Walking beside Walker

The Maggie Walker National Historic Sight was made available to the public in 1985, located in the historic Jackson Ward. The central attraction for this multiple building sight is the home of Maggie Walker, preserved with about 90% of its original furniture, left in the exact condition it was in right up to the time of Walker’s death in 1934. The house was definitely the highlight of the visit for me, as it seemed the most genuine and authentic part of the entire sight. Being guided by a tour guide in small groups was very beneficial as it was clear that our guide had a passion for the impact Walker left on the African American community is the fields of education, socioeconomic class, and the overall leadership and “self help” that she promoted throughout her life. Walker was a member of the Independent Order of St. Luke, which was a group that dealt with issues of race, gender, and socioeconomic status, issues that hit close to home for Walker, as she was a black female born into a time when both were discriminated against. She later became the Grand Secretary-Treasurer for the Order, a promotion that led her on her path to being the first African-American woman in America to start a bank, serving as bank president for almost 30 years, then moving to become the chairman of the board. Maggie Walker was a fierce advocate for education and self-help leadership, especially for young African-American children and women, and fought to secure rights to these advantages for the betterment of her people.

My experience as the Historic Sight got off to a rocky start when I encountered the receptionist and received some information pamphlets. He gave me these packets of information, but not before he had to cross out and correct multiple mistakes printed inside of them. These mistakes ranged anywhere from the misplacement of text captions on the wrong photographs in the pamphlet, to a picture labeled as Maggie Walker but was actually a photo of her granddaughter, even to the year Walker was born, misprinted as 1867, when she was actually born in 1864. For a museum dedicated entirely to this woman’s life, I was a bit dismayed at these important factual errors, which was reinforced after viewing a short film on her life. The guide claimed that the film was narrated by Walker herself, as it was audio from a speech she gave to young black children. But when I heard the same factual errors that were crossed out from my information pamphlets, I once again questioned the authenticity of the sight, and it affected my visit throughout the rest of the tour.

My visit improved however once we entered Walker’s house. The tour guide painted a very detailed picture of the significance of the room we were standing in. Because most of the furniture and other artifacts had not been moved, and were preserved just as Walker had left them, I felt as if I was standing among the shadows of great leaders and influential people in history, including Maggie Walker. To walk through the same rooms as this amazing woman who paved a path of leadership and education, demonstrated by her extensive personal library, really brought me back into a state of respect and admiration for Walker and really impressed me with how well the historic site preserved not only the objects in the house, but presented them in a way to create such respect and the feeling that Walker might even have just left the room I was standing in.

Her bedroom was also very telling of her personal character. It was adorned with many paintings, crosses and crucifixes, bibles, and other religious references, which spoke to her dedication to her faith. This was interesting intertextually with the film I viewed at the beginning of my visit, which told a story of her first time going to church, which didn’t happen through her family, but through an invitation to Sunday school from a friend. This visit was her first, even though the church was only two blocks away from her house, but it made quite an impact on how Walker lived her life from then on, so it was fun to see the finished development of her faith laid out by the way her bedroom was decorated. At the conclusion of the tour, taking in the entire mansion as a whole, it really is a remarkable, tangible account of Maggie Walker’s journey from being a young black girl born into poverty, to becoming a true leader built on the pillars of faith, education, and self-help, a concept taught to her through church and personal experience in a time of prejudice and intolerance.

So while my visit didn’t exactly begin the way I had expected it to, it certainly came together at the end and took me on my own journey through the life of Maggie L. Walker, who left a legacy all women should attempt to exemplify.

The Superficiality of the White House of the Confederacy

The White House of the Confederacy on East Clay Street.

One of the major issues in studies of remembering and forgetting is a tension between what is revealed and what is concealed. As Lawrence J. Prelli discusses in his Rhetorics of Display, “Even skeptical acts of ‘decipherment and unmasking’ depend upon perspectives that necessarily foreclose alternative possible meanings even as they disclose purported truths and, thus, conceal as well as reveal. There is, to put it directly, no way to see that which is displayed as it really is, unencumbered by our own partial points of view” (Prelli, 10). The White House of the Confederacy, located in conjunction with the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond VA, posits a fascinating look at the center of the Confederacy during the Civil War, not only through the message of the exhibit, but even more so through what the exhibit chooses not to address. Visitors to the White House of the Confederacy looking for justifications or apologies for the mission of the Confederacy will be disappointed as the house tells a decidedly superficial tale of the Davis family’s decorating choices and wealth during their time in the White House.

