Whoa.
Before a few minutes ago, I suppose I lazily held the belief that creative anachronism was, well, a fairly lily-white pastime (and coming from a guy who loves indie rock music, that’s saying a lot). Then I surfed over to the New York Times website and saw this front and center on the main page:
Colonial Williamsburg, for those that don’t know, is one of the world’s most popular tourist attractions, a “living museum” where visitors can see how things were “really” done back in the late 1700s. But until recently, as you might have already guessed, the role of blacks had been ignored or deprecated. The historical theme park took steps to remedy that situation in the 1980s:
It has also meant incorporating something previously ignored. As its Web site puts it: “During the 18th century, half of Williamsburg’s population was black. The lives of the enslaved and free people in this Virginia capital are presented in re-enactments and programs by Colonial Williamsburg’s Department of African American Interpretation and Presentations, founded in 1988.” Black craftsmen and guides are now familiar figures, as are interpreters playing the roles of slaves.
Most of the article is a travel review, but I found it a bit bemusing that CW’s official web site starts working the “equality, freedom, & independence” angle right off the bat. The revolutionary in me (yeah, I have one) is a little upset that the take-home message for most white Americans is probably going to be “yeah, so we made a few mistakes . . . good thing all that’s over now!” But then again, you can’t expect most people to pay to hear about how awful things used to be back in the day. So maybe they’re doing the best they can while making enough money to stay in business. Personally, I’m just happy to see some black folks on the front page of a major newspaper doing something educational for once.
Published on April 5, 2007 at 8:27 pm.
6 Comments.
Filed under black image, history.
