THE JOURNAL OF AMERICAN HISTORY

Download teaching, and presentation of American history and encourages wide discussion of ... American Historians ($35-$190 per year) receive the Jo...

0 downloads 761 Views 10MB Size
The Journal ofAmerican History

Publishedby the Organization of American Historians

Vol. 96

No. I

June2009

@ 2009 by the Organization ofAmerican Historians The Journal of ArnericanHistory, formerly the MississippiVallel Historical Reuiew,is published quarterlyby the Organizationof American Historians. Manuscript submissions,books for review,and correspondence concerningthoseand all other editorial matters should be addressedto the Editorial OfficezJoarnal of American History, 1215 EastAtwaterAve., Bloomington, Indiana4T4O|-37O3,ustt (telephonez812-855-2816; fax: 8I 2- 855-9939; e-mail: j ahpindiana.edu). Guidelines for manuscript submissioncan be found at the Journal 'Web site: http://www .journalofamericanhistory.org. Pleasedo not submit a manuscriptthat has beenpublishedor that is currently under consideration for publicationelsewherein eitherarticle or book form. TheJournalwill not considersubmissionsthat duplicateother publishedworks in eitherwording or substance. The Organization of American Historians disclaimsresponsibilityfor statements,whether of fact or of opinion, madeby contributors. Changesof address,returnedor undeliverablecopies,and correspondence concerningmembership,dues,subscriptions,backissues,advertising,the annualmeeting,and all other businessmatters should be addressedto the Executive Office: Organization ofAmerican Historians, ll2 North Bryan Ave., P.O. Box 5457,Bloomington, IndianaO4OT-5457, usl (telephone:812855l3ll; fax: 812-855-0696;e-mail:oahpoah.org;Veb site:http://www.oah.org). Printedin March, June,September,and Decemberby EdwardsBrothers,Inc., Lillington, North Carolina27546. The Organizationof American Historianspromotesexcellencein the scholarship, teaching,and presentationof American history and encourages wide discussionof historicalquestionsand equitabletreatmentof all practitionersof history.

TheJournal ofAmericanHistory:rssN0021-8723.Individual membersof the Organization of American Historians ($35-$190 per year) receivetheJournal or the ota Magazineof History. Institutional subscribers($110-$4OOper year)receiverheJournal and rhe o.eaMagazineof History. All membersand institutional subscribersreceivethe ota Newsletterand the annual meetingPrograrn.Tobecomea memberor institutional subscriber,go to http://www.oah.org.Periodicals classpostagepaid at Bloomington, Indiana, and at additional mailing offices.Pub. no. 278180. Postmaster:Sendaddresschangesto ExecutiveOffice addressabove.

History

June2009

rr in the voting booth they rank the pncerns.a3For that reason, scholars lary issue, commanding insufficienr a formative role,,in nadond politics. Republican parry, beginning in the government, the Democratic parn: pnservative agenda.In the'Vest the dude the federal land agencies thar ron of rhe Republican parryt politiricularly in the'Wesr, by rhe rise of opposirion as a political protest oi ccnes work of industry or a narro\a' lvocates. The evolution of the envi'West, l in rhe represented the trans)m a reactionary antifederal polidcs r posirive politics emphasizing inding in the 1970s, conseryativesdre*. tn' groups, and citizen-oriented orrnd rhetoric that affirmed the righr and to pursue happiness unencumrn conservatism have noted similar ncrica in the posrwar era, including nr elections turn on environmental iidon in the rurd'West formed pan rztism in America that has defined

thar -environmental issuesseldom shape in'rrr'rng' issue" for most voters in federal elecxrrr in rhe American Electorate," Socicty and

