Learning With: ‘What’s Wrong With This Diorama? You Can Read All About It’

Q1 I think in the picture the Indians are giving to the Dutch. But in real life the Dutch was most likely stilling from the Indians. In the picture the Dutch look and act like they have more power then the Indians. In real life the have power,resoures,clothes,bouts and more In the models the women are in the back ground. But in real life the are most likely helping the men negotiating

This solution may work on an intellectual level, but the schoolchildren and many viewing the modified exhibit are still absorbing, on a gut level, all that the images show. Far better to have changed the diorama itself—allowed children to absorb images of formally dressed leaders, active women and potentially hostile Dutch, while posting an image of the old one alongside it with all these notes.

The abhorrent and savage murder of Native populations in the Americas was the initial and damning sin of Western civilizations on the continent, and both its evil and its significance to human history truly cannot be understated. The colonization of the Americas saw the greatest mass extinction in human history, easily outclassing by its contemporary proportions those of the Mongol conquest of Eurasia and the Holocaust, at an estimate of 80-95% of the native population (with many modern historians preferring estimates closer to or eclipsing the latter) being killed massacred across the period between 1492 and 1612. This damning act of mass violence was predicated on the total dehumanization of natives and the devaluing of their lives, being, and culture. Despite advanced accuracy of the current Western knowledge of American histories and cultures, the prevailing view of Natives is still as superstitious savages without substantial advancement, morality, or culture. This has always been manufactured to excuse this initial sin, and in depriving Native culture of representation and history it is imperative we recognize that we are actively perpetrating an act of continued violence on both a personal and cultural value. Only through accountability for and information on violence, effective education on Native culture and heritage, and proper and genuine reparations of land, resources, and culture to native communities can we begin to even move towards ethical action.

I think that it is important that all groups are represented accurately in a museum curated to give insight into "Natural History" in America. The name of the museum is important because Native American interactions with European settlers is a significant part of American history, that is, these interactions shaped the white-dominated society we live in today. In other words, white people acted as if they were superior then and, unless they hear out the Native American population that claims historical inaccuracy in the diorama, are doing the same now.

The creation of dialogue in regards to the inaccuracies shown within the diorama is important in showing the way people are changing. History is often written by the victors, so there are many inaccuracies in how certain events are portrayed especially when the victor group wants to show their own dominance. By pointing out how the way women and power are presented within the piece are just flat out wrong people are forced to reconsider how they learned about history. I know in school when we've talked about Native Americans we rarely talk about their culture and their civilization prior to European colonization. Rather than erasing the narrative and leaving an image of subservience, the museum if functioning to force views to think deeper about what they have obeserved and what they have been taught.

In the article, it said that many things that were wrong with the original diorama had been acknowledged and written on the glass, but since there were so many, not all of them made in one there. This shows how much people's perspectives differed between the 1930's (when the diorama was created) and now. However, even today, there are people who have that same narrow-minded perspective of Native Americans and their history. I believe most of it comes from schools and how white-washed our education can be about Native Americans, all just to downplay all of the horrible, violent things they went through when colonizers came to America. Even I temporarily had that old perspective as well, and only recently in high school did I finally get a full lesson on how inaccurate that perspective was.

Displaying the inaccuracies and biases that we as a country and culture used to hold is important in recognizing and moving on. Showing people that these misconceptions about Native American and settlers' relationships are a necessary step to understand how things actually happened. The reality is far more complex and nuanced than a diorama can possibly display, so by reframing a common misconception, people are forced to deduce and a more real version on events.

The museum could have easily torn down the exhibit and rebuilt a more accurate version, but honestly there's a lot of history in our inaccuracies as well. To simply correct them without explaining and understanding why they were incorrect would be repressing the misrepresentation instead of conversing about the issue and making it known. By pointing out inaccuracies, viewers gain an understanding of not only what life was like between the Dutch and the Lenape but also a new understanding of some historical inaccuracies that were once held as truth.

I think that the way in which the American Museum of Natural History responded to the backlash and negative reactions to the diorama was appropriate and smart. Rather than completely eliminating the entire diorama, they kept it. I think it's important to keep the diorama considering how much history it offers just by showing how we as a society used to portray and view native people back in 1939. By adding a glass panel with captions and labels to help us better understand where we had gone wrong in our socialization of native people helps to show how the museum wants to progress with us and end these stereotypes and assumptions. Cultural representation matters because it eliminates any prejudices and borders between cultural groups. It's important that we eliminate these cultural hierarchies so that we may all speak on the same level of understanding and perspective, and also to better any disconnections between us. If we cannot talk as equals in our society, we cannot progress as a society.

I think it is better for Native Americans to be seen as how they are today. Many things have changed during the past years, and I think it is wrong to continue showing Native Americans as they were in the past because that will make some people think that they have not evolved with the rest of the world.

No history can be 100% accurate, no history can be 100% objective. We write history to make sense of why the world is the way it is. It's not that our history books are full of lies, it's just that like any book, piece of art, etc... the truth only lies in what the creator sees and what they want you to see. Back when this diorama was made, we had a different culture, history was written largely for white people and when you only get one groups take on the way things are, you are bound to get a few things wrong. Today because minority communities have a lot more visibility, we are beginning to try to write history for them too. We see them as part of the national story and when we do that we come to the realization that the way we tell our history and how it led us to a certain point does not correlate with the conditions of all the people we want to recognize in society. I like what they did here, if they were to take down the diorama, they would have been ignoring their mistakes. Instead, they are trying to better understand where they went wrong and show how only telling one interpretation of history can produce harmful stereotypes. They engaged in a conversation, allowing us to move forward with a more accurate view of history that includes everyone who was involved.

Though it's important that the museum recognized their mistake and asked viewers to reconsider the image they're seeing, there is still a cultural hierarchy being portrayed. A viewer may be able to recall the image of the historically inaccurate indigenous people but may not recall the fact that they were not portrayed fairly. The diorama perpetuates an image of white supremacy and burns it into people's minds so they continue to believe that interactions between Dutch settlers and indigenous people were never of the same power or cultural dynamic.

I think that adding new labels is fitting for today's society in order to combat stereotypes, but museums should add many additional accurate exhibits (not just "fixing" old ones). However, I am not indigenous, so neither I nor any one person can speak for their community. I am not as affected by these inaccurate, offensive displays, but that does not mean others aren't, and their anger is both justified and important. Although the corrections have big labels, people first see the stereotypical, inaccurate image that fits their mistaken beliefs. Even with the label, these big displays still enforce to some degree the stereotypes. Some may walk by the label entirely. To truly combat these stereotypes, we need to get rid of these inaccuracies and replace them with real scenes, not just slap a band-aid on a bullet hole. Cultural representation is essential because entire groups of people were and are affected by the perceived hierarchy in society, particularly by race. Knowing about the extent of their history, humanizing them, and sharing their current stories is important because people are unable to hold biases or stereotypes when confronted with the truth. The victor was and still is white people, and they write their history as such. Although writing objective history is hard because every person is subject to bias towards their own identity and communities, open mindsets and an active effort to make space for other views is more important.