On January 12–13, the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM), St. Paul, participated in a two-day symposium, “A New National Dialogue on Race,” in Washington, D.C. The event, co-sponsored by the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and the Congressional Black Caucus, consisted of four panels of experts from academia, civil rights organizations, and museums, designed to look at race through the lenses of science, history, and lived experience. In the opening panel, Johnetta Cole, executive director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, urged leaders to “define their diversity vision, not focusing on what they’re against, but articulating what they’re for.”Portions of RACE: Are We So Different?, a traveling exhibition developed by SMM in collaboration with AAA, were on display during the symposium and provided a basis for discussions. The exhibition tells the stories of race from biological, cultural, and historical points of view. Eric Jolly, president of SMM, also moderated a panel on “Racial Disparities: Are U.S. Policies Addressing or Entrenching Disadvantage?”
About the image: SMM staff members brought RACE: Are We So Different? to Capitol Hill for “A New National Dialogue on Race.” Photo by Christine Ruffo