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Contested Memories: Representations of African American Life and Culture in the Museum and Heritage Industry

Ask most scholars about the historical significance of the 1895 Atlanta Cotton Exposition and they would probably cite it as the date and location of Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta “Compromise” speech. It was, however, as Mabel Wilson points out, memorable for another reason. It was the first time in a white-run exposition that African Americans were provided with their own exhibition hall. At the time, this was such a departure from normal practice that it was viewed as arguably the most novel and original feature of the event. ‘“The Paris exposition had its Eiffel tower, the world’s fair its Ferris wheel,’ the Atlanta Constitution observed, ‘but Atlanta had its negro building’” (Wilson, quoted on pp. 30, 61). Although the smallest pavilion in the Exposition, the building still boasted a “vast hall” and “generous aisles” (p. 64). It was “the first ever Negro Building dedicated to the exhibition of black culture in America” and black Americans “in large numbers” came to view its exhibits over the 100-days duration of the Exposition (pp. 69, 82). In a valuable new study, Wilson focuses attention on the now largely forgotten world of late nineteenthand early twentieth-century fairs and expositions. First popularized by the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, in later decades world fairs became both a highly successful form of public entertainment and a way to showcase the economic and cultural achievements of the nations and cities that hosted them. Lasting for as long as six months to a year, the most successful fairs attracted literally millions of visitors from around the world. In the United States, leading architects of the day such as Frederick Law Olmstead and Daniel Burnham were commissioned to design elaborate