument. First, as take part in the assembly at articulated by Thomas J. Pressly,was a Charleston. At the insistence of the “climate of opinion.” Immediately President of the United States, the

16 The George Wright FORUM Figure 1. Mission 66 exhibit at Fort Sumter. National Park Service photo. place of meeting was transferred to The second major influence origi- the nearby non-segregated United nated with the commemorative activi- States naval base. Thereupon, the ties of both North and South after the members of the South Carolina Centennial Commission, almost as if war. Efforts to honor family heroes they had read the stage directions and comrades-in-arms led the nation from a script written in 1860-1861, to view battles as important events seceded from the national representing gallant behavior. It would Commission. Ultimately, two com- have been far more difficult for memoration meetings were held, one under the auspices of the national America to discuss the causes of the Commission at the naval base, and a war and the still-unfulfilled guarantees second meeting at the original head- of citizenship. Similarly, the National quarters hotel sponsored by “The Park Service followed this course Confederate States Centennial throughout most of the 20th century. Conference.” It thus seemed possible to re-create in the United States of the Park rangers preferred to discuss bat- 1960’s a recognizable facsimile of tlefield strategy and gallant actions by the climate of opinion of the 1860’s, fallen heroes rather than discuss the even if the occasion itself was actions and events that truly led to the momentous only as a symbol.1 opening shot at Fort Sumter. To further confound the issue, in It was in this climate that Fort Sumter the 1970s NPS issued a new master began forming its interpretative pro- plan for Fort Sumter. In this plan gram. much of the emphasis was on Fort

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 17 Moultrie to ready it for the bicentenni- long before Congress or the NPS al of the nation. It is interesting that Washington office identified it as a Fort Moultrie was to be developed need. Interpretive efforts such as those much as an outdoor museum depict- begun at Fort Sumter in the early ing seacoast defenses from 1776 to 1990s were reflected in many Civil 1947. However, “Fort Sumter on the War sites around the country. other hand, will be maintained and Washington supported these individ- interpreted for public use and enjoy- ual park efforts. NPS regional offices ment as a ‘slice of time’— [a] singular- helped formalize the efforts with a ly significant period during the 200 multi-regional conference of battle- years of coastal fortifications that is field superintendents, held in found in the history of the Civil War at Nashville during the summer of 1997. Charleston.”2 Still the fundamental In this new environment, the inter- question of why the war started in pretation at Fort Sumter began to Charleston was not answered. change. At the beginning of the last Fort Sumter and Charleston’s re- decade, the park interpretive program evaluation of the Civil War could not consisted of Lincoln’s election and the wait any longer. With the election of Civil War era. Interpretive staffing was Mayor Joseph P. Riley in 1975, marginally sufficient to keep the visitor Charleston would soon recognize that use sites open on a day-to-day basis. its early economy was actually based The park did not have a historian on on rice, not “King Cotton.” From this staff. When the question “Why did the understanding, Charlestonians have nation separate?” was asked, it could begun to realize that highly skilled not be adequately answered. slaves were imported from the Gold Another of the driving forces in the Coast of Africa to cultivate the many Fort Sumter interpretive plan was a rice fields of the Lowcountry, making need to change the vintage Mission 66 large profits for the planter class. The exhibits that had served the park since revelation that African slaves were not 1961. The exhibit space did not meet imported just for their laboring ability the basic Life Safety Code, nor was it but for their intellect as well has made fully accessible. In addition, it was rec- a significant difference in presenting ognized that “the exhibits have a very the story of the Atlantic slave trade. narrow focus on Civil War events What has long been obvious in acade- 1861-65, with little information on the mia and confirmed by oral traditions is constitutional issues of the preceding finally making its way into the streets. decades that led to the conflict. In the Now we all can learn about the contri- same manner, the significance of ante- butions of our ancestors. bellum Charleston as a powerful and By the 1990s, NPS interpretive independent social, economic, and rangers were beginning to make a re- political force is not emphasized.”3 evaluation of the role of holistic inter- The objective outlined in the interpre- pretation in programming within the tive plan was to “enhance public national parks. Those responsible for understanding of the social, econom- interpretation began this re-evaluation ic, and political events leading up to

18 The George Wright FORUM the Civil War.”4 From this exercise, ship. New exhibit text and graphics three basic questions arose: Why did includes an introductory section that the nation separate? What role did deals with the growth of sectionalism, Fort Sumter play in the Civil War? antebellum politics, and slavery as the What will the visitor see at Fort causes of secession and war. Most of Sumter today? the exhibit remains site-specific, deal- The 1960s-era museum at Fort ing with topics such as the fort’s con- Sumter was redone by park staff in the struction, people and events leading to early 1990s. Completed in 1995, the the firing of the first shot of the Civil new museum retained many of the War, and what happened to the fort treasured artifacts that were a part of during the ensuing war. A section was the old museum, exhibited in fresh added on the participation of African surroundings with a more sweeping Americans in the war, highlighting the story line. Blocking out damaging sun- role of the 54th Massachusetts on light and providing handicap accessi- nearby Morris Island. bility were important priorities An even more ambitious exhibit designed to safeguard artifacts and project began in the fall of 1999 with improve the visitor experience. exhibit planning for the new Fort Another high priority was bringing Sumter tour boat facility at Liberty the text in line with current scholar- Square. The new building was sched-

Figure 2. 1990s renovation of exhibits. National Park Service photo.

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 19 Figure 3. Liberty Square ferry terminal. National Park Service photo. uled to open in June 2001. Here was Prior to the planned opening of the the opportunity to prepare the visitor new tour boat facility, the flag would for the Fort Sumter experience on the be treated and placed in a permanent mainland before boarding the ferry. container for exhibit. Secondly, the Decades earlier, planning had begun new dock facility exhibit would to locate a new Fort Sumter departure emphasize the causes leading to the site in downtown Charleston. First outbreak of the Civil War. The conceived in 1961, it was not to be a exhibits at Fort Sumter would contin- reality until 40 years later. Two major ue to provide interpretation regarding objectives were included at the outset the events of the war in Charleston of the 1990s planning effort. One, the Harbor. original garrison flag would be dis- About the same time, NPS direc- played in the new facility.The garrison tors such as Roger Kennedy began to flag that flew over Fort Sumter from challenge the field ranger to do a better December 26, 1860, until April 11, job of relating sites to the changing 1861, had been on display at the fort demographics in America. Director from 1961 until 1980. It was removed Kennedy wanted the parks to better and sent to the NPS conservation cen- meet the needs of the American popu- ter in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. lation by the year 2000. We were

20 The George Wright FORUM encouraged to not repeat the mistakes 3. We will seek to make the story inter- of 1970s environmental education by esting to the visitor. preparing “stand-alone” programs but 4. We will seek to share with all visitors the exclusiveness and plurality that rather to fully integrate interpretive the park’s story represents. efforts with professional scholarship. 5. We will ensure that the story is factu- The parks were encouraged to step al and based upon the highest-quali- into the professional community to ty research available.5 discuss interpretive ideas and One of the first major efforts to approaches taken in the parks to pro- begin implementing a broader vide visitor understanding. approach to Civil War interpretation Parks were looking for ways to in parks began with a conference in ensure full implementation of a new Nashville originally intended to dis- interpretive effort centered around the cuss external land issues surrounding concept of holistic interpretation. parks. However, the managers repre- After the 1994 reorganization of the sented there chose to include propos- national park management system, als for interpreting Civil War battle- parks were aligned within geographic fields in the conference proceedings groups called “clusters.” Fort Sumter and recommendations. The published was a park of the Atlantic Coast findings captured the basis for most Cluster. During a meeting of park Civil War interpretation. “We have managers representing the twenty-four replaced the reminiscences of return- parks in the cluster, the managers real- ing veterans with the interpretation ized that, thematically, these parks stressing military tactics and strategy could not be easily linked because of they so loved. In so doing, we have for- the multitude and variety of interpre- gotten that the audience of the veter- tive themes arrayed among them— ans knew the context of the war. We themes that were themselves represen- often do not provide adequate context tative of a geographic diversity that for the site-related stories we tell.”6 As ranges from Cape Hatteras south to a result of this thoughtful observation, Cape Canaveral and inland to a guiding principle was developed to Tuskegee, Alabama. However, the help with interpreting the Civil War: parks could be linked through honest and forthright interpretation at each Battlefield interpretation must establish the site’s particular place in the site that included all people and all continuum of war, illuminate the themes appropriate to each park. So in social, economic, and cultural issues May of 1998 each superintendent in that caused or were affected by the the Atlantic Coast Cluster agreed to war, illustrate the breadth of human five principles: experience during the period, and establish the relevance of the war to 1. We will enlighten our visitors with a people today.... They [museum, his- holistic interpretive experience, well toric sites, and classrooms] should told and rooted in the park’s com- spark or encourage or provide a per- pelling story. sonal journey of historical inquiry.... 2. We will not be deterred by controver- Changing perceptions about the past, sy in presenting the park’s com- broadening our understanding of pelling story. what history is and how it is construct-

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 21 ed, is at the core of our profession.7 er interpretation at Civil War battlefields. Some still believe that the war Soon following the Nashville con- was about glory and battle tactics and ference, several major events hap- should remain a “slice of time” com- pened in the National Park Service memorating the events and men who that would have a lasting impact on the played them out on the battlefield. way Civil War history is interpreted. Others “begged to differ” on the caus- With Congressman Jackson’s visit and es of the war, referring to “states’ subsequent legislation, the efforts of rights” versus “slavery” as the real many in the National Park System to cause. This is illustrated in a letter change interpretation came to the fore- from Dwight Pitcaithley, chief histori- front. In an NPS report to Congress, an of the National Park Service, to a Interpretation at Civil War Sites (pub- concerned citizen who had objected to lished in 2000), an overview of current NPS’s interpretation at Civil War bat- NPS Civil War site interpretation was tlefields and raised two points often included. debated in the public arena. “Your let- A review of the survey reveals that ter,” Pitcaithley wrote, “raises two there is room for improvement in all concerns.” categories including exhibits, way- sides, films, web sites, publications The first is that Civil War battlefields and personal service programs. Some were established so that future gener- Civil War sites clearly are covering the ations could learn about military causes of the Civil War better that oth- actions and remember and honor the ers. In general there is a desire on the men who fought in these special part of battlefield managers to places.... Your second concern is that improve all areas of interpretation. the National Park Service should not This desire is thwarted primarily by address causes of the war at these limited staff and resources in relation- places and that, in any event, slavery ship to the amount of media that was not the immediate cause of the needs to be made current both tech- war.9 nically and academically.8 Pitcaithley went on to point out that The next major step in battlefield NPS will continue to provide the his- interpretation was “Rally on the High tory of Civil War battles. This is a fun- Ground,” a conference held in Wash- damental part of the need for battle- ington, D.C., on May 8 and 9, 2000. field interpretation. In reference to the In the introduction, Congressman second concern, he went on to say: Jackson’s legislative language was National Park Service interpretive pro- noted. It directed the Secretary of the grams throughout the country are Interior “to encourage Civil War battle designed to explain what happened sites to recognize and include in all of at a particular park, discuss why it their public displays and multimedia happened, and assess its significance. We do this at parks as diverse educational presentations the unique as presidential birthplaces, the site of role that the institution of slavery the battle of the Little Bighorn and at played in causing the Civil War.” the U.S.S. ARIZONA in Pearl Harbor. Although simple in content, it has Understanding why an event hap- raised a public debate regarding prop- pened is essential to making meaningful an event as tragic as the

22 The George Wright FORUM American Civil War. It is also impor- within NPS had evolved since the tant to distinguish between the caus- park’s 1974 master plan was issued. es of the war and the reasons why By the early 1990s it became apparent individuals, North and South, fought. The first has to do with political inter- that development pressures surround- est and leadership while the second ing the park and a dramatic increase in stems from varied political, personal, visitation necessitated changing park and individual responses to the management. No longer could Fort unfolding secession crisis.10 Sumter sit on the sidelines with a lim- Last year, the National Park System ited presence in Charleston. Following Advisory Board’s report Rethinking a management objective workshop in the National Parks for the 21st November 1994, the park began real Century made these observations of planning that would lead to a new gen- the National Park Service: eral management plan (GMP) for Fort The public looks upon national parks Sumter. More than twenty-five organi- almost as a metaphor for America zations and individuals were invited to itself. But there is another image participate in this workshop and sub- emerging here, a picture of a National sequent public planning efforts. Park Service as a sleeping giant— The new GMP provides guidance beloved and respected, yes, but per- haps too cautious, too resistant to to establish and direct the overall man- change, too reluctant to engage the agement, development, and uses in challenges that must be addressed in ways that will best serve visitors while the 21st century.11 preserving the historic resources con- In other words, it is time for the Park tained within the park. In addition to Service to move out of the “box.” To planning elements, the document con- do this, the Advisory Board recom- tains a statement of the park’s mission mended two specific items very perti- and of its compelling story. The mis- nent to battlefield interpretation. NPS sion statement reads: should: Fort Sumter National Monument • Embrace its mission, as educator, to commemorates defining moments become a more significant part of in American history within a military America’s educational system by continuum spanning more than a providing formal and informal pro- century and a half. Two seacoast for- grams for students and learners of tifications preserve and interpret all ages inside and outside park these stories. At Fort Moultrie, the boundaries. first American naval victory over the • Encourage the study of the American British in 1776 galvanized the patri- past, developing programs based on ot’s cause for independence. Less current scholarship, linking specific than a century later, America’s most places to the narrative of our history, tragic conflict ignited with the first shots of the Civil War at Fort and encouraging a public explo- 13 ration and discussion of America’s Sumter. 12 experience. The GMP is not an action plan. It was in this context that Fort Action plans emanate from the GMP. Sumter National Monument was For interpretive actions, the compre- rethinking its overall management hensive interpretive plan is prepared efforts as well. Long-range planning and a long-range interpretive plan is Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 23 developed. During the GMP effort, History provides us with defining the park staff also prepared the park’s moments from which we judge where compelling story. The compelling we are with where we have been. The Civil War provides the United States story is used to succinctly tell the with one of its critical defining importance of the resources protected moments that continues to play a and is at the heart of the interpretive vital role in defining ourselves as a effort. It is used to train rangers Nation. Fort Sumter is the place regarding the importance of site-spe- where it began. America’s most tragic conflict cific resources and is a significant part ignited at Fort Sumter on April 12, of the foundation for defining the 1861, when a chain reaction of

