Many history interpreters of color carry weight of racism
Stephen Seals stood onstage waiting to be auctioned off. Moments later, a white slave auctioneer pointed a gun at one of the other Black men gathered with Seals, and a Black mother cried for her children.
The scene, titled “What Holds the Future,” was Seals’ first scripted piece at Colonial Williamsburg, an immersive living-history museum in Williamsburg, Virginia, where costumed interpreters of history reenact scenes from the colonial past and portray figures from that period.
“Every time you did this piece, it hurt,” said Seals, an actor-interpreter and community outreach and program development manager at the site.
After the scene, the actors would spend 15 minutes checking in with each other. Sometimes they cried together. Sometimes they sat in silence.
Inclusion
As historic sites like Colonial Williamsburg are working to be more racially inclusive, many actor-interpreters of color say they appreciate the efforts. But it’s a weighty and often painful experience to portray enslaved people or others who lived through the racism of the past. The work of getting into character has them exploring difficult parts of history, and once they step back into the real world they still are confronted with current-day racism.
“I can take off the costume,” said Deirdre Jones Cardwell, programming lead for the actor-interpreters at Williamsburg. “But I can’t take off my Blackness.”
Sharing stories of Colonial Williamsburg’s residents of color is a relatively new phenomenon in the site’s nearly 90-year history. It wasn’t until 1979 when the museum began telling Black stories, and not until 2002 that it launched its American Indian Initiative. Even in recent years, interpreters say the stories of Black and Native American people haven’t always gotten adequate programming slots, advertising and research support.
“There was a point in Colonial Williamsburg’s history that interpreters weren’t allowed to talk about slavery,” Jones Cardwell said. “We’ve come a long way since that, but there’s a long way to go.”
Lately, Colonial Williamsburg expanded recruitment efforts and outreach to historically Black colleges and universities, partnered with local groups like the city’s historic First Baptist
Church, and set aside time monthly for employees of color to meet. Last year, the site launched unconscious bias training for senior leadership and plans for diversity training for all employees this year.
Nebraska
Similar efforts are underway at the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, in Grand Island, Nebraska, where a new permanent exhibit tells the story of a once-enslaved Black man who became one of the area’s most prominent physicians. The museum is also partnering with a local multicultural coalition to explore the stories of 12 Black families who settled in northwest Nebraska in the 1880s.
But executive director Chris Hochstetler says more must be done. He estimates only 1% to 3% of the Stuhr’s costumed interpreters are people of color. When he arrived at the museum in
February 2020, Hochstetler “realized we needed to ask ourselves some serious questions about whether we are representing our community fully.”
As the nation reckons with racism after high-profile police brutality cases last year, Jones Cardwell says Black interpreters are feeling more empowered to push for inclusive programming and hiring. But she says much of the burden has fallen on the shoulders of employees of color.
She is grateful for the moments she has out of character. During breaks, she does breathing exercises or prays. When she researches or teaches about the racial violence of the colonial era, she thinks of headlines of Black people being killed by police today.
“The more that you learn about this history, the heavier it feels,” she said. “We’re still dealing with ripples from the past.”