Exhibition Reviews

Benjamin Filene and Brian Horrigan Contributing Editors Inuoduction Plainly, the sixties have arrived in the realm of public memory. This "Exhibition Reviews"sectionfeaturesseveralexhibitions,from institutions largeand small, that address rhe tumultuous eventsand tangled legaciesof that era. The sampling here suggestsas well that in public history work, oral history has arrived as a driving force in understandingthe period. In this assortmentof exhibitionsat least,the sixtiesare accessed rhrough the livesof individuals-famous and ordinary-who lived through the era and arestill trying to make senseof it today.All of the exhibitionsdeployvoicesand personal memories. 'War. Both "In Two of the e"xhibitionsapply this personalapproachto the Vietnam "Soul Our Own \7ords: Ponraia of Brooklynt Vietnam Veterans"and Soldiers:African Americansand the Viemam Era' draw on interviewsto depict the experiencesand memoriesof the men and women who servedin the war. The Nationd Museum of the Marine Corps is likewiseconcernedwith the experiencesof ordinary soldiers,although the Vietnam'War is just one dramatic sectionin the two-centuryJong story the museum tells. Two other 1960s-focusedexhibidons examinesearingsventsin single cities: the "riots" in Newark, NewJersey("\U7hattGoing On? Newark and the bg q of the Sixties"), 'Wisconsin('Black Thursday Remembered:Race,Politics, and Camand in Oshkosh, pus Unrest in Northeast'\Tisconsin").In two final exhibitions reviewedin this issue,the sixtiesplay out as panicularly vivid chaptersin the lives of two very different twentiethcentury gadflies-Buckminster Fuller ("BuckminsterFuller: Staning with t}e Universe") and Muhammad Ali (the Muhammad Ali Center). 'We welcomereactionsto thesereniewsand invite suggestionsof exhibitions, historic sites,programs,and other representationsof history in the public sphereto include in thesepages.Pleasecontact: BenjaminFilene Department of History Universiry of North Carolina Greensboro P.O. Box 26170 Greensboro,NC 27402 bpGlenepuncg.edu June2009

Brian Horrigan Minnesota Historicd Society 345U1.Kellogg Blvd. St. Paul,MN 55102 brian.horrigan@mnhs. org

TheJournd of AmericanHistory

r49

Hisory

June2009

Exhibition Reviews

l5l

nm Veterans."Brooklyn Historicd 2009. 700 sq. ft. S"dy Sullivan,oral rcsidentfor exhlbits and education; rlvo, education coordinator; Alison rilip F. Napoli, co-curaror. 7 Show brownstoneBrooklyn, in a ding that has recendyundergonea h-framedportraits of the grearmen t inspiredthe exhibit designerand ucessful vision for the presentarion trram Veterans"began in the thirdnl stairway and continued into a rnd the stories of sixteen Vietnam r shon panel of introducrory rexr, rr of the formally posedfull-lengh i Eachportrait wasprinted on canrasspanel. In front of eachportrait lstep onto rwo oudined footprints. pad activated a speakerabove and ubject'sord history. Visitors heard I narrator, an encounter that could created a tightly focused column ing on the pad; to visitors moving r, cocktail p"ray murmuring. rcted by Philip F. Napoli, an assisxrblic history at Brooklyn College, r left wasone of the most indelible rion situating the narrator in time, rrc in Queens,New York, with my was two yearsafter my mother aring tended to be a vivid nilrxliysc, or coming home-with a beginznalyzed,and looked back on their Present. fidcs, and experience.The veterans vired ro the museum se\reraltimes ir input into the wolving portraypersond ardfacts-five to ten pholroused in a wooden, glass-topped drc box and the removablebinder nably outsidethe column ofsound

Students visiting the exhibition "In Our Own Words" stand in front of full' 'War veterans from Brooklyn, New length photograiphic portraits of Vietnam provided first-person accounts of the impact of the war on Yoi<. tit..*liibiiion Brooklyn residents, ,tring audio recordings of oral histories. Photo by Andrea Del Valh. CourtesyAndrea Del Valh.

