UH Hilo students curate exhibit for Black History Month
Historian Kerri Inglis says her goal of having students create the exhibit was so they could learn how to present history to a targeted audience.
By Anne Rivera with photos of exhibit by Zoe Coffman for UH Hilo Stories.
Black History Month at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo is filled with events, movies, performances, and exhibits that focus on the contributions of African Americans throughout American history. For the month of February, there is a featured exhibit at the Edwin H. Mookini Library — this exhibit was curated by students here at UH Hilo.
Black history cannot be confined to just an exhibit, performance, presentation, or written work. The acknowledgement of how African Americans have contributed to the history of the United States is important and vital to fully comprehending history in its entirety. African Americans have been instrumental in American history, Hawaiian history and world history.
Kerri Inglis, associate professor and chair of the UH Hilo history department, was asked to organized the Black History Month Exhibit for 2017 that is being presented for the month of February.
Students Kaipo Wahinepio and Alana Kanahele were selected to help curate and produce this exhibit. Wahinepio, a history major, and Kanahele, a Hawaiian studies major, both say they learned more than they expected to during the curation process. Both were responsible for research, display arrangement and setup along with the written descriptions provided for each historical black figure represented.
Inglis says her goal by having students create the exhibit is to go beyond just relational job experience and technical skills—she wanted them to learn how to present history to a targeted audience.
“I wanted them to think about whose story to present, how to present it, how do we get the attention of the public, what kind of exhibit would be appropriate,” says Inglis. “Do we want one where you just walk by or some other kind that involves more outreach like social media or stimulated word of mouth?”
Inglis mentions how easy it is to criticize and critic a museum, exhibit or presentation but it is different when you are having to create one.
“Think about the tiny things like how large do you make the font so people can read it and how to write concisely about an individual who has contributed greatly to history,” says Inglis.
It is all about how history communicates to the public, Inglis explains. Learning and recognizing historical contributions by others is invaluable, however being able to translate that knowledge from mind to mouth and eventually to paper—where the process begins again—is where the true skill takes place.
Wahinepio elaborated on how Black History Month is important.
“I feel here in Hawaiʻi, every ethnic story has a role and it may not be quite as significant here as it is in the continental United States because here it is just another race that we celebrate,” he says.
“But for me it is important because of what it represents to a lot of people and their contributions to history in general.”
He admits that his favorite part about participating in the exhibit was the researching. He was surprised by his discovery of how African Americans contributed, not just to American history but how they played a role in Hawaiian history as well.
“Personally, I wanted to know more about black history here in Hawaiʻi in relation to Hawaiian history,” he explains. “I didn’t know we already had a section that covered how African Americans contributed to our history, so I did more research into some other people.”
Kanahele expressed her appreciation for Black History Month as well.
“Many African Americans helped with the human rights we have today,” she says. “Without those people who went through those struggles and challenges, we wouldn’t be able to vote or choose who we can be friends with or have in our lives.”
She says she enjoyed learning new information and gaining the experience and knowledge from partaking in the exhibit—she has a greater understanding of all the work that is put forth in order to produce a successful exhibit.
History comes alive with applied learning experience
Student involvement with applied learning activities around campus allow for the opportunity to learn things that cannot be taught in the classroom. It pulls together classroom education and real life experiences, correlating them to future careers, which is essential for student success.
There are courses offered by the history department here at UH Hilo that help teach students how to communicate history in a public forum. The course—Public History of Hawaiʻi (HIST 390)—discusses more than Hawaiian history. It highlights and brings attention to how Hawaiian history is presented to the public. Courses like this go beyond the books and articles and hones the educational lens on analyzing the how as opposed to just the what, which is enlightening.
The Black History Month Exhibit is Wahinepio and Kanahele’s first exhibit, however both express an overwhelming willingness to learn the different aspects of curating along with partaking in another exhibit.
Story by Anne Rivera (junior, communication), a public information intern in the Office of the Chancellor.
Photos of exhibit by Zoe Coffman (senior, art) for UH Hilo Stories.