Visitors to the White House of the Confederacy begin their journey in the un-restored basement of the house. The tour then works its way up the next two floors, not venturing up to the attic/third floor area. From the very first stop on the tour in the lobby, the decoration contemporary to the time of the Civil War was pointed out- floor tiling, false marble wallpaper, statues and crown molding. Our tour guide Bryce went into great detail about the two statues of drama and comedy, original to the house. In passing, Bryce mentioned the Davis family’s ‘rented slaves,’ in the capacity that they would answer the door and chauffer guests in. The tour continued to the formal dining room, the men’s parlor, the women’s parlor, and the intimate library. Like the front lobby, Bryce discussed the original China in the dining room, authentic porcelain statues in the parlors, and the intimate setting of the library. What I was left to desire was more information on Bryce’s brief mentions of battle-planning meetings in the dining room and Jefferson Davis’s meeting with Abraham Lincoln in the intimate library.

Upstairs, the tour continued with Jefferson Davis’s office, the bedroom and the nursery. In an even more intimate part of the house, the details of the family’s tastes and lifestyles were given even more attention. I learned that Mrs. Davis was outspoken to a fault, that the couple had a double bed, and the stories of the five children. While it was indeed interesting and a valuable insight into the history of the city of Richmond to see so many genuine artifacts, I expected a much different story from the White House of the Confederacy, a story that took a strong stand either on apologizing for past wrong-doings of the South or on defending the ideals of the Confederacy.

The approach of focusing on the details of style and day-to-day family life reminded me of the article “Spaces of Remembering and Forgetting: The Reverent Eye/I at the Plains Indian Museum” by Greg Dickinson, Brian L. Ott & Eric Aoki. These authors analyze the Plains Indians Museum and its use of the ‘rhetoric of reverence.’ While the White House of the Confederacy does not aim to necessarily ‘revere’ the practices and cultures of the South during the Civil War, it employs several other factors of the rhetoric of reverence. Dickinson, Ott & Aoki say, “The social guilt associated with the violent colonization of the West is assuaged by a discourse of reverence, which erects a new social hierarchy in which respect for and celebration of difference becomes the valued social virtue” (Dickinson, Ott, & Aoki, 29). It seems that the message of the White House of the Confederacy aims to assuage the guilt of the South indirectly by distancing itself from its own history. The critics of the Plains Indian Museum go on to discuss modes of looking at history, and it seems to me that the White House of the Confederacy aims to look through what Dickinson, Ott & Aoki call ‘anthropological looking.’ They say, “The museum invites the visitor first and foremost to identify with (even become) the scientist and the curator. Identifying with the professional analyst helps the visitor keep the native Other at a distance and thereby hold the tragedy of colonization at a distance as well” (Dickinson, Ott & Aokie, 35). In the same way, the White House of the Confederacy attempts to hold its own ‘Other’ (or the African Americans wronged by slavery) at a distance by making visitors feel like their own anthropologists in studying design, fashion, and customs of the era.

The White House of the Confederacy takes an interesting approach to issues that history of the South constantly face- issues of guilt, apology and justification. Through the White House of the Confederacy, these issues are pushed aside and avoided by a strong focus on respecting and understanding the practices of the wealthy at the time. While visitors looking for answers or reason regarding the history of the Confederacy will leave wanting more, the White House of the Confederacy paints a lovely picture of Richmond, Virginia during the late 1800’s.

Robin Hawbaker

RHCS 490 Capstone

WORKS CITED

Dickinson, Greg, Brian Ott, and Eric Aoki. "Spaces of Remembering and Forgetting: The Reverent Eye/I at the Plains Indian Museum." Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 3.1 (2006): 27-47.

Prelli, Lawrence J. Rhetorics of Display. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, 2006.

"The Museum of the Confederacy: Visit the White House of the Confederacy." The Museum of the Confederacy:. The Museum of the Confederacy. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. <http://www.moc.org/site/PageServer?pagename=visit_wh_main>.

Bland and Non-Controversial: The Museum of The Confederacy’s exhibit

     The Museum of The Confederacy contains, “the world’s most comprehensive collection of artifacts, manuscripts, and photographs from the Confederate States of America”[i] and aims to transport visitors “back in time”[ii] through three exhibits: The Confederate Years: The Southern Military in the Civil War, Between the Battles and The War Comes Home. Perhaps because of its geographic location in downtown Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, this museum’s omission of slavery is designed to skirt political, racial and economic controversy.

     As one enters the museum, an elderly gentleman at the information desk provides visitors with a quick overview of what exhibits are currently on display as well as which floor they are located. This gentleman suggests that one should first enter the exhibit The Confederate Years. After viewing this exhibit, he indicates it is up to the visitor to precede either upstairs to the exhibit Between the Battles or to the bottom floor exhibit The War Come Home. In this museum there is no clear route.