Figure 4. Panorama of Liberty Square. National Park Service photo. park’s interpretive themes. It focuses social, economic, and political events the park’s message on the essential, exploded into civil war. At the heart of most relevant stories the site has to tell these events was the issue of states’ and how these stories fit into a larger rights versus federal authority. Fueled by decades of fire and con- scientific, historic, social, and eco- frontation, South Carolina seceded in nomic context. Every visitor should protest of Lincoln’s election and the receive the compelling story prior to social and economic changes sure to his or her departure from the park. follow. With Fort Sumter as an This is Fort Sumter’s compelling unyielding bastion of Federal authority, the war became inevitable. story: A powerful symbol to both the

24 The George Wright FORUM South and the North, Fort Sumter explore the advancements of this ideal remains a memorial to all who fought from our birth as a nation through the to hold it.14 Civil Rights movement in the twenti- With these documents underway or eth century. This idea was developed completed, the park embarked on a when Mayor Riley suggested the cen- mission to answer the burning ques- tral fountain in the Liberty Square tion, Why did the nation separate? complex be dedicated to Septima As work began on the exhibits, the Clark (1898-1987), a lifelong educator question of what to name the new and civil rights activist. Clark lived in facility arose. Since the site was devel- Charleston and worked closely with oped in partnership with the city of Dr. Martin Luther King to extend real Charleston, applying a name by either voting rights to the African American organization would likely have result- populations in the South. One of the ed in “Aquarium Park” or “Fort quotes to be used at the fountain is Sumter Park.” However, Mayor from Clark: “Hating people, bearing Joseph Riley and the author agreed at hate in your heart, even though you the outset to eliminate either of these may feel that you have been ill-treated, extremes and look for something in never accomplishes anything good.... the middle ground. Out of these joint Hate is only a canker that destroys.”15 efforts came the name “Liberty” as From this, a draft long-range inter- suggested by Robert Rosen, a pretive plan was completed for Liberty Charleston historian and lawyer. Square and work began to implement “Square” was added to the name to its recommendations. differentiate between terms used with- Liberty Square is also important as in NPS (such as “Park”) that might an appropriate location for the inter- confuse the general public as to the pretation of liberty, a broad, regional role the site plays in Fort Sumter theme in terms of Charleston’s peo- National Monument. Today the devel- ple, geography, and nearly four cen- opment site is known as “Liberty turies of European and African settlement. Here, visitors will learn Square.” about people and events associated As it turned out, this choice of with the liberty theme expressed at name was fortunate since the word any number of locations, including “Liberty” became a unifying concept Fort Sumter National Monument, Fort Moultrie, and Charles Pinckney that finally brought into focus the 16 interpretive themes of Charles National Historic Site. Pinckney National Historic Site, Fort With this charge the staff chose to use Moultrie, and Fort Sumter National fixed media in the landscaped area to Monument under a single umbrella. A highlight contributions to America’s main objective for the new develop- liberties from the Constitution era to ment site was to provide a gateway for modern times. With the basic under- the NPS in Charleston as well as to standing that generally only white other NPS sites in the area. Liberty male property-owners over 21 years of Square was able to do just that. age had any real liberties in 1787, the The word “Liberty” also provided staff began to look at other moments in a platform that allowed the staff to history to identify those who made

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 25 significant contributions to expanding Charleston in particular. the cause of liberty. Thirteen quota- The next planning meeting at the tions from authors such as Harriet park was in February 2000. Park staff Tubman, Benjamin Franklin, W.E.B. met with exhibit designer Krister Du Bois, Pearl S. Buck, and others are Olmon from California; Anita Smith, found on bronze markers scattered the contracting officer and exhibit throughout outdoor garden rooms of designer from the NPS Harpers Ferry Liberty Square. Each marker invites Interpretive Center; NPS staff from the visitor to reflect on the meanings of the Denver Service Center; and histo- liberty. An introductory marker by rian Marie Tyler-McGraw of the NPS NPS Chief Historian Pitcaithley History Office in Washington, D.C. reads: An outline and major themes came out In 1776 this nation embarked on a of this meeting. Tyler-McGraw com- great experiment, an experiment pleted the initial research and writing based on the self-evident truth that for content development. Park staff “all men are created equal.” It has not also submitted research materials and been a steady progression, there have been many bumps in the road, but potential graphics to Olmon that were along the way this country’s sense of incorporated in his concept package. equality and liberty and justice have Exactly two years later, in February been expanded to include a broad 2002, the exhibits were finally range of people, people not originally installed. The interim period was envisioned in that original Declaration of Independence. The past, like the filled with five major text revisions and present, was filled with choices. We numerous editorial changes, graphic are not accountable for decisions selection and acquisition, and peer made by those who came before. We review as park staff writing exhibit text do have a responsibility to study those grappled with sensitive topics in a decisions and learn from them, to understand them in context of those politically charged atmosphere. times, and to apply the lessons Assigning both a military historian learned to better nurture this experi- and a social historian to editing and ment in democracy we call the United writing the text meant that while it States. would be a cumbersome and at times The exhibit plan for the new Fort contentious process, the end product Sumter visitor education center and would satisfy diverse interests. And dock facility at Liberty Square evolved this has happened. The use of lan- out of a fall 1999 meeting between guage and graphics has been painfully park staff and NPS personnel from the examined. Terms such as “enslaved Denver Service Center and Harpers Africans,” “slaves,” “free persons of Ferry Design Center. The interior color,” and “African Americans” were exhibits would provide orientation used with the knowledge that the and enticement to visit the fort, exhib- exhibits will date themselves to 2001. it and interpret the Garrison flag, and The staff has used images of scarred interpret the causes of the Civil War, backs as well as an enslaved body ser- with a special emphasis on the role of vant armed to fight for the slavery in America and the role of Confederacy; they have incorporated

26 The George Wright FORUM women’s voices and used first-person and Pitcaithley were also instrumental quotes to flesh out the narrative. The in refining the text. Everyone on the voices calling for secession were very park staff had an opportunity to cri- open about what institution they felt tique the drafts. The problem with was threatened. getting park historians to write exhibit The final product closely resem- text is that they tend to be wordy and bled the original outline. Entitled nitpicky. Further, writing by commit- “The First Shot: What Brought the tee can end up destroying any flow in Nation to Civil War at Fort Sumter?”, the material. After all the agonizing the exhibit contains six sections, pro- and creative work, a product has been gressing from the wide Atlantic world produced that will engage the visiting of colonial times to the specific site of public. Fort Sumter in 1861. The sections are As the draft progressed, the project titled “Colonial Roots of the Conflict,” attracted the interest of local politi- “Ambiguities of the Constitution,” cians who wanted to review the park’s “Antebellum United States,” federal viewpoint of the “Recent “Charleston in 1860,” “South Caroli- Unpleasantness.” So far, the percep- na Declares its Independence,” and tion has passed muster. But there are “Fort Sumter: Countdown to Con- rumblings. A week after the opening of flict.” The introductory text reads: the exhibits in mid-August 2001, a When the Civil War finally exploded in young woman darted into the exhibit Charleston Harbor, it was the result of hall and took a photograph of the large a half-century of growing sectionalism. Escalating crises over property 20x36 replica of Major Anderson’s rights, human rights, states rights and 33-star garrison flag. The large flag constitutional rights divided the coun- hangs above the fragile original lying try as it expanded westward. Underly- in a protective case to illustrate the size ing all the economic, social and politi- of the flag as it flew over Fort Sumter in cal rhetoric was the volatile question of slavery. Because its economic life 1861. The woman told the ranger on had long depended on enslaved duty: “We will be back to protest the labor, South Carolina was the first size of that flag.” Since the September state to secede when this way of life 11th attacks, no one has complained was threatened. Confederate forces about the size of that U.S. flag. fired the first shot in South Carolina. The federal government responded Interpretation at Liberty Square with force. Decades of compromise has taken on a “shakedown” mode as were over. The very nature of the 17 operations begin to approach 100%. Union was at stake. Ferries began departing the site on The input of Walter Edgar of the August 15, 2001. Permanent exhibit University of South Carolina and installation was completed on Febru- Bernard Powers of the College of ary 22, 2002. During the intervening Charleston was invaluable. They both months, between the time the facility reviewed the text over their semester opened and the permanent exhibits breaks during Christmas 2000 and were installed, full-scale vinyl color offered insightful suggestions to prints of each permanent exhibit were improve the content. Tyler-McGraw hung on temporary plywood frames.

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 27 Figure 5. The 33-Star Garrison Flag. National Park Service photo. This gave visitors a chance to see and copy of the text dealing with the Con- comment on the exhibit program prior stitution’s treatment of slavery,and of a to its production. Several comments Library of Congress photograph of an were received, ranging from glowing enslaved family. He wanted to take the to condemning. Most were positive, documents home and show his grand- appreciative, and constructive. But children. then there was the indignant professor Historian Gaines Foster is quoted from an unnamed university “from in Interpretation at Civil War Sites, off” who also resides in the fair city of the 2000 NPS report to Congress: Charleston. He wrote a blistering cri- The rapid healing of national divisions tique in a letter to the editor of the and damaged southern self-image ... local newspaper, referring to the “ten- came at the cost of deriving little dentious text,” “single-visioned inter- insight or wisdom from the past. pretation,” and “biased political agen- Rather than looking at the war as a 18 tragic failure and trying to understand da.” The lack of Confederate flags it or even condemn it, Americans, on exhibit caused him to urge readers North and South, chose to view it as a to send letters of protest to Interior glorious time to be celebrated. Most Secretary Gale Norton. On the other ignored the fact that the nation failed to resolve the debate over the nature hand, an elderly black man asked for a of the Union and to eliminate the con-

28 The George Wright FORUM tradictions between its egalitarian time and time again. It was obvious: ideals and the institution of slavery Jackson had done his homework. without resort to a bloody civil war. Instead, they celebrated the War’s tri- The Civil War still molds and umphant nationalism and martial shapes opinions about people and sec- glory.19 tions of the country. Its influence reigns over the country as an unseen Change is difficult. Even for the spirit. The war was not an isolated dedicated staff assembled at Fort event that occurred 140 years ago and Sumter, changing Civil War interpre- is now forgotten. The politics of the tation was difficult. Each of us brings war and its repercussions remain with to the table a particular set of experi- us and influence us every day,from the ences, differing education, and varied president to the homeless drug addict cultural backgrounds depending on to sleeping on a park bench. It is time for whom we were born, where we lived, us to understand and place in perspec- and how we were educated. Much has tive the American Civil War. been done over the past ten years to implement an expanded interpretive National Park Service interpreta- program. It has involved increasing tion began at Fort Sumter during a staff understanding and perception period of major civil strife and demon- and broadening our community part- stration. Fifty years hence, that inter- nerships. The staff has participated in pretation is clearly articulating the conferences, training programs, dedi- causes of the war in an open forum cations, special resource studies, sen- never before seen in the NPS. Times sitivity sessions, and diverse cultural have changed, staff have changed, and events to help with the transition. understanding and appreciation have Today the staff sits on the “point of the changed as well. Maybe 50 years from sword” for the National Park Service now we will finally grasp the impor- doing its job. They are prepared to tell tance of the Civil War in American life. the story faithfully, completely, and Today, the park has made many accurately. changes to expand its interpretive pro- In 1997, as Congressman Jackson gramming. Revisions have occurred walked through the Fort Sumter muse- with the introductory program for the um exhibit, he noted the introductory visitor to Fort Sumter, exhibits in the panel outlining slavery and the war. Fort Sumter Museum, the NPS hand- He smiled and said, “Good.” Then book for Fort Sumter, the Fort Sumter followed three hours of debate and brochure, as well as the production of discussion as we stood on the Fort many site bulletins. Minority visitation Sumter parade ground. Our thoughts, has increased from two to seven per- beliefs, and opinions were challenged cent. But much remains to be done.

[Ed. note: this paper was originally presented at the Organization of American Historians / National Council on Public History annual meeting, April 2002, Washington, D.C.]

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 29 Endnotes 1. Pressly, Americans Interpret, p. 8. 2 National Park Service, Master Plan, Fort Sumter National Monument, 1974, p. 2. 3. National Park Service, Interpretive Prospectus, 1990: Fort Sumter National Monument, Fort Moultrie and Charles Pinckney National Historic Site, p. 5. 4. Ibid., p. 9. 5. National Park Service, Atlantic Coast Cluster agreement, July 15, 1998. 6. National Park Service, draft Nashville Cconference summary, “Holding the High Ground,” August 1998, p. 8. 7. Ibid., p. 8. Draft Nashville conference summary, “Holding the High Ground,” August 1998, p. 8 8. National Park Service, Interpretation at Civil War Sites: A Report to Congress, March 2000, p. 5. 9. Official correspondence from Dwight Pitcaithley to Ms. Lee, October 24, 2000. 10. Ibid. 11. National Park System Advisory Board, Rethinking the National Parks for the 21st Century (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society), p. 8. 12. Ibid., p. 65. 13. National Park Service, General Management Plan, 1998, p. 17. 14. Ibid., p. 40. 15. Fort Sumter National Monument park files. 16. National Park Service, “Draft Long-Range Interpretive Plan,” p. 3. 17. Fort Sumter Visitor Education Center Exhibit text, Liberty Square, 2001. 18. Letter to the editor, Charleston Post & Courier, Charleston, S.C., September 7, 2001. 19. Interpretation at Civil War Sites, p. 44.

