Mitchell Museum Experience

Visiting the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian was a great experience. At first walking into the museum we found there to be many artifacts and examples of the Indians used in their daily lives. Walking around the museum it was nice to see all the items we spoke and read about in class. My first impressions were that the museum would be born but seeing and reading about something is very different and being able to capture the real beauty of Indian lives was a great experience.

Over the weekend, I took the time to explore two museums. The first museum I visited was the D.I.A , also known as the Detroit Institute of Arts. The D.I.A was a very beautiful, multicultural, and unique place. I also took the time to visit and explore the Charles H. Wright Museum of Detroit. Luckily, these museums weren’t too far from each other they were roughly 5-7 minutes apart. The Charles H. Wright Museum was also very beautiful, it was more appealing to me because it is a museum that exhibits and highlights the history of the African American culture. The Charles H. Wright museum also happens to be the largest African American museum in the world.

I learned a lot from this trip. It was an unforgettable moment. I loved that Mr. Bierly presented all the pieces then for a person who was the first time visited a museum, I felt that was the best and even for others then already had been in one .I am very sure, it was better and more instructive. I liked that we could have our time to explore more pieces then tried to apply what Mr. Bierly taught in class. One thing that I experienced in the trip, while he was explaining each pieces of art, I was able to understand then apply my knowledge on it. I really enjoyed time in the

30 students from Ajou University visited the Native American Museum at last Thursday, July 30. Coordinated as part of the summer JHU-SAIS / Ajou Language Immersion program, we could know the history of U.S Native American by descendant. As the descendant of Native American, Kandra guided inspection. In the museum, we could know a lot of tribes, their flags, the history of Native American, and their remains.

On my visit to the Japanese American Museum I learned plenty of History from a culture that I would have never pictured myself going into depth with. I learned of the roots of the Japanese, religion, and injustices that they faced throughout decades. Within all this I also learned what was the communities way of communication.

The fascination with Native Americans has been a constant with outsiders since explorers first “discovered” the New World. The biggest surge in this fascination came in the mid-19th century when the Indian Wars were starting to come to an end and the belief that Native Americans were disappearing, walking into the sunset never to be seen again. This led to an increase in the collecting of anything Native American, from artifacts to stories to portraits. The inevitable outcome of this was that Native Americans, who were never considered very highly to begin with, where now moved into a category of scientific interest to be study. This scientific interest in Native Americans is what many museums and other institutions based their collections and exhibits on and is one of the issues that many Native Americans have with how both their people and their culture were, and to some extent still are, represented in these places.

The museum was celebrating “Family Day” as well as Hispanic Heritage Month, so Annabelle and I were able to enjoy all the special activities that were being held. She was able to partake in all the art making activities e.g. drawing and painting different objects with different media. After Annabelle was finished, we watched the Sones de Mexico, a group of Hispanic children from all around the bay area. The group of dancers performed traditional dances from all over the different regions of Mexico. The dances were honestly astounding and beautiful to watch. All the time and effort that those young children put in, just to learn the dances is remarkable. Furthermore, the fact that they are working so diligently to keep their heritage alive and thriving here in the US is inspiring.

On October 9, 2015 I went to the Smithsonian, National Museum of African Art along with attending the Million Man March down in Washington D.C. The experiences were wonderful and I was very excited to be at both events. While at the museum I took two tours one at 10 am that was led by a woman named Nkechi Obi. She talked about docent African Arts. The next one was shortly after at11 am that was led by a teen ambassador named Nicholas Stewart, who was very intelligent. He talked about numerous pieces throughout the museum that had some significance to younger minds so I found that very helpful. After the tour I spent some time down at the mall in DC in which faced the Capitol. This was the Million Man March that was a very popular event that brought out many people. I would describe both events as lectures that were powerful and time put to good use.

The Robert Russa Moton Museum, is located in Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia. In 1939 it was known as Robert Russa Moton High School. It was a single-story brick building that contained six classrooms and a small auditorium. The building was holding about five-hundred students yet it was built to only hold one-hundred and eighty students. This was a school for African Americans students only. The large well equipped whites only Farmville High School served as a reminder to the students of Moton High School that it was separate but definitely not equal. There were many major differences between the two high schools. In Monton High School they were forced to learn in shack like buildings that lacked a proficient heating source. The

The Museum included photos and information about the cultures and the history of Tucson. It was fascinating to see how people lived back in the day and compare it to now. It also had ancient artifacts from back in the day such as ancient cars, dresses, utensils, machines, beds and etc. Seeing the artifacts was very interesting to me because it enhances knowledge of their culture. The museum preserves artifacts of historical significance for the future generation.

For the History Museum paper, we took a trip to the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. It was interesting that the tour guide asked who has been there before and I was only one of three people who raised their hand. Nobody knowing I was born and raised in Philadelphia, I have been to the Penn Museum only once when I was younger. I was actually pretty excited to go again and see what has changed since I have been there.

To start off, a Natural History Museum is usually a place where the public can visit to obtain knowledge on the history of the earth and its inhabitants. Much about people’s culture and customs is found in a Natural History museum, especially people that have made a difference or played a role in history that we learn today. Therefore, the Indigenous peoples are represented in these precise museums. The indigenous people have various amount of customs that are even used today, however, the fact that many of their descriptions are led by the word “histor” or “ancient” almost makes the guests at museums believe that these indigenous people are no longer alive, and that is incorrect. The key objective for a Natural History museum is to simply help connect the understanding of human beings, connections based on culture, communities, to the earth and to each other. Precisely, The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles does not fully represent in depth the qualities that made the indigenous people so innovative, intelligent, and powerful; Therefore, the importance of the indigenous people is almost overshadowed by everything else that is presented at the museum. Overall, the indigenous people are represented here because of their

Upon arrival, I was informed that the museum is divided by Tribes and the regions in which each tribe was located. The museum is divided into Alaska/Canada, Northwest Coast, Southwest, Plains, and Woodlands. The reason I think it is divided this way is so that every person who visits has the ability to learn about each region of tribes separately. It is easy to make assumptions that Native Americans were all the same, but the truth is that they were all unique. Each tribe has their own customs, clothing, food, and ways of life. Another captivating aspect of the museum are their display cases, filled with pottery and artifacts of each tribe.

For my first of two field experiences I chose to visit the San Diego History Center located at Balboa Park down in San Diego. There were numerous different exhibits that were on display at the time all relating to the some aspect of the history of San Diego. Most of the exhibits had to do with the roles that different ethnic groups played in the history of San Diego. Some of the groups represented included African Americans, Japanese, and Jewish people. There was another exhibit called “Lore Behind the Roar” which gave detailed information and history regarding the San Diego Zoo. There were also displace of menus from the San Diego Area that dated back to WWII and before.

When the Europeans arrived in North America, they brought several new materials and items that the Native Americans were not accustomed to. Things such as beads and glass became common components of Native American artwork. Before the Europeans, the Natives relied on everyday perishable items like wood and fiber. They would also use hides from animals and quills as well. The later artworks of the Indians had a "daily life" theme to a degree. They would implement their art into things like baskets, clothing, headdresses and tools. The sky, underworld and earth all had great meaning to the Native Americans and all three were very evident in most of their works. Many of the headdresses could only be worn by proven warriors and they were