Shaping Inclusive Narratives:
DEAI Initiatives in Smithsonian Affiliate Programming
Museum
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Big Ideas
Showcasing affiliate programs with a social justice and DEAI focus
Insights into shaping dynamic community monuments and fostering historical dialogues
JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM
A social justice-focused museum creates a point of community pilgrimage
Irei: National Monument for the World War II Japanese American Incarceration at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) in Los Angeles addresses the erasure of the identities of individuals of Japanese ancestry who experienced wartime incarceration. The project comprises three monuments: the Ireichō, a sacred book of names; Ireizō, a website; and Ireihi, light sculptures.
The Ireicho, for the first time, gathers the names of over 125,000 persons of Japanese ancestry who were incarcerated in the US Army, Department of Justice, Wartime Civil Control Administration, and War Relocation Authority camps. JANM has put out a public call for survivors to stamp their names and for families to stamp the name of their ancestors in the book. The covers of this sacred book of names are composed of ceramic pieces made of soil samples from 75 former incarceration sites. The Ireizō lists these names online and is searchable by name, birth year, and camp.
In designing interactions that explore and retouch trauma with care, JANM hosted a ceremony for community members whose families were held at the incarceration sites, which included religious leaders across many faiths. JANM also implemented a reservation system, where visitors provide names in advance and can schedule a time to visit the book without being hurried. This was an intensive effort for staff, but worth it. “We didn’t realize how intensive it would be,” says Ann Burroughs, President and CEO of JANM, “but it’s been important for us to give families that moment to come in and be with the book, to be with themselves, and to have that moment for healing multi-generational trauma and for making a deep connection to their family history. It’s really rethinking about JANM not as a museum but as a point of pilgrimage.”
Japanese American National Museum
HISTORY COLORADO
A history museum focused on inviting, not placing, perspective
When the Civil War monument, On Guard, was toppled amid Black Lives Matter protests in Denver in the summer of 2020, History Colorado decided to put the monument on display, framing and inviting constructive conversation. Jason Hanson, Chief Creative Officer and Director of Interpretation and Research at History Colorado, shares that there was much disagreement surrounding the toppling of the monument, and they decided that it was not History Colorado’s role to determine the meaning of the monument. Says Hanson, “We invited a range of stakeholders, tribal representatives, veterans, artists, and activists, whoever we could think of, to tell us: what does it mean to you? What did it mean to you? And that’s our interpretation. We let it speak for itself.”
With the toppled monument, visitors are invited to have a conversation amongst themselves. They’re invited to leave their thoughts on whether monuments are needed and what monuments mean. “There’s been this incredibly and delightfully robust conversation,” says Hanson, “mediated through post-it notes, of people writing in very tiny scrawl, a well-thought-out answer to the question, then someone else drawing an arrow to that post-it and writing their response. It’s been affirming to see.”
“We were ready for pushback,” says Hanson, “but it didn’t materialize. Beyond our wildest hopes, it seems that people have been receptive to understanding that this is how someone else sees it. They may not agree with it, but they can see it.”
We’re a history museum, and we’re playing the long game. We want to reach everybody, and we want to reach them in a way that will help them decide to join in on this more unified effort to create a better future together.
History Colorado
FRAZIER HISTORY MUSEUM
A previous gun museum increases efforts in DEAI and invites community conversation.
The Frazier History Museum of Louisville, Kentucky, began as the Frazier Historical Arms Museum in 2004. In 2017, Frazier initiated an intentional rebranding with the new slogan, “Where the world meets Kentucky,” focusing on all things Kentucky. Louisville also became a center of protests in the US in 2020 following the death of Breonna Taylor, with the Frazier located on the corner of Ninth Street—a street historically seen as separating two halves of Louisville.
Andy Treinen, President and CEO of the Frazier, cited a need to reach and serve new and diverse audiences as “the right thing to do and the smart thing to do.” “Our audience here has changed drastically,” says Treinen. “Losing the brand of a gun museum was an important thing. We don’t get much ’you’re the gun museum’ anymore, but that had to be done through some careful and well-thought-out messaging, suppliers, vendors, and contractors. People must be able to see themselves inside, or they won’t come here.”
In the last several years, Frazier has made a concerted effort to focus on DEAI in operations, programs, and special projects, resulting in growing representation in staff, vendors, and visitors.
In 2019, the Frazier initiated Let’s Talk | Bridging the Divide, hosting community conversations around topics of significance to the local community, and emphasizing issues impacting the immediate neighborhoods where the Frazier is located. Hosted by the museum’s Director of Community Engagement, these discussions are non-partisan and feature community members. Past programs have included the Chief of Public Safety, the President of the League of Women Voters Louisville, mayoral candidates, local Representatives, and others. All recordings are available here.
In May 2023, the Frazier was awarded the American Alliance of Museums Recognition for the Advancement of DEAI Award.
It’s taking this politically divided America that we live in and trying to provide a safe space for conversation, where maybe you can move the needle a little bit by understanding what the other side fears—which is usually where that digging in comes from.
History Colorado
Convening its first DEAI committee
Treinen shares that Frazier has a committee that informs all DEAI efforts at the museum. The committee includes a representative from each department involved in storytelling, from exhibits to marketing to vendor relations. Treinen was taken off the committee as an intentional decision for the effort to be driven by staff.
A DEAI statement to unite two ends of the spectrum
Treinen describes the need for a DEAI statement and strategy that can unite both the staff and the board. “I serve a pretty conservative board and a pretty liberal staff,” shares Treinen. “That’s just the nature of the folks that work here. So we wanted to connect those two things together. With this DEAI statement, we define this.”
“We need to grow our audience and meet more people, and this is one way we’re doing this. The board recognizes that and has been in favor of it; do they love every program we’ve ever done, the way every story has been told? I doubt it. But I’ve had equal pushback from our liberal staff that we’re not going far enough.”
Room for growth: a diverse board
Treinen highlights areas for improvement, including building a diverse board. The effects extend to receiving foundation support and communicating with new audiences.
“You cannot have a board of directors that is not diverse and hope that you’re going to get any significant funding from foundations,” says Treinen. “It’s required with many of these foundation grants, and we can’t exist without getting some funding from outside sources. More importantly, it gives you different perspectives, different networks—how are you communicating to your audience?”
Inviting in new audiences through free memberships
The Frazier launched a free membership program from October 2020 to October 2021 for the Louisville community and those living in surrounding counties.
“I thought we’d get 500, 1,000 people to sign up,” says Treinen. “The first day, we had 20,000 people sign up. Ultimately, we had 38,000 people sign up for their free membership. We wanted to get into some neighborhoods where people weren’t traditionally coming to museums,” says Treinen. “Economics has always played a part in people coming to the museum.”
I’m not naive to think we always get it right. Sometimes we’re going to make mistakes as folks do. But we’re going to try to evolve, to learn, and if we need to make changes, we make changes.
Frazier History Museum
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