References Beck, Larry, and Ted Cable. Interpretation for the 21st Century. Champaign, Ill.: Sagamore Publishing, 1998. Causey,M. Lander, and Beth G. Causey. Fort Sumter—Fort Moultrie. Mt. Pleasant: Holt Publishing, 1966. Comstock, Rock L., Jr. “Short History, Fort Sumter.” Unpublished paper, 1956. Fort Sumter National Monument library. Catton, Bruce. America Goes to War: The Civil War and its Meaning in American Culture. Hanover, N.H.: Wesleyan University Press, 1958. ———. The American Heritage Short History of the Civil War. New York: Dell, 1967. Donald, David. Divided We Fought. New York: Macmillan, 1952. Edgar, Walter B. South Carolina: A History. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1998. Everhart, William C. The National Park Service. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1983. Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877. New York: Harper & Row, 1988. Fort Sumter National Monument. Interpretive Tour, Master Plan. NM-SMM 2007C. Charleston, S.C.: Fort Sumter National Monument, 1959. ———. The Master Plan, Revised. NM-SUM 3001A. Charleston, S.C.: Fort Sumter National Monument, 1965. ———. Master Plan. Charleston, S.C.: Fort Sumter National Monument, 1974. ———. Interpretive Prospectus, 1990: Fort Sumter National Monument, Fort Moultrie and Charles Pinckney National Historic Site. Charleston, S.C.: Fort Sumter National Monument, 1990. ———. Fort Sumter Museum exhibit text, 1995. ———. General Management Plan. Charleston, S.C.: Fort Sumter National Monument, 1998. ———. Long Range Interpretive Plan, Liberty Square. Charleston, S.C.: Fort Sumter National Monument, 1999. ———. Fort Sumter Visitor Education Center exhibit text, 2001. National Park Service. Atlantic Coast Cluster agreement, July 15, 1998. ———. Draft Nashville Conference, “Holding the High Ground,” August 1998. ———. Interpretation at Civil War Sites: A Report to Congress. Washington, D.C.: NPS, March 2000. ———. Washington History Office correspondence, various dates. National Park System Advisory Board. Rethinking the National Parks for the 21st Century. Washington, D.C. National Geographic Society, 2001. Pressly, Thomas J. Americans Interpret Their Civil War. New York: Free Press, 1962. Pollard, Edward A. Southern History of the War. 1977 facsimile of 1866 edition, Fort Sumter National

30 The George Wright FORUM Monument library. Robertson, James I., Jr. The Concise History: Illustrated History of the Civil War. Harrisburg, Pa.: Telegraph Press, 1972. Tilden, Freeman. Interpreting Our Heritage. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1967.

John Tucker, Fort Sumter National Monument, 1214 Middle Street, Sullivans Island, South Carolina 29482-9748; [email protected] 1

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 31 Laura (Soullière) Gates Frankly, Scarlett, We Do Give a Damn: The Making of a New National Park n this paper I will be discussing how the National Park Service (NPS) came to Natchitoches, Louisiana, and what I have learned from the experience. I will discuss how I learned that the concepts of race and culture are far more complex in Louisiana, especially in that part of Louisiana, than I ever could Ihave imagined. I will look at more lessons in something we all know: that it is the responsibility of managers to seek out the best available scholarship, that more inclusive knowledge of history is as difficult to learn as it is difficult to interpret, and that the subtleties of history and culture are the things that make it significant. Natchitoches, Louisiana, is in the Native Americans in the area. And this northwestern part of the state, about a is part of the cultural complexity of the five-hour drive from both New Cane River area. But to understand Orleans and Dallas. Settled by the better the complexities of race and cul- French in 1714 and known as the first ture, let us run through a very short permanent European settlement in course in Louisiana history. Louisiana Purchase Territory, a During the time of French rule in French fort developed near the loca- Louisiana (1718-1763), the Code Noir tion of a large Caddo Indian village. of 1724 enforced Catholicism on all Cane River originally was the main settlers. As Caryn Cosse Bell noted in channel of the Red River, but natural her book The Afro-Creole Protest and human-caused alterations during Tradition in Louisiana, the code “rec- the 19th century changed the course ognized the moral personality of the of the river, so Cane River became slave ... [and] required that bondsmen more of an oxbow, although it be instructed in the Catholic religion remained a functional shipping route and administered the sacraments of through the early 20th century. baptism, marriage, penance, and Natchitoches prehistorically and his- extreme unction. Other provisions torically was a crossroads of overland forbade the separation of a married and water trade routes. couple and their children under four- In 1721 the Spanish established a teen years of age and prohibited slaves presidio at Los Adaes, about 15 miles from laboring on Sundays and other west of Natchitoches, with the intent Catholic holy days. The code sought of halting French expansion into to ensure social and political stability Texas. The proximity of the French by assimilating slaves and free blacks and Spanish military installations into the Christian community.”1 The brought about a frontier interaction French, in theory, believed that the among the French, Spanish, and enslaved were human beings with

32 The George Wright FORUM souls. the long period of Spanish rule, French soldiers and adventurers French remained the primary lan- had settled first at Arkansas Post in guage and the primary cultural influ- 1686 and then in Old Mobile in 1702, ences in Louisiana—the culturally and Natchitoches in 1714, and New racially more fluid society began to Orleans in 1719. Consider how early tighten up. Free persons of color were this was on the interior of the North required to identify themselves on American continent, and consider the public documents as “f.p.c.” or circumstances. In general, the early “h.c.l.” (homme de couleur libre). The French colonists did not bring women Louisiana Code of 1828 prohibited with them, and although the Code Noir the legitimization of children of forbade both interracial marriages and mixed-blood liaisons that had been liaisons, the secular male-dominated allowed under Las Siete de Partidas, society of French colonists tended to which authorized such children to ignore that. As both Bell and become legal heirs. Hiram “Pete” Gwendolyn Midlo Hall have noted, Gregory, an anthropologist at interracial liaisons were common by Northwestern State University in the middle of the 18th century in Natchitoches, has noted that in the Louisiana. 1840s “priests were writing to their Under Spanish rule (1763-1800), bishops about how to solve the prob- cultural influences evolved further. lem of it being illegal to marry mixed- Las Siete de Partidas allowed for slave race couples—it was forbidden by self-purchase (coartacion), and Anglo-American law, not Church allowed slaves to sell extra labor to law!”3 Other changes, too, were appar- their masters or others. A lack of ent on Louisiana plantations. skilled white laborers had brought During 2001 I perused the early about the French government’s policy slave records for one of the former cot- of apprenticing slaves to white trades- ton plantations of Cane River Creole men, and this continued under National Historical Park. Some of the Spanish rule, which allowed many records of Bermuda Plantation, which slaves the opportunity to purchase became Oakland Plantation shortly their freedom. Also under Spanish before the Civil War, had been rule, Bell noted that “slaves and free acquired by the Historic New Orleans men of color monopolized many of the Collection and held considerable skilled trades.”2 The French had cre- information about cultural change. ated a permanent free black military Just studying the names of the force, and the Spanish brought this enslaved circa 1820 revealed the group into their military. All of these strength of the French culture despite were reasons that a large population of the nearly 20 years since the Louisiana free people of color developed in purchase. Names were, for the most Louisiana. part, of French origin, including Following the Louisiana Purchase “Marie,” “Elise,” “Josephe.” By the and the gradual influx of les 1830s many of the enslaved came from Americains into Louisiana—despite Virginia, North Carolina, and

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 33 Figure 1. Cotton field, Cane River. National Park Service photo. Tennessee, with such names as Now let us turn to trying to under- “Sarah,” “John,” “Job,” and “Esther.”4 stand the term “Creole.” With origins According to Norman Marmillion, in the Portuguese and Spanish, the proprietor of Laura Plantation, anoth- term has had quite a semantic evolu- er Creole plantation near Vacherie, tion. Dana Lee, anthropologist and Louisiana, the same trends appeared folklorist at Northwestern State in the records for that plantation.5 University in Natchitoches, defines What we were witnessing was one the word as follows: vestige of the gradual “Americaniza- Creole simply indicates a new world tion” of Louisiana. That Americaniza- product derived from old world stock— tion brought with it deep-rooted dif- people, produce, livestock, architec- ferences in the ways that enslaved peo- ture, whatever. It was a label applied by Spanish administrators to distin- ple were perceived. The French and guish Old World (superior, purer) from the Spanish made nominal efforts to New World (inferior, impure). Rarely recognize the enslaved as human did people of French extraction refer beings who had souls, who should be to themselves as Creole. They called baptized and partake of the other themselves French for the most part. In its present use in Louisiana, it sim- sacraments. The Americans tended to ply indicates descent from colonial see the enslaved as property, equiva- Europeans, whatever the admixture. lent to livestock. Yet in northwest On Cane River and other Louisiana Louisiana the French influences pre- communities, Creole is cultural, not racial. It is tied to genealogy, French vailed well through the nineteenth 6 century, and even through the early heritage, and Catholicism. twentieth-century French was the lan- Lee’s colleague Gregory sees guage of choice along Cane River for “Creole” as meaning “New World most people. adaptations of French, Spanish and

34 The George Wright FORUM African cultures both to the natural became Melrose Plantation, was world and to each other. So all the eth- owned by Creoles of color who also nic and racial interaction that did, or had slaves. did not take place, still partook of that Marie-Therese nee Coin-Coin was cultural blend.”7 To me, the key point the daughter of African parents who to remember about the term “Creole” were the slaves of Louis Juchereau de is that it is a cultural term rooted in Saint-Denis of the French fort in French Colonialism and Catholicism. Natchitoches. Her liaison with an offi- All of this was part of the context in cer of the fort, Pierre Metoyer, resulted which a thriving cotton economy in eight children. Metoyer bought the developed during the first half of the freedom of Marie-Therese Coin-Coin 19th century.Laid out on Spanish and and that of their children and estab- French land grants, the cotton planta- lished this family on a small property tions had access to Cane River for easy on Cane River. Coin-Coin received an shipment of goods to New Orleans. additional land grant in 1794 from the The cotton plantations were very Spanish colonial government and labor-intensive operations that expanded her holdings. Eventually her expanded the numbers of enslaved family founded Yucca Plantation. people in the parish (in Louisiana a When she died in 1816, she owned parish is a county). While most planta- 12,000 acres and ninety-nine slaves. tions were owned by French Creoles Betje Black Klier noted in Pavie in the whose families had little or no racial Borderlands that “Marie-Therese mixing, Yucca Plantation, which later Coin-Coin and her children and

Figure 2. The Oakland Plantation Store. National Park Service photo.

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 35 Figure 3. Overseer’s House and Slave Hospital, Magnolia Plantation. National Park Service photo. grandchildren were the wealthiest cult for all who remained, and poverty slave-owning free family of color in the affected even those who had earlier nation in 1830.”8 considered themselves untouchable The early plantations along Cane by that blight. Tenant farming and River grew tobacco and indigo, but by sharecropping were extensions of the the 1820s a transition into cotton was earlier institution of slavery, and plan- underway. This became the primary tation commissaries that had served crop for the plantations in the region, the enslaved evolved into plantation although all kept some agricultural stores that served the tenant farmers diversity—timber, grains, cattle, and sharecroppers, and were also the hogs—to support the large popula- social centers of the small village com- tions required at each plantation to munities of each plantation. bring in this labor-intensive crop. The Just across the Red River in Grant two plantations included in the park, Parish is the town of Colfax. The Oakland and Magnolia, were exam- parish was named for Ulysses S. ples. Grant, and the town was named for Grant’s vice president during his first The Cane River area was hit hard administration, Schuyler Colfax. As during the Red River Campaign of the historian James Loewen notes in Lies Civil War. Properties and crops were : looted or burned by both sides—each Across America not wanting the other army to gain How did it come to pass that possession. Reconstruction was diffi- Louisianans might name a parish and

36 The George Wright FORUM town after these Republicans so soon Louisiana community with consider- after the Civil War? The answer is that able history and cultural diversity,but, black men were in on the naming. lying as it did in the backwater of the African Americans were voting during Reconstruction, and voting freely.... Red River, it was in general left behind Based on ‘one man, one vote,’ by 20th-century development. Republicans were narrowly in the Yet there were benefits to lack of majority. But signs in Grant Parish “progress.” What remained in indicated that Democrats were organ- 9 Natchitoches was a cultural mélange izing to take away that privilege. of people, many with Creole roots, When both parties declared victory and many of whom spoke French. in a gubernatorial race in 1873, What remained were buildings that President Grant told Congress that he had architectural elements taken from would recognize the Republican can- French and African traditions, for the didate as governor. That governor plantations continued as working cor- replaced the sheriff and parish judge porations or leased farm properties. with Republicans. Fearing violence Deterioration set in to those buildings from the Democrats, African no longer used, but local traditions of Americans around Colfax “raised a “Waste not,want not, use it up, wear it militia under the command of black out, make it do or do without” pre- veterans, posted pickets at the major vailed.11 That continued use saved roads, fashioned two makeshift can- hundreds of historic buildings. nons from pipes, and fortified the Creoles of color recognized their cul- courthouse against attack.” Other tural importance and in 1979 formed black farmers joined them, and they the St. Augustine Historical Society to held the town for three weeks. On preserve a property of cultural signifi- Easter Sunday, white Democrats cance to them, and they initiated a attacked and slaughtered 150 people Creole Heritage Day festival each in what Eric Foner described as the January to serve as a homecoming cel- “bloodiest single act of carnage in all ebration for all Cane River Creoles. of Reconstruction.”10 Loewen noted Like the Cane River African that the Colfax riot was the beginning Americans, many of the Creoles had of the end of Reconstruction. It also left during the out-migration to jobs showed the lack of federal enforce- elsewhere when farming was mecha- ment of Reconstruction laws, includ- nized, yet their roots remained strong ing the 14th and 15th amendments. in Cane River. Most likely some of those killed were In the white community, the from Cane River. Association for the Preservation of These are all pieces of the history Historic Natchitoches acquired of that part of Louisiana, and all neces- Melrose Plantation and began telling sary parts to understand in this com- the stories of Marie-Therese Coin- plex equation of what makes up a Coin and her family,of Cammie Henry sense of place. As Cane River itself and her small arts-and-crafts colony of changed in the late 19th century, the early 20th century, and of the Natchitoches became a small African American painter Clementine

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 37 Hunter, whose primitive paintings of This was the first time that I had Cane River life depict her perspective ever seen cultural sensitivity and on the world. research mandated in legislation creat- This is the rich cultural area where ing a new park. Cane River Creole National Historical Most people understand the con- Park came into being. cept of national parks, but what are In 1994 Congress passed legisla- national heritage areas? The national tion creating both the park and Cane heritage area program is administered River National Heritage Area. The through the National Park Service. legislation authorized the park to NPS defines national heritage areas as “serve as the focus of interpretive and follows: education programs on the history of A National Heritage Area is a place the Cane River area and to assist in the designated by the United States preservation of certain historic sites Congress where natural, cultural, his- along the river,” to preserve Oakland toric and recreational resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally and the outbuildings of Magnolia distinctive landscape arising from pat- Plantation, and to use a culturally sen- terns of human activity shaped by sitive approach in the partnerships geography. These patterns make needed for addressing the preserva- National Heritage Areas representa- tion and education needs of the Cane tive of the national experience through the physical features that River area. The legislation also called remain and the traditions that have for the National Park Service to coor- evolved in the areas. Continued use dinate a comprehensive research pro- of the National Heritage Areas by peo- gram on the complex history of the ple whose traditions helped to shape Cane River region. the landscapes enhances their significance.

Figure 4. Carpenter’s Shop and Mule Barn, Oakland Plantation. National Park Service photo.