       As a visitor proceeds to the main floor exhibit The Confederate Years, a large cannon greets them. Once past this cannon, the purpose of this exhibit is posted: “The Confederate Years is a year-by-year introduction to Confederate Military history . . . as well as highlights artifacts, photographs and documents in The Museum of the Confederacy’s permanent collections ”[iii] Upon entrance to the exhibit, one encounters questions such as, “Why Succession? Why War?” Then the step-by-step order of battles beings. The only way one knows where to head to next is by looking at the dates of each battle. There is no clear structure that encourages the museumgoer to go in any particular direction because the showcases are plentiful. The overload of showcases could leave a museumgoer puzzled. The showcases structures are also not only repetitive in their structure but also in their organization of artifacts and clothing. Also, each artifact is followed by a one-sentence description that offers nothing more than the date and name of the artifact. This exhibit was mundane, oversimplified, and confusing in structure – thus providing the visitor with nothing more than a summed up version of the Civil War – with the notable omission of slavery.

     As one leaves The Confederate Years exhibit, one then has the choice of which exhibit he or she will journey through next. One option is to precede upstairs to the exhibit: Between the Battles. The purpose of this exhibit is to, “explore the daily life of the Confederate Soldier when not in battle.”[iv] This exhibit does not pose questions to guide museumgoers through the exhibit but rather uses large red text markers to present subjects such as Infantry, Artillery, and Field Music to attract the museumgoer’s attention. The organization of this exhibit although unclear, is not confusing, but allows one to proceed from one topic to the next depending on his or her interest. The variety of artifacts in this exhibit seem to come alive, as they are not repetitive but rather personal -- possibly making the museumgoer feel as if he or she can identify with the soldiers. Whereas, in the previous exhibit, the visitor could feel as if every battle, commander, and event is glossed over and devoid of any personal connection.

     The exhibit The War Comes Home is located on the bottom floor and addresses how the war affected those on the home front. This exhibit is divided into three categories: The Last Meeting of Lee & Jackson, The War Comes Home, and Knickknacks. The first section of this exhibit features a large painting of Lee and Jackson followed by four brief descriptions. Then one moves into The War Comes Home section and is overwhelmed by all the artifacts descriptions. This part of the exhibit seems to be unorganized and features everything from paperwork on John LittleJohn, suing the government, to showcasing women’s mourning clothing, children’s clothing, and educational books. This exhibits artifacts seemed less authentic because these items were not solely specific to just the war coming home.

 

     The final section of this exhibit is comical – not only in its purpose but also in its content. Knickknacks as stated in its purpose features random artifacts from the Confederate years. However it seems as if this exhibit is an afterthought to showcase artifacts such as prosthetic arms, scrapbooks, and jewelry to fill an extra space. The exhibit has nothing to do with the preceding exhibits other than that these artifacts are from the same time period. 

     Upon reflection about The Museum of the Confederacy, I was disappointed in the lack of varied artifacts and in the venues through which they were featured. Not a single piece of technology was used to provide a voiceover or movie in order for the museum’s artifacts and purpose to come alive. Rather, the museum used repetitive glass showcases to memorialize the Confederacy. Also, the structure of the museum seemed misguided. For example, The Confederate Years exhibit, which featured battles of the Confederacy, was the shortest exhibit and also most cluttered. Whereas The Between the Battles exhibit, with more space, left museumgoers at ease when perusing the exhibit. This left me questioning which exhibit the museum deemed most important?  The Museum of the Confederacy also does not mention slavery  — which is certainly a bland and non-controversial approach. The exhibit I found most interesting and thought provoking was Between The Battles. This exhibit did a nice job not only spatially but also in the choice of materials to showcase. All in all, The Museum of the Confederacy did not provide a fair representation of the Civil War nor detailed enough descriptions. It also did not have a clear structure and left too much of the responsibly to learn about the Confederacy with the museumgoer. I would suggest this museum invest more time and money into not only the details of The Confederacy but also into technology so the visitor is supported, interested, and guided through the museum. 

