When: closing March 5, 2019
So, as I type this, the longest government shutdown in U.S. history is over, and the Smithsonian and National Gallery of Art are open. I went to see nine shows in four days, as the possibility exists that we could be right back in the soup by mid-February. So frustrating! I really hope the government stays open, because when there's a shutdown, innocent people suffer. Plus, it actually costs us more money to close the government than to keep it open. I'm really fuming over this, as you, dear reader, can doubtless tell.
But, while I have the largest museum complex in the world (and the National Gallery) available to me, I intend to make the most of them. I've seen everything currently closing in February and am making headway into March. If, in the next two weeks, I can get to all the shows closing before June, I'll feel pretty comfortable. Will I be able to do it? Stay tuned friends!
My first stop on my "welcome back tour" was American History. My favorite museum when I was a child on class trips, I still love this place, as much for its small tucked away shows as for its "big ticket" displays. I went to the Small Documents Gallery (which is named after the Smalls, who I'm assuming are donors, not for its size) to see a show on the Japanese internment camps. An excellent display on a serious topic, the exhibit started by explaining the anti-Asian prejudice that has existed in America since at least the late 1800s. Frankly, I was reminded of the current climate, as I read about fears of a "yellow horde" taking over the country.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, that fear turned into hysteria, and off went over 100,000 people to internment camps, losing their homes, their businesses and most of their possessions. Even Dr. Seuss, who I had always thought of as a person urging tolerance, drew an anti-Japanese cartoon - shameful.
Amazingly enough, there were many young people of Japanese descent who served in the U.S. armed forces during the war, despite the fact that the families they left behind were incarcerated. Being forced to live in primitive conditions was difficult, and it is a testament to the resilience of the Japanese-Americans in this situation that they created the art they did, formed the schools they did and fought for their rights after their release as they did.
Because the display doesn't end with the war. It goes on to show the work that was done afterwards to get the government to acknowledge the wrong that was done. President Ford rescinded Executive Order 9066, which created the internment camps; President Carter established a commission to issue a report on what should be done about the incarceration, and President Reagan signed a law admitting the wrong and issuing reparations to survivors. A dear friend of mine who was born in an internment camp received one of those checks.
Verdict: Really fine display of a story that needs telling, especially when certain groups are demonized as scapegoats for our nation's problems.
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