38 The George Wright FORUM While the national heritage area park. Following land acquisition, the program is administered through first broad step upon which the NPS, most heritage areas themselves agency embarks is the general manage- are directly administered through ment planning process. For Cane commissions, not-for-profit agencies, River we were fortunate to have con- and private staff. Most have a 50/50 siderable interdisciplinary back- matching requirement for any federal ground research on history, ethnogra- funds they receive. The legislation for phy, architecture, and archeology in Cane River National Heritage Area formulating the vision for the park. does not have that requirement. That, combined with the public An additional aspect of national involvement required under the heritage areas that appears common to National Environmental Policy Act all is the concept of local, grassroots and the strong community involve- preservation efforts. In heritage areas ment required by common sense, gave local people have strong traditions of the direction the park should take. historic preservation and, quite often, Although both the Oakland and landscape conservation efforts that Magnolia Plantation units had historic were underway long before federal structures and a very significant cul- designation. It is apparent that most tural landscape, changes to them over heritage areas sought federal designa- time and lack of information on their tion to increase awareness of those exact configuration in earlier periods local or regional resources and pro- resulted in only one appropriate grams, to enhance opportunities for action: Both properties were to look federal funding, or to tap into other much as they did circa 1960 when the types of technical assistance that might last of the tenant farmers and share- be available through the National Park croppers—most of whom were Service. Often the local people who descended from former slaves—left push for designation of heritage areas the two plantations. That is the time seek to provide recognition of the sig- when mechanization replaced mules nificance of the resources in that com- and hands, and when the large cotton- munity to other residents who either picker shed (large enough to hold a may not recognize their significance or machine the size of a combine) who may not have the same level of replaced the long, low tractor shed. It concern for those resources. National was the end of an era, and an appropri- heritage area designation brings with it ate end date that offered tremendous a meaningful title, access to federal opportunities for interpretation, for funding and technical assistance, and we were not limited by a set moment the opportunity to enhance preserva- in time. We had continuum. tion and conservation efforts within Most visitors to southern planta- that heritage area on local, regional, tions have little interest in anything and national levels. other than the “Big House,” and so And my park was located smack much of that is something that we as a dab in the middle of one. nation have brought upon ourselves. Now on to the development of the One well-meaning Natchitoches resi-

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 39 dent who is a stalwart preservationist for our visitor parking, for a number of in the white community mailed me a reasons, is in a field at the back of the flyer of another Louisiana plantation. property.Visitors will park there, enter She attached to it a note stating that through an entrance pavilion, and she hoped the park would be up and then walk to the historic portion of the running soon, looking like that attach- unit from “back of the Big House.” In ment. In the photograph, a young our interpretive programs we tell the white woman in hoopskirts and bon- story Solomon Williams, the enslaved net stood on the massive front porch blacksmith from Bermuda (later of a Big House and cordially greeted Oakland) Plantation who took outside visitors, who all happened to be white, contracts during his period of enslave- as they walked up the front steps from ment and who stayed at Oakland fol- garden, replete with azaleas and spring lowing the Civil War. When his floral displays. descendents came looking for him If you knew the park staff at Cane they told us that they would have River, you would know that none of us found him sooner but all family do hoopskirts. records indicated that he came from Over an extended period of time Bermuda, and they thought it meant the local resident and I have had long the island in the Atlantic instead of discussions, and now she understands this small plantation community of why the National Park Service is Louisiana. We also discuss the approaching its visitor services in a Prud’homme family, who held the different manner. You will note that I plantation for more than 200 years did not say that she necessarily agreed and who remain deeply committed to with our approach, but she does the property’s preservation. We have understand the reasoning behind it. similar approaches at Magnolia The beauty of Oakland and Plantation that assist us with more Magnolia Plantations and a large inclusive approaches to history and aspect of their significance are the interpretation. number of outbuildings that remain. Constant vigilance is required in Quarters occupied by enslaved people dealing with well-meaning people to and then tenant farmers and share- promote dialogue and understanding croppers, a blacksmith shop, a gin of history, of people, of events. This barn and a mule barn, a carpenter’s may be in a one-on-one situation, as in shop, plantation stores, cisterns, and the hoopskirt issue, or it may be in remnant landscapes are all manifesta- architectural and design manipulation tions of the lives of people whose fam- to force visitors’ attention to a different ilies lived and worked the plantations focus. for 200 years. Sixty-two historic struc- It is the responsibility of NPS to tures at the park’s two units not only discuss slavery and Reconstruction. allow but also encourage or even force When two plantations included visitors to understand that a plantation among their property lists 175 and was more than a Big House. 275 enslaved people, respectively, it At Oakland Plantation the design would be ludicrous to think that our

40 The George Wright FORUM Figure 5. Big House, Oakland Plantation. National Park Service photo. interpretive programs would not dis- the community responsible for pro- cuss this issue. In an area just up the viding a culturally sensitive approach road and across the river, it is our to park development and interpreta- responsibility to discuss the Colfax tion, it is our responsibility to bring all massacre that changed the way civil parties to the table to discuss sensitive rights were administered in the United issues. This process is underway right States. now in the development of a master It is our responsibility to talk open- interpretive plan for Cane River ly about slavery. We have found that National Heritage Area. About 20 most people breathe a sigh of relief people representing an inclusive when they realize it’s okay to discuss group of Cane River interests is work- the subject. They visibly relax when ing together on this project. they discover that they can ask ques- Explaining the complexities of race tions about it, and when they get and culture in that area of northwest- answers based on historical research ern Louisiana is not an easy task. It rather than conjecture. The one differ- involves obtaining a grasp of French ence is that we make a point of refer- and Spanish colonialism and their ring to “enslaved people” rather than legal systems. It involves comprehend- “slaves,” thus putting the emphasis on ing the ways that those cultures adapt- the concept of the enslaved as people ed to the New World. It includes rather than property. understanding how earlier cultures It is imperative that we deal with rationalized slavery and the oppres- the reality of the communities in sion of people of color. But it also which we live. As the federal agency in includes bringing those discussions

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 41 Figure 6. Brick slave quarters, later used as housing for tenant farmers, Magnolia Plantation. National Park Service photo. out into the sunshine. And I have stand Cane River without having found that we have to explain these broad discussions on historical and complexities to Park Service profes- cultural perspectives. sionals from a variety of disciplines, to So yes, Scarlett may remain in the travel writers for newspapers and mag- South throwing her temper tantrums, azines, to visitors who come to the but at this small park in Louisiana we park and the heritage area, and to our- are not walking away slamming the selves on the park staff. The process is door behind us. Rather we work with an iterative one of constant refinement everyone. We work with all of the as the results of new research come to affected communities. We work hard light. at developing opportunities to expand Through the use of interdiscipli- thinking, to improve citizenry, to gen- nary research, some done locally and erate more excitement in the phenom- some completed by outsiders, the park enal resources of the park and the her- has aimed to contribute to that body of itage area. At Cane River we have a knowledge of all of the resources of chance to show that the roots of Cane River, and in doing so has tried American’s problems with race and to keep in the forefront a dialogue of ethnocentrism are byproducts of colo- social conscience. One cannot tell the nial order, not something inherent in history of two cotton plantations with- human biology. That is what we are out discussing enslaved labor. One striving to do. cannot discuss the cultural history of Frankly, my dears, we do give a Louisiana without addressing the gens damn. de couleur libre. One cannot under- [Ed. note: this paper was originally presented at the Organization of American Historians / National Council on Public History annual meeting, April 2002, Washington, D.C.] Endnotes 1. Caryn Cosse Bell, Revolution, Romanticism and the Afro-Creole Protest Tradition in Louisiana 1718- 1868 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1997), p. 12. 2. Ibid., p. 16.

42 The George Wright FORUM 3. Personal correspondence, Hiram Gregory to author, August 1, 2000. Gregory is a professor of anthropology at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches. 4. Prud’homme Family Papers, Historic New Orleans Collection. 5. Multiple discussions between the author and Norman Marmillion during 2001 confirmed and recon- firmed this trend. 6. Personal correspondence with the author, April 27, 2000. 7. Personal correspondence with the author, August 1, 2000. 8. Betje Black Klier, Pavie in the Borderlands: The Journey of Theodore Pavie to Louisiana and Texas 1829-1830 (Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 2000). 9. James Loewen, Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong (New York: The New Press, 1999), p. 212. 10. Ibid., 212. 11. According to Margo Haase, who lived on the Oakland Plantation property for a number of years, Alphonse Prud’homme quoted that saying frequently; and he lived by it. The eight generations of Prud’hommes who lived at Oakland used and reused items and never threw anything away. Part of the legacy of Oakland Plantation includes a huge museum collection conservatively estimated at 250,000 objects.

Laura (Soullière) Gates, Cane River Creole National Historical Park, 400 Rapides Drive, Natchitoches, Louisiana 71457; [email protected] 1

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 43 Sarah Craighead

Civic Engagement with the Community at Washita Battlefield National Historic Site

ashita Battlefield National Historic Site, located in western Okla- homa, was created on November 12, 1996, to interpret the attack of Lt. Col. George Custer and the 7th Cavalry on Black Kettle’s sleeping Cheyenne village in 1868. The word “Battlefield” as part of the nameW for the park may be debatable, because the park interprets an unprovoked attack on one of the greatest peace chiefs of the Cheyenne tribe. The Cheyenne people have certainly never agreed with the park’s nomenclature, and it became a strong point of contention when we began the discussions, negotiations, and collaboration to develop the story of this important time of American history. John Cook, who at the time of the park’s creation was the director of the Nation- al Park Service (NPS) Intermountain Region, dubbed Washita “a site of shame” and declared that we must be assertive about interpreting as well as learning from Washita’s history. It is easy to tell the story of Washita elders of the Cheyenne and Arapaho in a one-sided fashion. In developing tribes on Washita’s establishment, and the park’s interpretive media, we made one Cheyenne elder testified before every effort to tell a balanced story of Congress supporting the park. The the Southern Plains Indian Wars and legislation for the park was drafted to of the bloody atrocities that were include the participation of the tribes being committed by both the Ameri- in the park’s development and educa- can military and the Plains tribes that tional programs. The legislation states led up to the Washita attack. We did, that one of the purposes of establish- however, make every effort as the ing the park is to “establish the site of National Park Service to engage the the Battle of the Washita as a national Native Americans that are affiliated historic site and provide opportunities with this site in the park’s develop- for American Indian groups including ment. And so I speak in this article pri- the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribe to be marily from the tribal perspective. involved in the formulation of plans Washita was designated as a nation- and educational programs for the al historic landmark in 1965 and national historic site.” So in this case, national park status had been dis- meaningful civic dialogue is both leg- cussed even earlier. With the election islated and the right thing to do. of Congressman Frank Lucas, who When I arrived at Washita I came grew up within a few miles of the his- with the intention of gaining substan- toric site, the park was established in tive, consistent involvement by the 1996. The Oklahoma Historical Soci- tribes in developing the park. I wanted ety worked closely with a few of the our Native American partners to be at

44 The George Wright FORUM Figure 1. Native American Heritage Group from Norman, Oklahoma, on the site of Black Kettle’s camp, Washita Battlefield National Historic Site. Photo by Lawrence Hart. the table helping to make plans and religious factions were also unhappy decisions, not at the receiving end of a that they had not been consulted. We draft document that we expect them to returned to the government-to-govern- approve. We had some successes and ment relationship as our main consul- we made some mistakes. I’d like to tation relationship, although a repre- share some of both of those with you. sentative of the sacred arrow keeper I’ll start with mistakes. One of the did attend many of our meetings. The biggest problems that plagued the park’s contact with elders and other process was finding the right person to leadership positions in the tribe has talk to. The political turnover within improved recently with the hiring of the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho an education technician, Craig Moore, tribe made it very difficult to get strong whose relationship with tribal elders consistent involvement. By executive has been strong for many years. order we must deal with tribes on a The successes that we achieved government-to-government basis. We through this dialogue brought the were asked very early in the process to park beyond telling a basic interpre- also work with the religious leadership tive story to relating a way of life. I’ll of the tribe and in fact were asked to talk about two of these successes here. pay a visit to the sacred arrow keeper, Because we had such difficulty in an important spiritual leader. We did engaging the tribe on a consistent so, but then received some backlash by basis, we felt like we needed a person those in the tribe that thought that it to help us to make sure that park was improper for a religious leader to issues were being taken seriously with- work on this type of process. Other in the tribe and that tribal issues were

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 45 being addressed within the park. The the important information they need tribe had assigned Gordon Yellowman to develop the park and educate the as the Native American Graves Protec- public. The position, dedicated to tion and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) forming a strong bond between the coordinator to work with the park, but two entities, gained unparalleled good when the tribe changed NAGPRA will for both the park and the tribes. coordinators several times within a The park hopes to fully fund the posi- three-year period, thus changing our tion beginning in Fiscal Year 2003. contact person, we tried to find a bet- The second success story is a proj- ter way of collaborating. Yellowman ect that we call the Cheyenne Heritage devised the idea of a cultural liaison Trail. The tribe has been very clear on position for the tribe who would work their belief that Washita needs to edu- with the park. In Fiscal Year 2001 we cate the public about the Cheyenne received an NPS challenge cost share tribe’s living culture as well as the grant to fund half of the position. The event in 1868. They also strongly tribe agreed to fund the other half of believe, as does the park staff, that the salary and benefits. We worked some of Washita’s stories need to be together to create a cooperative agree- told with a tribal voice. In addition, we ment and a simple position descrip- felt that it was important to interpret tion. We jointly hired Michael White- the Washita attack in context rather cloud for one year as a tribal employ- than as an isolated event. ee. His main objective was to develop We were very fortunate to have a a consultation guideline that is realis- man by the name of Lawrence Hart tic for all parties and affordable for living in the community. He is a everyone involved, allows the tribe to Cheyenne, one of the traditional tell the park staff how they would like Cheyenne peace chiefs, and serves as to collaborate, and gives the park staff one of the four principal chiefs. Hart is

Figure 2. Ranger Steve Black giving a tour of Washita to a history group from Bethel College, Kansas. Photo by Lawrence Hart.

