ABSTRACT
On September 24, 2016, the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) opened in Washington, D.C. The museum featured exhibitions on historical markers such as enslavement, the tragic murder of Emmett Till, and sit-in counters, among other significant artifacts in African American history. These interactive exhibits invite visitors to become what Dwight Conquergood calls ‘co-performers’ in exploring African American history. We argue that co-performance offers an efficacious framework for navigating what we see as the dichotomy of the museum’s mission to foreground ‘Americanness’ and the embodied experience of visiting the space.