or step off the pad, stopping the recordingcompletely.It was clear that the creatorsof this exhibit intended the visitor to listen to the narrators'voiceswithout the buffer of a written text and to focus on audio beforeartifacts,inverting the more usual useof oral historiesassupporting documentsfor objectsdisplayedin museums. The lack ofadisembodied, authoritativeintroduction to the audio or any framing text dongside the portraits and the random placementof the stationscombined to createa reticent curatorid voice. Visitor autonomy was prioritized throughout the t -"tk"bly exhibit, which, asidefrom the introductory panel at the head of the stairs,had no clear beginning, middle, or end. At a kiosk, two visitors at a time could sit with headphones *d lir,.t to excerptsof sixteenord historiesfrom ProfessorNapolit full collecdon of through overrwo hundred. The selection,totaling over four hours of audio, wasaccessed an intuitive sysremwhereone could soft by individual namesor by story categories,such as"growing up" or "in country." The introductory panel quoted one veteransayingthat "if you Put ten veteransin a room, you ger the story of nventy Vietnams." That is undoubtedly true, yet the Brooklyn Historicd Socierysucceededin bringing thesedisparatevoicestogetherwithout cacophony.The aestheticunity and quiet eleganceof the instdladon placedthe narrators in conversationwithout dlowing them to tdk over eachother. Kate Fermoile, the vice presidentfor axhibits and educationat the Brooklyn Historicd Sociery qlme to the so.i.ry from the lower East SideTenementMuseum and evidendy brought with her the

r50

The Journal of American History

June2009

'W'ords: "In Our Own Portraits of Brooklynt Vietnam Veterans." Brooklyn Historical Society. Brooklyn, N.Y. http: // brooklynhistory. org. Temporary exhibition, Dec. 14,2007-March 8,2009.700 sq. ft. Sady Sullivan, ord history program coordinator; Kate Fermoile, vice president for exhibits and education; Andrea Del Valle, director of education; Amy DeSalvo, education coordinator; Alison Cornyn, founder and director of Picture Projects; Philip F. Napoli, co-curator.

The Brooklyn Historical Society is nestled in CosbyShow brownstone Brooklyn, in a landmarked redbrick, 1881 Queen Anne-style building that has recently undergone a prize-winning renovation. Its halls are filled with gilt-framed portraits of the great men of Brooklyn, and it was in part these portraits that inspired the exhibit designer and producer Alison Cornyn's innovative and strikingly successfulvision for the presentation of oral history in museums. "In Our Own 'W'ords:Portraits of Brooklynt Vietnam Veterans" began in the thirdfoor hallway encircling the museum's grand central stairway and continued into a wood-paneled room. The exhibition revolved around the stories of sixteen Vietnam 'War veterans from Brooklyn. Vsitors might read the short panel of introductory text, or they might immediately be drawn beyond it to one of the formally posed full-length photographic portraits of nine of the sixteen veterans.Each portrait was printed on canvas, framed in gold, and identified by an engraved brasspanel. In front of each portrait was a round pad on the floor where the viewer could step onto nvo outlined footprints. Vith less than a second'sdelay, the pressureon the pad activated a speaker above and began a three- to five'minute audio excerpt of the subjectt oral history. Visitors heard the voice while looking directly into the eyes of the narrator, an encounter that could be disquietingly intimate. The hypersonic speaker created a tightly focused column of sound that was audible only to the listener standing on the pad; to visitors moving through the exhibit, the recordings sounded like quiet, cocktail parry murmuring. Some of the selections from the interviews, conducted by Philip F. Napoli, an assistant professor of twentieth-century U.S. social and public history at Brooklyn College, plunged right into a story: "For me the day that John left was one of the most indelible days in my memory." Most began with an introduction situating the narrator in time, space,and culture: "My name is Edward Blanco; I live in Queens, New York, with my wife, Nancy. I was born in 1948 in Manhattan; that was two years after my mother arrived here from Puerto Rico." The core of each recording tended to be a vivid n21141iysabout, for example, witnessing a death, coming of age, or coming home-with a beginning, middle, and end. The interviewees interpreted, analyzed,and looked back on their experiences,speaking to their stories' meaning in the present. The narrators were diverse in race, class,gender, politics, and experience.The veterans had helped shape the exhibition, since they were invited to the museum several times during the year the exhibit was developed to give their input into the evolving portrayals of their stories. Accompanying each story was a display containing personal artifacts-five to ten photographs, medals, military parapherndia, or letters-housed in a wooden, glass-topped box bolted to the wall next to the portrait. To reach the box and the removable binder on a shelf below it, the visitor had to stretch uncomfortably outside the column of sound