46 The George Wright FORUM also the executive director of the explore not only Native American cul- Cheyenne Cultural Center, a non- ture but also the idea of westward profit corporation he founded 24 expansion, cultural conflict, and the years ago. He also serves on the Plains Indian Wars as a part of West- national review committee of NAG- ern history. PRA. Visitors may travel the trail in their Hart created the concept of devel- own vehicles using a brochure as a oping a Cheyenne Heritage Trail. We guide, or they may participate in a bus worked with him on the concept for tour provided by companies that pur- the trail, which would take visitors chase a guided program. Each venue throughout western Oklahoma to var- along the route has different activities, ious sites that were historically impor- some of which are interactive, all of tant to the tribe. Over the course of which teach visitors about Cheyenne two years we developed a partnership and Native American cultures. Each that included site managers from fed- partner in the Cheyenne Heritage eral, state, tribal, and private partners Trail is responsible for orienting visi- and entities such as the Oklahoma tors to their site and to the overall con- Department of Tourism and Recre- cept of the trail. Washita is, of course, ation and the Oklahoma Historical one of the stops on the trip. Society. The partners determined Because a project like this had their purpose to be the protection of never been done in Oklahoma and the cultural heritage of western Okla- because of Hart’s relationships with homa and education of the public state government, we were able to about the rich Native American occu- obtain the assistance of the Tourism pation there. The goal was to do this Division. They planned and conduct- through increased and more effective ed debut tours with Oklahoma digni- domestic and international visitation taries and media. They retained a con- to the area, to help those visitors to sultant to train the tour guides, and experience the heritage of the they developed the color brochure for Cheyenne tribe, and to learn about the the trail. Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, and The Oklahoma Historical Society Plains Apache people. is an essential partner. They The Cheyenne Heritage Trail was researched a historical chronology of established as the first Native Ameri- the major events of the Cheyenne can Cultural Route in the state of Indians in Oklahoma, which was pro- Oklahoma. The trail is a 420-mile vided for use in training the tour route that passes through historic and guides so that they can narrate the his- cultural sites that are significant to the tory of the culture as the coach travels Cheyenne people and to other tribes between the sites. The information that lived in the historic tribal lands of was also used to develop the brochure. western Oklahoma. The trail includes Hart worked with a state senator to twelve sites that interpret significant pass legislation directing the Okla- portions of the Cheyenne story. The homa Department of Transportation trail gives visitors the opportunity to to mark the trail with signing. The

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 47 Figure 3. Connie Yellowman, director of Fort Reno Visitor Center, giving a program at Fort Reno cemetery. Fort Reno is the first stop on the Cheyenne Heritage Trail. Photo by Lawrence Hart. signs have a trail logo that we devel- vice. It also received the Oklahoma oped by holding a Native American art Redbud Award, which is the state’s contest. tourism award. Approximately 20,000 visitors per The benefits of this endeavor have year see some or all of the Cheyenne been substantial. The partnership has Heritage Trail and that number is created a high degree of cooperative increasing. Tour groups have included spirit between local, state, federal, and Native American elementary and sec- tribal agencies in Oklahoma. Collabo- ondary students, college students from ration and contact between the part- other states, Native American cultural ners has created a sense of ownership organizations, Elderhostel groups, of the Cheyenne Heritage Trail and a and museum groups. feeling that all parties are concerned The park could never have accom- about the best interests of educating plished alone what this partnership the public about Native American her- has achieved to interpret this era of itage. This is particularly advanta- American history. Because of that fact, geous to NPS as we strive to develop a the partnership was awarded with the new national park site at Washita and National Park Foundation’s 2001 Park look for creative ways to enhance part- Partnership Award for Heritage Edu- nerships and interpretive techniques. cation, one of only four national The trail has facilitated an increase awards given to recognize partnership in tourism in this sparsely populated efforts within the National Park Ser- area of western Oklahoma, bringing

48 The George Wright FORUM tourist dollars and thus economic fair to compare them, that they were development to the communities totally different events. And then I located there. It is giving impetus to started thinking. At Washita, approxi- structural restoration and rehabilita- mately 1% of the Cheyenne people tion at four of the historic sites. It is were killed. On September 11, less also assisting with protecting the cul- than 0.001% of the American popula- tural heritage of the area and educating tion lost their lives. We need to help the public about the rich Native Amer- people make connections, and to ican occupation here. relate historic events to contemporary Site presentations and interpreta- events. Our interpretation needs to be tion have been enriched and enhanced compelling and it needs to be provoca- through the research done on behalf of tive. the trail and through the continuity of Alexa Roberts, superintendent of the interpretation from site to site. Par- Sand Creek Massacre National His- ticipants on the tour have called the toric Site, points out that it is not the tour a “classroom on wheels.” amount of consultation that we do This partnership is unprecedented with tribes but the degree of honesty in Oklahoma. The work that has been that we have going into the discus- accomplished on the Cheyenne Her- sions. True collaboration involves itage Trail is making a difference in the revealing all of the relevant informa- education of visitors. It is a model of tion without a hidden agenda. how national parks should be working The National Park System Adviso- with our partners and what can be ry Board’s report Rethinking the accomplished. National Parks for the 21st Century However, do we always take on the calls on the National Park Service to hard issues? Not always. Michael connect native and ancestral people to Whitecloud asked me soon after the the parks. I believe that this can be September 11 tragedy how I thought done through honest and meaningful it compared with the Washita. I was collaboration and civic dialogue with practically insulted and responded these important partners. rather tersely that I didn’t think it was

Sarah Craighead, Saguaro National Park, 3693 South Old Spanish Trail, Tuc- son, Arizona 85730-5601; [email protected] 1

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 49 Frank Hays The National Park Service: Groveling Sycophant or Social Conscience? Telling the Story of Mountains, Valley, and Barbed Wire at Manzanar National Historic Site

revolutionary idea came to fruition in the 1870s, when the United States became the first country to designate areas to be preserved as national parks. National park units preserve some of America’s most important cultural and natural resources. Wallace Stegner called nationalA parks America’s best idea and noted that parks “reflect us at our best rather than our worst.” Without parks, Stegner continued, “millions of Ameri- can lives ... would have been poorer. The world would have been poorer.” Stegner’s perspective of the value Centers. In this paper, I focus on of national parks encounters a paradox efforts the NPS has taken and is taking at Manzanar National Historic Site. to engage the public in a dialogue as it Manzanar, located at the foot of the develops the overall management plan Sierra Nevada in eastern California, for and interpretation of Manzanar. tells the story of Japanese Americans The first challenge at Manzanar is who were denied constitutional rights to provide an adequate context and were interned in one of ten War through which the public can be Relocation Centers because of their engaged in a discussion of social issues ethnicity. related to the internment of Japanese How the National Park Service Americans. Manzanar National (NPS) tells the story of the internment Historic Site is characterized by an is an issue currently being addressed abundance of sagebrush and dust; at Manzanar. Some people advocate only a few remnants of the camp are an active role for NPS in informing visible. Without physical reminders it social conscience through its interpre- is difficult to explain to visitors that tations of the internment of Japanese this was indeed an internment camp. Americans at Manzanar. While an When you visit Manzanar today, image of the NPS’s role as social con- you can be so inspired by the loca- science resonates with many, a recent tion’s beauty that you miss the impor- letter to the park reflects the opposite tant story told there. Manzanar is sentiment. Calling the National Park located in one of the primary recre- Service “a groveling sycophant,” the ation areas for millions of Southern writer of the letter suggests that NPS Californians. The park is surrounded has succumbed to the “Japanese by recreational opportunities such as American propaganda machine” and fishing in countless alpine lakes and neglects and even refuses to tell the streams, hiking in the Sierra Nevada, truth about the War Relocation and climbing Mount Whitney. In fact,

50 The George Wright FORUM some visitors have mentioned that, al and interpretive value of reconstruc- with its location near such beautiful tions. mountains, the camp experience The National Park Service has couldn’t have been so bad. The camp clear management policies about has been likened to a summer camp in reconstruction. As stated in its 2001 the mountains rather than an impor- Management Policies, “[n]o matter tant site in the history of the struggle how well conceived or executed, for civil rights. reconstructions are contemporary To ensure that visitors gain a sense interpretations of the past rather than of history and place, the Japanese authentic survivals from it.” Thus, American community pushed very NPS will not reconstruct a missing hard for reconstruction of various structure unless four criteria are met: camp features. These include the there is no alternative that would barbed wire fence that surrounded the accomplish the park’s interpretive camp, one of the eight guard towers, a mission; there is sufficient data to barracks building, and other signifi- enable an accurate reconstruction; the cant camp features. reconstruction occurs on the original Reconstruction, as many readers location; and the NPS director will know, is one of four treatment approves the reconstruction (NPS options for historic sites; the others 2000). Thus, members of the Japanese are preservation, rehabilitation, and American community and others had restoration. Reconstruction represents to demonstrate cause to allow recon- the alternative with the least historic struction be made a part of the park’s authenticity and is defined as “the general management plan. depiction of one period in history As I mentioned earlier, not much using new materials based on archae- physical evidence of the camp ology and other research findings.” remains. Only three of over eight hun- Usually, NPS discourages recon- dred buildings still stand. Neverthe- structions. The following abstract less, there is abundant evidence of from a session on reconstruction at the foundations, sidewalks, rock gardens, 1997 Society for American Archaeol- and the camp road network. That ogy outlines the debate: these remnants speak volumes can be The reconstruction of historical and heard in this quote from Farewell to archaeological sites and features has Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki long been a controversial subject Houston and James D. Houston: among professional archaeologists and historians. Some preservation It is so characteristically Japanese, purists claim that the public is unnec- the way lives were made more tolera- essarily misled by many reconstruc- ble by gathering loose desert stones tions that have not been absolutely and forming with them something verified by archaeology and documen- enduringly human. These rock gar- tary records. dens had outlived the barracks and the towers and would surely outlive The abstract goes on to note that oth- the asphalt road and rusted pipes ers have advocated a more liberal and shattered slabs of concrete. Each approach, emphasizing the education- stone was a mouth, speaking for a family, for some man who had beauti-

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 51 fied his doorstep (Houston and plan. In fact, the Manzanar Committee Houston 1973, p. 191). was instrumental in having one of the However, not everyone sees the ten former internment camps desig- crumbling foundations, rockwork, and nated as a national park unit. Embrey other physical remnants from the same reported the sense of the group this perspective. One Los Angeles Times way: article from 1997 criticized the lack of We strongly recommend the recon- facilities at, and the appearance of, the struction of some of the rock gardens site: located throughout the camp area to give the viewer an enhanced visitor Manzanar National Historic Site was experience. We support the place- created as a memorial to remind ment of one or more barracks in the future generations that in times of cri- demonstration blocks.... A demon- sis, the constitution can be danger- stration block would not be complete ously fragile. Yet today, Manzanar without the inclusion of latrines, mess looks more like a vacant lot than a hall and laundry building. We encour- hallowed memorial. The site is littered age the addition of these structures in with beer bottles and graffiti. There the demonstration block. It is are no visitors’ centers, no rangers on absolutely essential that one or more duty, no guided tours or displays. guard towers be reconstructed. Cattle graze the area, trampling archaeological sites, while tourists These and other similar views who pull off the highway leave con- greatly affected the general manage- fused and disappointed. ment plan for Manzanar. The We have taken great strides to begin approved plan for the park calls for to address the problems noted in this reconstruction of the camp’s barbed article. Many people, particularly in wire fence, camp entrance sign, guard the Japanese American community, tower, and barracks buildings. The have long recognized the problems fence and camp entrance have already noted in the Los Angeles Times article been reconstructed and we will be and have been actively engaged in the reconstructing one guard tower in the development of Manzanar’s general next few years. We will relocate and management plan. Even at that time, restore one or more of the camp bar- people like T. Shiokari expressed racks buildings that still exist in the strong support for reconstruction local area. efforts, noting: “I strongly urge the The National Park Service has NPS to depict the typical conditions worked closely with the Japanese when the Japanese race was first evac- American community in determining uated into the centers, and also the the initial development and manage- conditions near the end of the war ment of the site. However, I must where gardens, schools, recreation reject “groveling sycophant” as an facilities were made available.” accurate description of NPS efforts to The current chairperson of a citi- develop and interpret the site. Even zen’s advocacy group known as the within the Japanese American com- Manzanar Committee, Sue Kunitomi munity, there are disagreements about Embrey, also participated in the dia- how to tell the internment story.These logue about the park’s management often focus on whether the relocation

52 The George Wright FORUM centers such as Manzanar ought to be Much like the Manzanar Advisory called “concentration camps.” Two Commission, the review panels are quotes from the Rafu Shimpo, a news- composed of different groups within paper published in Los Angeles, illus- the Japanese American community, trate each side of this controversy. A veterans, local Owens Valley residents, letter by Kelly Shinatku on stated that: Native Americans, academics, and You may say ‘bah humbug,’ but I NPS staff. Mock-ups of the park’s pro- believe that future generations must posed interpretive exhibits were not forget what this government did to recently produced and displayed in its own citizens. Using the term con- Los Angeles and the Owens Valley in centration camps when referring to the internment of Japanese order to solicit public comment about Americans imparts to those who did their content. not live through the camps an unam- I believe this extensive review and biguous picture of what happened. planning process will facilitate, if not In response, the editor, George ensure, that a truthful, balanced con- Yoshinaga, reported a conversation he text will be presented to the visiting had with another former internee, also public. It is through such efforts that named George: NPS can fulfill what I believe must be its role as the caretaker of sites of social Like this writer, George is dead set against referring to the relocation conscience rather than, as some fear, camps as ‘concentration camps.’ He becoming the source of that social was in Manzanar. conscience. At the present time, NPS has decided The forthright, candid interpreta- to use “internment” as the best way to tion of sites such as Manzanar will avoid being caught up in a whirlwind help us avoid repeating the mistakes of of controversy that could obscure the history. A statement by Robert Sproul significance of the site. of the Fair Play Committee in 1944 Since the designation of Manzanar eloquently summarizes a longstanding as a unit of the National Park System, and powerful goal for parks such as the Manzanar Advisory Commission, Manzanar: with members from the Japanese Whenever and wherever the constitutional guarantees are violated in American, Native American, ranching, the treatment of a minority, no mat- and local communities, has actively ter how unpopular or helpless, the participated in a dialogue about the whole fabric of American govern- development, management, and inter- ment is weakened, its whole effec- pretation of the site. And of course, in tiveness impaired. Each such viola- tion establishes an evil precedent accordance with the 1969 National which is inevitably turned against Environmental Policy Act, public another minority later and eventually involvement has been solicited for all the very principle on which our major management actions. Nation is founded, namely, the digni- The National Park Service contin- ty and worth of the human individ- ues to consult with a variety of groups ual. and individuals in the development of Manzanar National Historic Site the park’s interpretive programs. and similar sites should help to com-