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i. The Museum of the Confederacy 

ii.  Ibid

iii. ibid

iv. ibid

The Confederate Years: A Simple Telling of a Complicated Story

The Museum of the Confederacy, opened in 1896 by the daughters, wives, and sisters of members of the Confederate army, is set nestled away in the heart of the Virginia Commonwealth University, piggybacking Broad Street in downtown Richmond, Virginia. Although not a very large museum in comparison to the Virginia Museum of Fine Art or the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., the MOC boasts of “containing the world's most comprehensive collection of artifacts, manuscripts, and photographs from the Confederate States of America.”1 In addition, the website promises to “transport [you] back in time as you wander past "Stonewall" Jackson's forage cap, J.E.B. Stuart's LeMat pistol, and Robert E. Lee's field tent. Learn about lesser-known topics like the daily lives of common soldiers, life on the home-front, and the Confederate Navy.”2 With promises such as these, one would expect to walk into the MOC and be blown away by the sheer number of artifacts it has on display, and the interweaving of history and story to give a well-rounded view of life in the Confederate South. Although the MOC does ultimately fulfill this promise, it is necessary to visit three separate exhibits on three separate floors in order to see all aspects of Confederate life, which leaves the visitor feeling lost and confused about what exactly the museum finds important to share with its audience. 

Through the front doors of the Museum of the Confederacy, there is a large atrium with the welcome desk on the left, and a small open room on the right that houses the gift shop. The visitor is informed that the main exhibit, The Confederate Years: The Southern Military in the Civil War, is straight at the back of the atrium and the tour is self guided. The exhibit begins with a large slate-blue wall with only a few placards upon this wall, and is directly next to the bathroom walkway, which gives the impression that this exhibit was a second thought and had been placed haphazardly into this portion of the museum because it was the only space left. As the visitor gets closer to the beginning of the exhibit, they notice a full-sized replica of a Civil War era canon, which is about the most exciting piece of the whole exhibit. Wandering through the twists and turns of the exhibit provides endless text about the battles that were fought during the war, their outcome, and the repercussions of said outcome. However, each placard is less exciting than the one before, and written with such lack of enthusiasm that the visitor quickly loses interest in reading them altogether, instead relying on the bold print and the artifacts to tell the story.

In a traditional museum, relying on the artifacts to tell a story would be a valid and highly educational experience; however, at the MOC, I found that the random array of artifact, the little information provided about each item, and the substitution of real artifact with replicated pieces was disappointing and gave very little information about the people who fought for the South. The organization of The Confederate Years exhibit takes the visitor chronologically through each battle fought, but the artifacts that accompanied this story seem to have been randomly picked up off the ground and assigned to a historical member of the Confederacy so as to gain more attention and more validity for the object. The true artifacts they had seemed to be placed in each case as an afterthought, and do little to tell the story of Confederate life or the progression of the war. Additionally, because there are so few artifacts within this exhibit, each case seems empty and bland, while there are large spaces of wall that have absolutely nothing on them except the same drab slate-blue paint that encompasses the entire exhibit.

  As a born and bred member of the Union who attends school in the Confederate capital of the south, I wanted to learn about the famous Confederate generals who I had heard about in passing while learning about the Civil War and who are memorialized on Monument Avenue in Richmond. However, what I found in the MOC was a brief overview of “Stonewall” Jackson and Robert E. Lee, and only in relation to the battles that they fought in. If the visitor had not known who they were before and why they are so important to the battles that the Confederate Army won during the war, then they would have no more of an idea about them after going through the exhibit and reading every plaque. Their names seemed to be thrown into various cases to garner excitement about certain battles or to say that the artifacts the MOC has on display are important artifacts because they came from Lee and Jackson. 

            Overall, the Museum of the Confederacy did provide minimal information about the Civil War, but it was apparent that not only was there a remaining bitterness over the loss of the war, but a lack of enthusiasm in telling the story from the point of view of the Confederates. I focused my critique on the main exhibit that is advertised by the museum, but I also toured the two other exhibits in the museum which include The War Comes Home and Between the Battles which show what life beyond the active fighting was life. These two other exhibits provided more information about what Confederate life was actually like, which was something I was expecting the main exhibit to feature. The director of the museum had the opportunity to combine these three different exhibits that are housed in the museums four walls into one cohesive exhibit to explain all aspects of the Confederacy, but the organized separation of the life of the soldiers, women and children, and then the battles of the war, provide the visitor with the sense that these three aspects of Confederate life never interfered with each other, and had nothing to do with the success or life of the other. Had the MOC combined the three exhibits into one, there would be less blank space, a better distribution of artifacts, and a complete story that had a shared enthusiasm for how the Confederacy changed history by banding together and fighting for what they though was right, instead of the resigned feeling that the dark and gloomy main exhibit provided. 

1. "The Museum of the Confederacy: About The Museum." The Museum of the Confederacy:. Accessed February 17, 2012. http://www.moc.org/site/PageServer?pagename=abt_ov_main.

2. "The Museum of the Confederacy: About The Museum." The Museum of the Confederacy:. Accessed February 17, 2012. http://www.moc.org/site/PageServer?pagename=abt_ov_main.