r52

The Journal of American History

June2009

ability to integrate an exhibit into a spacethat is itself historicd and alive, creating a juxtaposition that was synergistic and never jarring. Despite the emphasis on unmediated voices, the creators of the exhibit took some steps to contextudize the stories. In the room where most of the portraits were located, there was one anonymous, silhouetted figure filled with statistics that placed these individuals' experiencesin the broader frame of Vietnam veterans' history: 87 percent of soldiers were white, 2 percent were killed, and so on. The binder accompanying each portrait contained a brief biography of the narrator, a transcript of the interview excerpt featured in the exhibit, and a glossary of honors and medds. Here a more intrusive curatorial role might have been helpful, as visitors without prior in-depth knowledge of the Vietnam W'ar could have gained valuable context through, for example, explanatory footnotes in these transcripts. A photography exhibit in a separateroom on the second foor featured the work of three of the veterans interviewed for the exhibit, including images of the war and of the antiwar and veterans' rights movements. In that same space, visitors could browse a selection of books on the war, which were selected by the historians who served as advisers for the exhibit and ranged from Tlte Vietnam War for Dummies by Rondd B. Frankum Jr. and Stephen F. Maxner (2002) to The Vietnam Vars by Marilyn B. Young (1991). Visitors could also leave comments on a computer or in a comment book. These comments--overwhelmingly positive-indicate that the creators of the exhibit succeededin designing a nuanced presentation that dlowed for multiple, contradictory interpretations. Visitors gave the exhibit rave reviews for its powerful antiwar message on one page and for its celebration of American military interventions overseason the next. Although the exhibit focused intently on recorded voices and used sophisticated equipment, the sound qualiry was disappointingly uneven. The voices tended to sound recorded, with audible hiss and occasional distortion, rather than immediately present. The interviews were initially conducted without funding and before the recent explosion in affordable high-qualiry recording equipment. Napoli originally intended them for his forthcoming book, New York'sVietnam, and for the archive, not specificdly for such a high-tech exhibit. The sound issueshere reinforce the point that radio producers and technologically savvy oral historians have been making to ord history programs for decades:Oral histories should dways be recorded at broadcast qualiry to allow for the widest possible range of frrture uses.That said, the issueswith sound qudiry were at most a minor distraction, and dl of the recordings were clearly audible. Overall, this groundbreaking exhibit set an example for public history by retaining historical rigor but sharing interpretive authoriry with the community and with the people who lived the history. \(hen Deborah Schwartz became president of the Brooklyn Historicd Sociery in 2005, she told the New York Timesthat she "hoped to use oral history projects, documentary techniques and technology to expand the socieryt range and forge connections with a broad swath of Brooklyn" (Michael Brick, "Metro Briefing: New York Brooklyn: New Historical Sociery President," Nov. 16,2005). This exhibit, produced partially through the efforts of a new full-time ord history program coordinator, brought that vision to life. Vith "In Our Own \fords," the Brooklyn Historical Sociery announced itself as an institution that takes oral history seriously and that can engage thoughtfully with a unique and demanding primary source, success-

t on

June2009

srorical and alive, crearing a jux_ :arors of the exhibit took some xt of rhe portraits were located, r srarisricsthat placed these in_ history: 87 percent of _r-ererans' Ihe binder accompanying each rnscriprof the interview.*..rp, da.ls. Here a more intrusive cl_ rr prior in-depth knowledge of ough, for example, explan*ory ond foor featured the work of line images of the war and of ne space,visitors could browse y the historians who served as iar for Dummies by Ronald B. um lY/arsby Marilyn B. young )urer or in a comment book. rar rhe crearorsof the exhibir tcd ior mulriple, contradictory ' its powerful antiw". inren'entions overs.",-.rr"g. on th. ,'oicesand used sophisticated -fhe r. voices tended to sound :cr rhan immediately presenr. nd before the recent explosion orieinally intended them for :hive, not specificallyfor such oinr rhar radio producers and oral hisrory programs for de_ ;t
Exhibition Reviews