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 53 municate the lessons of history, to of paper. You may think that statutes ensure that the dignity of the human are your security—they are nothing but individual is upheld, both in America words in a book. You may think that the elaborate mechanism of govern- and in the world. ment is your security—it is nothing at It is important to remember the all, unless you have sound and uncor- words of United States Supreme rupted public opinion to give life to Court Chief Justice Charles Evans your Constitution, to give vitality to Hughes, as quoted by Michi Nishura your statutes, to make efficient your government machinery (Weglyn Weglyn in the book Years of Infamy: 1996, p. 32). You may think that the Constitution is your security—it is nothing but a piece [Ed. note: this paper was originally presented at the Organization of American Historians / National Council on Public History annual meeting, April 2002, Washington, D.C.] References Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki, and James D. Houston. 1973. Farewell to Manzanar. New York: Houghton Mifflin. NPS [National Park Service]. 2000. Management Policies 2001. Washington, D.C.: NPS. Weglyn, Michi Nishura. 1996. Years of Infamy: The Untold Story of America’s Concentration Camps. Updated edition. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Frank Hays, Manzanar National Historic Site, P.O. Box 426, Independence, California 93526-0426; [email protected] 1

54 The George Wright FORUM Liz Sevcenko Activating the Past for Civic Action: The International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience

n 1987, Nelson Mandela organized an unprecedented meeting of prominent Afrikaaners and top leaders of the African National Congress. He chose to hold it at the Slave House at Gorée Island in Senegal, where slave traders and slaves lived cheek-by-jowl in the 18th century before slaves were Itransported to the Americas. The meeting proved to be the turning point in the struggle against apartheid. Nelson Mandela later told French President François Mitterrand that the haunting site of the African slave trade served as one of the keys that unlocked the door to new communication, making his release and everything else possible.1 On February 14, 2002, the Lower opportunity to look at all these issues East Side Tenement Museum invited together.” After a day-long summit an unusual group to pay a visit to the about what new perspective could be recreated 1897 home and factory of gained by looking at the garment Harris and Jennie Levine. Packed in industry in the past, the participants an intimate circle, leaders of conflict- emerged with new ideas about how all ing sectors of the garment industry sides could work together to prevent today—workers and manufacturers, sweatshop conditions in the future. retailers and union organizers—lis- What these two stories tell us is tened to the story of how this Russian that historic sites have a special power immigrant family slept, ate, raised a to inspire and shape important new family, and turned out hundreds of dialogues on pressing issues that dresses in a tiny 325-square-foot divide us. The Lower East Side space. Why did these people, who Tenement Museum was founded in spend most of their time attacking or 1988 to offer our visitors a usable avoiding each other, want to come past—that is, to offer history as a together to talk here? As one partici- resource for considering and address- pant put it, “the Museum provides a ing issues in the present. Located in a neutral environment that facilitates neighborhood whose residents today discussion among all of us in the gar- hail from 36 different countries, the ment industry. The tour is extremely heart of the museum is a tenement at balanced, making people from all sides 97 Orchard Street where an estimated of the issue feel included. The envi- 7,000 immigrants from over 20 differ- ronment here puts everyone a little off- ent nations made their homes between balance, in a way that really opens dis- 1863 and 1935. Entering the carefully cussion. It provides a wonderful restored apartments of families who

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 55 actually lived in our building, you will the same time, these individual peo- meet America’s revered immigrant ple, whether they knew it or not, were ancestors before they were accepted, at the center of national debates taking before they lost their heavy accents— place from Congress to the corner for some, before they were considered store. Their stories provide a safe yet “white.” Our families’ stories touch generative place from which to explore the most pressing issues of our time, pressing questions we’re still grap- but allow visitors to consider them pling with today, including: Who is through the lives of individual people, American? Who should help people and from the safe distance of people with economic needs—the neighbor- living generations ago. On one tour, hood, private charities, the govern- we introduce two families struggling ment? What are fair labor practices? to make ends meet and be accepted in What is a sweatshop? America during economic crises. The Tenement Museum offer pro- You’ll meet Nathalie Gumpertz, a grams that invite people of all ages and German single mother who struggled backgrounds to address these ques- to raise her three children as a dress- tions in different ways. After hearing maker after her husband abandoned the stories of 97 Orchard Street’s for- her after the Panic of 1873, speaking mer residents, visitors can participate German in the face of the first English- in public dialogues about their own only law to be imposed in the United families’ immigration experiences and States. You’ll then visit the Sicilian larger immigration issues. In “Tene- Baldizzi family, who went to great ment Inspectors,” a collaboration with lengths to enter the country illegally, New York City’s Department of Hous- only to be forced to go on government ing and Preservation, we invite school relief during the Depression. Another children to learn about how housing tour brings you to Harris and Jennie standards and conditions changed Levine, the Russian immigrants who over time in our building, who organ- opened a dressmaking shop with three ized to change them, and how they can employees in their tenement apart- take action against violations in their ment in 1892—creating the very type own homes. The museum established of space the word “sweatshop” was, in an Immigrant Programs Department that moment, coined to describe. After to serve the 37% of our neighborhood hearing of all the reforms that were who are recent arrivals to this country introduced to eradicate the sweat- and to showcase the cultural expres- shop, you’ll be able to visit the sions of contemporary immigrant the- Rogarshevsky family in 1918, and atrical, visual, literary, and digital hear how Abraham, who worked as a artists. Through this department, we presser in a new modern factory, nev- host English and civics classes for new ertheless fell victim to tuberculosis, immigrants. Students learn how previ- alternately called the “tailor’s disease” ous generations of immigrants faced or the “Jewish disease.” the challenges of settling in a new Each of our families had a totally country, finding a job, making a personal, idiosyncratic experience. At home—and how they organized to win

56 The George Wright FORUM many of the basic rights in labor, hous- More than places for passive learning, ing, and cultural expression that all we could re-imagine museums as cen- Americans now enjoy. Each class then ters for active exchange on issues that participates in a discussion of chal- matter outside their walls. The lenges immigrants face today, and American Associations of Museums develops ideas for how to face them, (AAM) published Mastering Civic leaving the program with practical Engagement: A Challenge to Museums, information about rights and in which it envisioned the museum as resources found in the first guide for “a center where people gather to meet new immigrants in New York City, and converse ... and a participant in published by the Museum with The collaborative problem solving. It is an New York Times. active, visible player in civic life, a safe To us, the connections between haven, and a trusted incubator of past and present, between history and change.”4 Announcing the publication civic participation, are absolutely nat- of the book, AAM’s president and ural, and quite inseparable. According chief executive officer, Edward Able, to a recent national study conducted boldly declared that “the times by David Thelen and Roy demand that museums take this [civic] Rosenzweig, thousands of Americans responsibility seriously as a core feel the same.2 Thelen reveals value.”5 The Ford Foundation articu- America’s “participatory historical lated its own vision of the civic muse- culture,” documenting countless ways um space, celebrating “a growing in which diverse Americans use the number” of cultural institutions that past in their everyday lives, individual- “are moving to claim an active, inten- ly and collectively. After analyzing the tional role in public dialogue around ways respondents turned to history to the kinds of contemporary issues that decide how to raise their children, provoke multiple viewpoints.” Such where and with whom to live and institutions are “an extraordinary civic work, and how to organize for social force, and one whose potential change, Thelen and Rosenzweig dis- remains significantly underacknowl- covered that overwhelmingly “the edged.”6 To promote greater acknowl- point of engaging the past was to edgment of this potential, the founda- understand choices in the present to tion spearheaded the Animating shape the future.”3 Democracy Initiative, which provided Museum professionals increasing- a wide range of resources to arts- and ly got the point, and new conversa- humanities-based civic dialogue proj- tions began to emerge about the iden- ects. tity of the museum. Lone, but signifi- Yet outside of professional confer- cant, voices in the museum field began ences, our practice remained anathe- to talk of moving the role of the muse- ma. Comparing their collections of, um beyond its 19th-century identity say, Wedgwood china or paintings by as a keeper of relics, and even beyond Vermeer, to ours, which includes a few its hard-fought 20th-century identity hundred buttons, a laundry ticket, and as a trusted educational institution. a mummified rat found in our ceiling,

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 57 many of our fellow museums couldn’t Memoria Abierta (Argentina), com- see how we had anything in common. memorating the “disappeared” during While some found our inclusion of the dictatorships of the 1970s and contemporary immigrant stories 1980s; Terezin Memorial (Czech “funky,” few gave any serious thought Republic), a labor camp used to model to playing a similarly active role in the “humane practices” of the Nazi their own communities. Those who regime to the Red Cross; and The did embrace the general idea of civic Workhouse (United Kingdom), a engagement interpreted its meaning so 19th-century solution to poverty.Sup- differently from us and from each ported by the Rockefeller Foundation, other that no consistent set of prac- we organized a meeting at the founda- tices was emerging to give the idea tion’s villa and study center in Bella- weight. On the other side, human gio, Italy. Realizing that our new rights and social welfare agencies often approach to museum work required refused first invitations to visit and dis- new support, we unanimously decid- cuss collaborations with us, considered to form the International Coalition ing museums effete, precious, and a of Historic Site Museums of Con- big waste of time. Accepted neither as science. museum nor as advocate, yet feeling Our founding declaration strong in our identity, we searched for described the role we believed historic a crowd, and a name, to call our own. sites should play in civic life. It reads: “We hold in common the belief that it Founding a Coalition is the obligation of historic sites to The Tenement Museum’s presi- assist the public in drawing connec- dent, Ruth Abram, put out a call to tions between the history of our site museums around the world describing and its contemporary implications. We the role she felt historic sites could view stimulating dialogue on pressing play in their societies, and asking if social issues and promoting humani- anyone else felt the same. Eight tarian and democratic values as a pri- responded: the District Six Museum mary function.” (South Africa), remembering forced We established strict criteria for removal under apartheid; the Gulag membership in the coalition as a way Museum (Russia), the only Stalinist of challenging ourselves, and other labor camp to be preserved in Russia; museums around the world, to meet the Liberation War Museum our civic obligations. We defined a site (Bangladesh), excavating killing fields of conscience as a museum that: and memorializing the genocide of the • interprets history through historic Bangladeshi people during the Libera- sites; tion War of 1971; the Maison Des • engages in programs that stimulate Esclaves (Senegal), an 18th-century dialogue on pressing social issues slave transport station; the National and promote humanitarian and Park Service (USA), representing the democratic values as a primary func- Women’s Rights National Historical tion; Park in Seneca Falls and other sites; • shares opportunities for public

58 The George Wright FORUM involvement in issues raised at the writing new narratives; activating site. these new narrative perspectives by In our view, there was nothing fostering civic dialogue; and building inherent in a site that guaranteed it a forum by designing new spaces for would play the civic role we envi- dialogue to happen. sioned, and nothing that precluded it Opening new perspectives on from doing so. Instead, for us a site of civic issues. For many sites emerging conscience was defined by the com- from repressive political contexts, mitment of its stewards to play an their first task was to write new nation- active role in engaging its audiences in al and community narratives, identify civic dialogue around contemporary new actors and heroes, and expose issues. The most powerful site of the truths that had been long denied. Atlantic slave trade cannot sponta- Rewriting these narratives is the first neously inspire democratic exchange step in liberation; writing these narra- about contemporary racism, and risks tives into the public memory by lying dormant at the margins of civic installing them in a museum is the first life. On the other hand, there are step in guaranteeing that liberation for almost no limits to the stories and future generations. The District Six themes that can inspire important dia- Museum in South Africa tells the story logue. Sites representing the triumph of how the apartheid government of democracy, social justice, or human razed a racially integrated neighbor- rights, such as the Eleanor Roosevelt hood and displaced its thousands of National Historic Site, where the residents. The museum’s aim is “to International Declaration of Human ensure that the history and the memo- Rights was drafted, are as powerful as ry of forced removals in South Africa sites representing their failure, such as endures and in the process will chal- the Maison des Esclaves in Senegal. lenge all forms of social oppression.” Sites representing the histories of Similarly, Memoria Abierta in human interaction with the natural Argentina recovers documentation of world, like the Thoreau Institute at abuses under the military dictator- Walden Woods, are as important as ships of the 1970s and 1980s in order sites interpreting humans’ interaction to “promote a social conscience that with one another. The door was wide values active Memory as a means to open to any site: the onus was on the avoid history from repeating itself.” stewards to activate these sites as dem- For these and other sites, simply ocratic forums. telling the story is a radical political act, when many of the perpetrators are Giving a Site Conscience: still in power and the line between his- Moving from Temple to Forum torical artifact and legal evidence is What’s involved in establishing a blurred. For sites in more stable, but site of conscience? Member sites have unfinished, democracies, rewriting worked to make their sites centers for narratives is an important first step in civic dialogue on three levels: opening creating opportunities for broader new perspectives on civic issues by civic engagement. The Tenement

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 59 Museum challenges the canonic story “idle and profligate.” After touring the of European immigrant success and segregated quarters and forced labor inclusion in America, often used yards of the workhouse, visitors enter against new immigrants from Asia or an exhibit titled “What Now? What Latin America struggling today. Next?” that compares the classifica- Instead, we introduce visitors to immi- tion and segregation of Britain’s poor grant families before they were accept- from the Victorian era through the ed in this country, when they faced present. The Workhouse invites poli- discrimination, labor abuse, and cy makers and advocates such as the poverty. international leadership of Oxfam and Activating new perspectives: representatives of Britain’s welfare sys- Dialogues for Democracy. Telling a tem, as well as their general public, to new story is critical, but to foster new engage in dialogue around the follow- civic participation and generate new ing questions: Where would the peo- democratic processes, it is not ple of the workhouse be today? How enough. Sites of conscience are com- have things improved, or become mitted to making explicit connections worse? What solutions to poverty and between the past and the present, its related issues may we try in the actively engaging visitors in discussing future—is there anything new that has the future, and inspiring and equip- not been tried before? ping them to participate in shaping it. The District Six Museum covered Together, directors designed a series its floor with a map of the destroyed of programs, called Dialogues for neighborhood, and invited former res- Democracy, to take place at each site. idents to place their homes, streets, In developing its dialogue for democ- stores, and community spaces. This racy, each site was asked to consider: memory mapping project became the • What is the story you want to tell? basis for land reclamation claims, and •Why do you need to tell that story; the museum organized and hosted one that is, what is the contemporary of the Land Courts on its site. Former political and social context in which residents sat in chairs directly on the you are working that makes this map of their old neighborhood, as the story important to tell? court granted them, in the words of • What civic questions do you want one, “our land back, our homes back, your visitors to consider during a our dignity back.”7 visit to your site? The Gulag Museum hosts interna- •How will you engage them in dia- tional conferences on human rights logue around these questions? issues, inviting policy makers and • What impact do you hope to have advocates to use the story of the gulag and how will you measure it? to imagine the future of democracy in The Workhouse in England pre- Russia. serves a rare surviving example of a Alarmed by the rise in racist vio- Victorian “solution” to poverty, struc- lence in Czech Republic and the lack tures that once loomed on the out- of public discussion around it, the skirts of every town as threats to the Terezin Memorial designed a series of

60 The George Wright FORUM teacher training workshops and Several sites are struggling with school programs that use the perspec- how to build dialogue into their tives of the Holocaust to foster open designs. In the architectural plans for dialogue on the current situation. its new National Center for the Stressing the importance of individual Preservation of Democracy, the citizen participation, and the conse- Japanese American National Museum quences of inaction, the workshops is incorporating both a “forum,” a analyze recent patterns of discrimina- 200-seat auditorium that “serves as tion and violence against Roma peo- the centerpiece for the National ples, as well as emerging neo-Nazi Center’s Commitment to discourse, movements, and ask students and edu- dialogue, and community engage- cators to develop ideas for how to ment,” as well as a “democracy lab” build a pluralistic and tolerant society designed for “group discussions, polls for the future. of current national and local issues, Just a few weeks after the attacks and more.”8 Brown v. Board of on the World Trade Center, in Education National Historic Site, ded- response to the dragnet for Arab and icated to preserving sites related to the Muslim immigrants and the national landmark U.S. Supreme Court deci- anxiety around potential terrorists in sion that brought an end to segrega- our midst, the Japanese American tion in public education, is building a National Museum held a public town new visitor center in the former hall meeting, also broadcast on local Monroe elementary school, a segregat- radio. The museum invited a repre- ed school for African Americans in sentative from the Immigration and Topeka, Kansas. The visitor center Naturalization Service (INS), together was designed under an overarching with former internees of Manzanar concept of “discovery and discourse,” and other camps, to engage a live and and “will include spaces for individual call-in audience in a discussion of reflection and group discussion.”9 maintaining democracy and national While these sites model their security. democratic forums after spaces of offi- Building a forum: designing a cial public deliberation, such as the space for dialogue. What does a site town hall or the legislature, others of conscience—a forum–museum— recreate the more intimate, sponta- look like? Many sites have realized that neous, and marginal places where a commitment to serving as a forum important civic engagement happens. for civic dialogue requires a new phys- The Tenement Museum’s dialogue ical design. Traditional museum space is called “the kitchen”; the design has focused on passive learn- room’s soft lighting, kitchen tables, ing, guiding visitors along a linear path and mismatched chairs welcome visi- of panels or cases in which the interac- tors to participate in an informal dia- tion is solely between the visitor and logue that begins with personal expe- the information presented. But what if riences—those histories that are told the mission of the museum is to and retold in the kitchen—and uses engage visitors with each other? them as the starting point for a discus-

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 61 sion of larger issues around immigra- immediate aftermath of these events, tion. The Liberation War Museum in while others, like the 18th-century Bangladesh created a mobile museum, Slave House in Senegal, are looking a sort of democratic forum on wheels, back on a longer legacy. This differ- that travels to schools around the ence in distance informs how different country. According to Director Akku members view the role of their site in Chowdhury, the space of the their society, what they view as the Bangladeshi classroom remains unde- most urgent democratic project, and mocratic: desks are arranged in rows; how they seek to engage their audi- students must stand up to speak and ences. must speak directly to the teacher; free Some sites, particularly those rep- exchange and inquiry are not encour- resenting government agencies, such aged. Rather than conduct its pro- as the U.S. National Park Service, or grams in the classroom spaces, larger institutions, such as the British Liberation War Museum staff park the National Trust, were concerned that bus on school grounds and invite stu- being a site of conscience was too dents to board. In the intimate space “political.” By “political,” they meant of the bus, surrounded by exhibits on explicitly advocating a specific posi- the genocide of Bengali people and tion on a contemporary issue, such as their struggles for democracy,the rules who should receive public assistance and culture of the classroom don’t and for how long, or who should be apply. Students sit in a circle and allowed to immigrate to the United engage in open discussions around States. Instead, these members questions including Who is resolved to serve as open forums for Bangladeshi? Which of the country’s dialogue on all sides of contemporary founding ideals has been realized? debates, taking care to pose questions Which have not? Where do you see with a variety of possible answers. For evidence of that? Why do you think many, that meant including multiple this is the case? What can I do to help perspectives in their narratives, as in realize them? the Tenement Museum’s audio intro- Defining democracy: truth- duction to its “sweatshop” exhibit, seeking vs. dialogue. The coalition featuring the voices of workers, con- itself has provided a spirited forum in tractors, designers, and union organiz- which to debate how historic sites can ers. For others, it meant inviting par- serve as democratic institutions and ticipants from a variety of perspectives demonstrate democratic processes. At to exchange experiences at the site, the heart is a debate over what democ- such as when the Gulag Museum racy looks like, and what is the most brought together former prisoners and effective path to reaching it. Coalition former guards to meet and tell their members come from a wide variety of stories, or when the Japanese political contexts. All sites interpret American National Museum invited experiences and events that relate to both an INS agent and a former pressing issues of today,but some, like internee to speak on racial profiling. Memoria Abierta, are living in the For other sites, multiple perspec-

62 The George Wright FORUM tives smacked of moral relativism. Memoria Abierta asks, When I see an Directors of the District Six Museum, injustice happening, does it involve Memoria Abierta, and the Liberation me? Am I responsible or implicated? War Museum are just a few of the members based in human rights Spreading the Word movements. Their projects are an inte- The coalition’s greatest ambition gral part of larger truth-seeking efforts, is to put itself out of business. We related to proving that crimes against dream of the day when citizens all over humanity occurred, bringing perpe- the world, faced with a significant trators to justice, and establishing social issue, will automatically turn to truth commissions. These sites’ spe- historic sites to consider and address cific goal within the larger human it. Just as Mandela used the Slave rights effort is to develop a public con- House in Senegal to change race rela- sciousness or acceptance of certain tions in South Africa for decades to facts as indisputable. Exposing the come, political leaders can find new total abrogation of democracy and incubators of peace on every conti- developing a strong public memory of nent. We dream of the day when his- this abrogation is their highest priority toric sites will be seen as some of the in their effort to build a democratic most important training grounds for culture. These sites leave the truths of democratic societies, places where human rights violations unques- young people learn to be active citi- tioned, but offer the future of their zens. We hope that historic sites inter- countries as an open debate, inviting preting a single moment or event will visitors to consider a variety of ways be continually renewed by citizens they can participate in shaping it. The challenging the latest legacy of what District Six Museum asks children of happened there as it takes new form in displaced families to return to District their societies. In short, we dream of Six and imagine the future of the the day when the role for historic sites neighborhood. It asks, What are my that the coalition envisions is so taken rights and responsibilities as a citizen? for granted that it needs no name or How does my city work? How can I special group to support it. In the make my city work for me? After meantime, with great enthusiasm, we telling the story of how torture and challenge ourselves to redefine what abuse occurred under the noses of historic sites are here to do. Argentine people for over a decade, For more information on the Coalition and its member sites, or to download an application, go to http://www.sitesofconscience.org. Endnotes 1. Lawrence Weschler, Calamities of Exile: Three Nonfiction Novellas (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998). 2. David Thelen and Roy Rosenzweig, The Presence of the Past: Popular Uses of History in American Life (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998). 3. David Thelen, “Afterthoughts: David Thelen.” Web site: http://chnm.gmu.edu/survey/afterdave- html. 4. American Association of Museums, Mastering Civic Engagement: A Challenge to Museums

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 63 (Washington, D.C.: American Association of Museums, 2002). 5. Press release, “American Associations of Museums Announces the Publication of Mastering Civic Engagement: A Challenge to Museums,” April 25, 2002. 6. Barbara Schaeffer Bacon, Cheryl Yuen, and Pam Korza, Animating Democracy: The Artistic Imagination as a Force in Civic Dialogue (Washington, D.C.: Americans for the Arts, 1999). 7. Audio recording of Land Court proceedings, District Six Museum. 8. Brochure, National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, 2002. 9. Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site application for membership in the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience, 2001.

Liz Sevcenko,Lower East Side Tenement Museum, 90 Orchard Street, New York, New York 10002; [email protected] 1

64 The George Wright FORUM Louis P. Hutchins Gay E. Vietzke

Dialogue Between Continents: Civic Engagement and the Gulag Museum at Perm-36, Russia

n December 1999, at the initiative of National Park Service (NPS) North- east Regional Director Marie Rust, the agency became a founding member of the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience. At the coalition’s first formal meeting, Rust met Victor Shmyrov,director of the IGulag Museum at Perm-36 in Russia, another founding institution of the coalition. Shmyrov’s museum preserves and interprets a Gulag camp built under Joseph Stalin in 1946 in the village of Kutschino, Russia, near the city of Perm. Known as Perm-36, the facility served initially as a regular timber production labor camp. Later, the camp became a particularly isolated and severe facility for high government officials. In 1972, Perm-36 became the primary facility in the country for persons charged with political crimes. Many of the Soviet Union’s most prominent dissidents, including Vladimir Bukovsky, Sergei Kovalev, and Anatoly Marchenko, served their sentences there. It was only during the Soviet government’s period of “openness” of Glasnost, under President Mikael Gor- bachev, that the camp was finally closed in January 1988. Although it is estimated that there were over 12,000 forced labor camps in the former Soviet Union, Perm-36 is the last surviving example from the system. Since 1996, the museum has four specific areas that required on- undertaken the task of preserving and site consultation: reconstructing the camp as a historic 1. Surveying all historic structures site. The museum has sent several and developing prioritized guide- delegations to the U.S. to learn from lines for the stabilization, preser- the National Park Service. These vation, treatment, repair, and groups observed interpretive and edu- reconstruction of the built ele- cational programs, looked at self- ments of the camp. financing examples, and visited signif- 2. Reviewing of the museum’s organ- icant American sites that deal with dif- ization and staffing with recom- ficult issues and recent history. Dur- mendations leading towards meeting a trip in April 2001, the Gulag ing international standards for Museum’s staff asked Rust to send a professional museum operations. team of preservation and museum pro- 3. Creating a museum storage space fessionals from NPS to visit Perm-36 for the preservation of artifacts and provide technical assistance in and archival materials at the site

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 65 and providing recommendations exhibits, and a gallery where he was for future preventative conserva- installing a new temporary exhibit. tion treatment. The exhibit featured family photo- 4. Writing general guidelines for pro- graphs from the Stalinist period, all of moting the historic site interna- which had faces of individual family tionally to visitors through members removed or blotted out, an tourism, publications and sales apparently common practice among items, and web-based technology. families whose relatives had been A team of five NPS professionals, identified as political enemies of the including experts in preservation and state and sent to camps or executed. museum management, was selected to This eerie and powerful exhibit indi- provide this assistance by traveling to cated the history and subject matter the site and working with key museum the team was to experience in Russia. staff (Figure 1). Once the team arrived in the Ural

Figure 1. The NPS team and staff of the Gulag Museum at Perm-36. Photo by Oleg Trushinikov. Summary of Itinerary region, in the city of Perm, the team The team members arrived in saw the outside of the prison used to Moscow on September 4, 2001. In incarcerate and then distribute prison- Moscow, the team was met by Yuri V. ers to the forced labor camps through- Reshetnikov, the primary exhibit out the region. The prison still holds designer for the Gulag Museum at criminals today. The team also visited Perm-36. The team toured the muse- the memorial to victims of Soviet um at the Andrei Sakharov Archives, repression recently built on the out- where Reshetnikov had designed the skirts of town before proceeding to

66 The George Wright FORUM Perm-36, which lies in a remote area of ciate the overall impact of such a the Urals about four hours’ drive from repressive system, it should also be Perm. noted that over a million people worked as camp personnel between Site History the 1920s and 1950s. In other words, The Gulag Museum at Perm-36 the entire society was deeply affected preserves, documents, and interprets by this social institution, both as the last surviving forced labor camp of oppressor and oppressed. the Soviet era (1917-1992).1 Its stated The labor camp museum in mission is to establish a historic site Kutchino is divided into two proper- that serves as a memorial museum of ties. The main facility served as a the history of political repression and forced labor camp and detention cen- totalitarianism in the former Soviet ter from 1946 to 1988. The second Union. The museum also seeks to pro- property, less than a mile down the mote democratic values and civil con- road from the main facility, served as a sciousness. camp industrial building (ca.1952–ca. Taken as a whole, the labor camp at 1956), soldiers’ barracks (ca.1956–ca. Perm-36 powerfully illustrates the 1972), and a “maximum security” unit entire period of the forced labor camp (1979-1988).5 This maximum securi- system in the Soviet era. Although the ty facility housed those considered Czarist regime preceding the Revolu- especially dangerous by the state: dis- tion did convict political opponents sidents and human rights activists who for crimes against the state and incar- continued their public agitation after cerated them in prisons throughout release from their first prison terms. the remotest parts of the country, the The history of Perm-36 can be bro- forced labor system implemented by ken down into three major periods of the Bolsheviks was a new phenome- significance: the Stalinist labor camp non in Russian history.2 The Soviets (1946-1956), the labor camp for high used the system both as a means of Soviet officials (1956-1971), and the imprisoning those who threatened the labor camp for dissidents and human state and of providing necessary labor rights activists (1972-1988). Each to support the rapid programs of period illustrates a significant aspect industrialization and economic expan- of the history of totalitarianism and sion instituted in the years following political repression in the Soviet the Revolution. This system of forced Union. The first period documents labor and political repression reached the typical forced labor camp found a peak under the rule of Stalin, when throughout the country when the the numbers of labor camp prisoners number of prisoners soared after soared to almost three million people World War II, and the country in the early 1950s.3 During the entire embarked on a massive reconstruction period of Soviet forced labor camps, project. The use of forced labor was an from 1917 until 1988, it has been esti- integral part of the post-war economy. mated that about 20 million people As one historian has put it, “in the were imprisoned.4 But to fully appre- conditions of the universal postwar

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 67 devastation and impoverishment, the only intact camp left. Gulag participated in the construction Period 1, 1946-1956: Stalinist of the Soviet military–industrial com- labor camp. During the first period, plex and helped it grow and gain the labor camp served as a typical log- social prestige.”6 All areas of the econ- ging camp established under the Stal- omy relied to one extent or another on inist regime. Built to exploit the heavi- forced labor; the forestry work carried ly forested areas of the Ural region, out at this labor camp was quite typi- this camp and many others relied on cal of the period. The second period the manual labor of thousands of documents the incarceration of high imprisoned citizens to provide timber Soviet officials, including members of downstream to the many cities and the KGB, the judicial branch of gov- towns devastated during World War ernment, and the military. These offi- II. The timber camps were built from cials, treated as privileged prisoners, logs as temporary facilities: as soon as nevertheless had to be separated from the prisoners cleared the forests the rest of the prisoner population (about five to ten years), the authori- because of fears for their security. The ties moved the prisoners into a new final period documents the incarcera- section of the forest where they would tion of dissidents and human rights build a new camp. activists who posed the most serious This camp also served as a base threat to the internal stability and camp for four satellite camps located security of the Soviet Union. Many of deep in the forests. It served as the these prisoners had national and inter- headquarters for the operation, pro- national reputations for their work in viding the distribution point for all the human rights, national liberation prisoners and for food and other sup- movements, and other dissident activ- plies. The base camp housed about ities throughout the Soviet republics. one thousand prisoners, and each of During the last period, the existence the four satellite camps housed and location of the camp was a highly between six and eight hundred pris- guarded secret. The construction of oners. The base camp consisted of the maximum security unit in 1979 four barracks with about 200 to 250 illustrates further the increasing pres- prisoners each. It also contained a sures the Soviet authorities felt to hospital unit, storage facility, wash obliterate internal dissent by severely house, outhouse, and punishment cell. punishing those activists who repeat- Less than a mile down the road from edly defied the state. Finally,it was this the camp, at a site near the Tchusovoy camp that was the last of the forced River, a storage area for the logged tim- labor camp system to be closed down ber was created. The prisoners at the in 1988 under President Mikhail Gor- various camps within the complex bachev’s policies of Glasnost. Today.it hauled the logs to this site during the stands as the best-preserved reminder year, and floated them down river dur- of Soviet oppression. When once ing the spring floods. there were over 12,000 camps in the Between 1946 and 1951, this labor country, Perm-36 is believed to be the camp complex was a typical low-secu-

68 The George Wright FORUM rity camp which housed prisoners ers, the total camp population sentenced to short terms (up to five dropped by a half, and two barracks years). If the prisoner was finishing up were no longer used. Between 1952 a longer sentence, he might be trans- and 1956, one barracks was converted ferred to such a camp to complete his into a canteen and another into a camp term. These low-security prisoners headquarters. were not considered dangerous. Period 2, 1956-1971: Labor By 1951, the prisoners had fully camp for Soviet officials. Between exploited the forests surrounding the 1956 and 1958, the camp was con- camp and its satellite camps. The verted to house Soviet officials, satellite camps moved farther from the including KGB, judicial branch base camp to better exploit remaining authorities, and military officials forests, and the base camp was sup- accused of abuses of power. These plied with vehicles for transporting prisoners had to be isolated from the timber. This development was consid- rest of the prisoner population ered technologically advanced in a because their lives would have been camp economy system that relied threatened by other prisoners. Of overwhelmingly on manual labor.7 course, there was great irony in this— Also, at this time (as part of the that those who had been the oppres- national reform laws passed in 1948), sors of the innocent became the the Soviet authorities implemented a oppressed themselves. These officials plan throughout the Soviet labor camp were soon replaced by those Soviet system to administratively separate liv- officials accused of criminal activity, ing zones for prisoners and working such as committing theft or accepting –industrial facilities where the work bribes. took place. These reforms tried to The Soviet officials who were address the severe problems of overex- imprisoned could not (or would not) ploitation of the prisoners and perform much labor, and the timber improve worker output.8 processing operation was closed At Perm-36, the newly constructed down. The building built for this use industrial zone contained buildings to near the river was converted into living service the vehicles, provide workshop quarters for the soldiers who guarded space for the base camp prisoners, the camp. The rest of the camp provide central heating to the camp, remained essentially unchanged. and house an office for accounting and Those prisoners who could work industrial management. In addition, labored in the workshops in the indus- on the area previously used for storing trial zone. timber near the river, a new facility was Period 3, 1972-1988: Labor constructed to house workshops camp for dissidents and human where the prisoners loaded manufac- rights activists. Beginning in the turing planks into packing boxes. 1960s, each labor camp throughout Because there was less demand for the Soviet Union was identified by labor at this type of operation than region (letter code) and number. Until previously required for forestry work- 1972, this camp was called “UT-

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 69 389/6,” meaning it was located in the 1971, and in the year that followed, Perm region and it was timber camp the camp was again reconfigured to number 6. Beginning in 1972, when house the dissident population. The Soviet officials converted the camp headquarters was reconstructed in into a secret camp for dissidents and masonry, a new outhouse was built, human rights activists, the camp loca- the paths were paved, and a new bar- tion was camouflaged by the two-letter racks for guards was built outside the code “BC.” One major concern of the camp fence. In the industrial zone, the Soviet officials was the ability of dissi- workshop and maintenance shed dents to leak information to the gener- (Building 11) were reconfigured to al population and to the foreign press. house new machinery for the produc- The camp’s code name was one of tion of parts for domestic laundry many efforts to stop all such leaks. irons. When production began some- There were a total of thirty-four “nor- time in 1972, the prisoners produced mal” labor camps in the Perm region, parts for a manufacturing plant locat- plus those two set aside for especially ed about 50 kilometers from the camp. dangerous criminals of the state, BC- Some of the prisoners worked in gen- 389/35 and BC-389/36. This number eral camp maintenance, such as in the provides the origin of the camp’s name forge shop and in the boiler house. On today, “Perm-36.” July 13, 1972, the first 300 prisoners The creation of special camps for were transferred from Mordoviya. dissidents and human rights activists, Although the make-up of the pris- such as Perm-35 and Perm-36, oner population at Perm-36 changed marked a new chapter in Soviet from year to year, about 50% had been attempts to quiet opposition to the convicted of anti-Soviet propaganda, state. The student uprisings in much about 25% had been convicted of trea- of Europe in the late 1960s and the son, and about 25% had been convict- challenges from Soviet Bloc countries, ed of Nazi collaboration during World particularly Czechoslovakia, fostered War II. an awakening among Soviet intellectu- In the early 1970s, the problem of als, many of whom circulated their repeat offenders among dissidents and opposition through the Samizdat human rights activists was relatively (underground press) to fellow Soviet minor. As the decade wore on, howev- citizens and abroad. Their collective er, it became an increasing problem for resistance created a serious problem the Soviet authorities. In their search for the Soviets, both in terms of main- for a new place to provide almost com- taining internal stability and promot- plete isolation for the recidivists, the ing a positive image abroad. authorities identified the former guard Perm-36 was identified as the best barracks near the Perm-36 camp as an place for these dissidents because it ideal location. The building was had been very well secured while used reconstructed and the immediate sur- as a camp for high Soviet officials. The rounding area was reinforced with a high Soviet officials were transferred series of barbed wire and high wooden to a new facility at Nizhniy Taghil in fences topped with watchtowers in

70 The George Wright FORUM 1979. An administration building and ing, and exercised in small pens, checkpoint was constructed, as was a closed boxes lined with metal and cov- barracks for the guards. On March 1, ered with barbed wire, not much larg- 1980, the first 23 or 24 prisoners er than their cells. During the course arrived. Here the prisoners experi- of their term they saw only the other enced almost total isolation for ten- prisoners in their cell and the guards year terms. They lived under the who ushered them from place to place harshest of conditions in cramped within the building (Figure 2). twenty-four-hour-locked cells with Perm-36 ceased operation as a one or three other prisoners, worked labor camp, the last to close in the in small workshops in the same build- Soviet Union, in January 1988.

Figure 2. The guard tower at the maximum security unit. Photo by William Brookover, National Park Service.

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 71 without the narrative intervention of Civic Engagement tour guides, exhibits, or furnished at the Gulag Museum interiors. The museum is lucky to Over the past several years, the have a remarkable understanding of Gulag Museum has developed a num- the site’s history and significance ber of impressive educational pro- already. grams for visitors to the site and for The museum’s director, Victor schools throughout the Perm region. Shmyrov, has clearly articulated one First and foremost, the Gulag key point in developing the desired Museum is a historic site. It uses a real visitor experience: knowledge and place to teach about the history of education must be primary to the totalitarianism and political repression experience, emotion must remain sec- in the former Soviet Union. Drawing ondary. As stated above, visiting the on the three major periods of signifi- Gulag Museum is a truly powerful cance, a rich program of sharing the experience. Visitors, particularly Rus- complex history of the place and dis- sians, often respond emotionally to cussion is presented to the site’s this experience because it brings up 30,000 annual visitors.9 The museum highly charged feelings about the staff sees the site as a vehicle to teach nation’s recent past. There is certainly visitors about the darker side of the a place for emotion and reflection in Soviet past: to understand how a pop- the desired visitor experience, but it ulation is affected living under a totali- cannot be at the sake of educating the tarian system of government. public about the system of political Although they are concerned with repression that permeated Russia such questions as “What happened under the Gulag system. Visitors to here in this place?” they are even more the site are encouraged to discuss, interested in asking “How does a total- debate, and engage the subject matter itarian state affect the individual citi- intellectually as a necessary foil to the zen?” In addressing these questions to emotional reactions the place elicits. Russians today, they ask how the sys- Hard work is already paying off. tem of repression that existed not even The Perm regional government has a generation ago still affects Russian publicly acknowledged its belief that citizens and all of Russia today. the presence of the museum and its The site itself possesses great educational programs the area has power. Even unfurnished and in its positively influenced the democratic present state of incomplete recon- process in the region. More and more struction, it conveys a remarkable teachers want to bring their classes to sense of the power of the state and the the site, and the demand for traveling vulnerability of the individual. The exhibits on the Gulag system has labor camp’s remote location, its Spar- steadily increased. The museum is tan structures, the rows of wooden and now working with the regional govern- barbed wire barriers (fully recon- ment to amend the school curriculum structed in the maximum security to include the repressive history of unit) all convey a powerful story even Soviet Russia and the introduction of

72 The George Wright FORUM liberal democratic values in the nation. enact restrictive codes for African The museum is now collaborating Americans and Jim Crow laws. This with a number of NPS sites to create analogy points to the kind of power an exhibit for American sites to host. the Gulag Museum at Perm-36 con- The exhibit will incorporate civic veys to Russian and international visi- engagement principles in its organiza- tors today. tion—stating questions and encourag- For the group of NPS profession- ing the audience to enter the conversa- als, the visit had tremendous impact, tion. Formal dialogue opportunities even though few of us knew much and educational programs will accom- about the Gulag system and the mil- pany the exhibit to ensure that all visi- lions of people it affected before going tors have an opportunity to engage the on the trip. To hear first-hand from material. those who lived in and survived the system provides an unprecedented Conclusion opportunity for learning and greater It is difficult to articulate in words international understanding. The visit the power conveyed by visiting the was made all that more poignant, museum at Perm-36. Imagine if a when the events of September 11, group of dedicated Americans had 2001, put an exclamation point on our established a historic site museum at a experience. The team had struggled to slave auction site or plantation at the understand how an entire population end of the Reconstruction period in could be controlled by fear. After the 1870s. Imagine the power that learning of the tragedies in New York, experience would have had for visitors Washington, and Pennsylvania per- who had recently been enslaved or haps we had a better understanding of owned slaves. Imagine the kinds of just how that can happen. Thanks to dialogue it could have created. Imag- the efforts of the Gulag Museum at ine the potential impact of such an his- Perm-36, Russia will not forget and it toric site in the country as it moved to will not happen again.

Endnotes 1. Sources: Victor Shmyrov, the museum’s director and a professionally trained historian of 20th-century Russian history,provided most of the detailed information about the camp’s history during inter- views with him and his staff on September 8 and 9, 2001. For contextual information, several published sources were consulted, including Alexander Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Deniso- vich (New York: Bantam Books, 1963); Michael Jakobson, Origins of the Gulag: The Soviet Prison Camp System , 1917-1934 (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky,1993); Galina Mikhailovna Ivanova, Labor Camp Socialism: The Gulag in the Soviet Totalitarian System (Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2000); and Natan Sharansky, Fear No Evil (New York: Random House, 1988). 2. Jakobson, Origins of the Gulag, p. 10; Ivanova, Labor Camp Socialism, p. 12. 3. Ivanova, Labor Camp Socialism, p. xv. 4. Ibid., p. xv. 5. Various terms have been used by the Gulag Museum staff to describe this unit of the camp, including “extraordinarily severe camp,” “extremely severe camp,” “especially severe camp,” and “maximum security camp.” All of these terms except the last sound awkward in the English language. This paper uses the term “maximum security,” even though the facility as it existed at Perm-36 provided much harsher conditions than at any maximum security prisons in the United States. 6. Ibid., p. 111.

Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 73 7. Ibid., pp. 116-117. 8. Ibid., p. 109. 9. This visitation figure was quoted by Shmyrov several times while visiting the U.S. in November 2002. Although about 8,000 people actually visit the camp, 30,000 people are reached annually through programs, traveling exhibits, and museum activities. Visitation projections at the museum suggest that this number may quadruple in the next five years.

Louis P. Hutchins, National Park Service, Northeast Museum Services Center, Charlestown Navy Yard, Building I, 4th Floor, Boston, Massachusetts 02129- 4543; [email protected] Gay E. Vietzke, National Park Service, 200 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania 19106; [email protected] 1

74 The George Wright FORUM About the GWS . . . The George Wright Society was founded in 1980 to serve as a professional association for people who work in protected areas and on public lands. Unlike other organizations, the GWS is not limited to a single discipline or one type of protected area. Our integrative approach cuts across academic fields, agency jurisdictions, and political boundaries. The GWS organizes and co-sponsors a major U.S. conference on research and management of protected areas, held every two years. We offer the FORUM, a quarterly publication, as a venue for discussion of timely issues related to protected areas, including think-pieces that have a hard time finding a home in subject-oriented, peer-reviewed journals. The GWS also helps sponsor outside symposia and takes part in international initiatives, such as lUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas.

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THE GEORGE WRIGHT Volume 19 2002&lt; Number 4

THE GEORGE WRIGHT Volume 19 2002< Number 4