r53

fully making connecrions berween the museum and its borough and between past and Present. A-y Starecheski Graduate Center City Uniuersity of New Yorh New Yorh, New Yorh "Soul Soldiers:African Americans and the Vietnam Era." SenatorJohn Heinz History Center in associationwith the Smithsonian Institution, Pittsburgh, Pa. http://www .heinzhistorycenter.org. Temporary exhibition, Nov. I 1, 2006-Nov. 12, 2007 . 2,600 sq. ft. taveling exhibition through 2010. Samuel'W. Black, curator. One of the mosr striking imagesin the exhibition "Soul Soldiers:African Americans and rhe Vietnam Era" is of Fhilipla Duke Schuyler.As a child Schuyler had been a famous musical prodigy, but she later gave up her musical career to work as a journalist and traveled to Vietnam as a war correspondent. Shortly before she drowned as a result of a helicopter crash in 1967,a photograph captured her in disguiseas a VietnamesePeasant, the camera from below a wig and wearing a traditional dress. -gazingout ar Athrst glance, it looks as if Schuyler had "gone native," trading in her American identiry for an international solidariry with the people of Vietnam. Indeed, while in Vietnam she spent much of her time trying to assistSouth Vietnamese children who had been orphaned by the war. The photograph of a disguised Schuyler seems to signal a turning away from pro-American sentiments to an internationalist, Third'World PersPective rhat became popular during the later, militant phasesof the civil rights movement in the United States. But, as is often rhe case,the story is not that simple. Schuyler, the daughter of a prominent African American journalist and a white mother from Texas, had been brought up by her parents in a utopian experiment to raise the perfect mixed-race daughter in America. Yet in her adulthood she sometimes avoided identifying with her American upbringing ro passas a Spanishwoman named Filipa Monterro. Further complicating the srory line, Schuyler took a conservative,pro-American position on the war in Vietnam. Though she had reservarionsabout the militaristic and cultural imperidism of the United St"tes, she advocated invading North Vietnam in the name of anticommunism. And she noted in her book GoodMen Die (1969) that most African American officers in the U.S. military she encountered felt the same way. Though pictured as a Vietnamese peasant' Schuyler had not abandoned her American heritage so easily (Kimberly L. Phillips dis'War,"'which apPearsin the exhibicussesSchuyler in her essay"'And Sing No More of .W. Black, 2006). tiont accompanying book, Soul Soldiers,edited by Samuel "Soul Soldiers" a fascinating makes Schuyler'sphotograph and her story point to what exhibition: the exploration of what \f. E. B. Du Bois famously called African American double consciousness.The exhibition veers between a story of inclusion and exclusion, of becoming American by fighting the nation's wars and rejecting America for another identiry-a diasporic, postcolonial, African-based internationalism that opposed Cold 'War U.S. imperidism.

t54

The Journal of American History

June200e

I0ur$olt

$ill|[snhc[, a||fl]faIyl00. 'War-era U.S. Navy recruiting poster adThe exhibition "Soul Soldiers"displaysa Vietnam men their parentsthat hints at the tension between African American and dressedro young patriotism and diasporic black nationalism and attempts to resolveit for African Americans contemplating military service.That tension is the unannounced theme of "Soul Soldiers." CourtesySenatorJohn Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsyluania.

Although "Soul Soldiers" never explicidy engageswith the story of double consciousness, the exhibition neverthelessoverflows with contradictory feelings. On the surface the exhibition tells a srory of how the Vietnam conflict, like so many American wars before it, became a means for African Americans to claim their rights as citizens. That is the tale of inclusion. In tattered uniforms of the dead, war talismans,photographs of integratedtroops on the front lines, official lettersof commendation, Purple Heart medals, and military posters that encouragedblack Americans to enlist, the exhibition focuses on the loyal role African Americans played in the U.S. intervention in Vietnam. "Soul Soldiers" assertsthat African Americans deservea place in the larger consensusnarrative of the United States.And appearing among similar elegiacexhibitions at the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago, where I viewed it in the summer of 2008, the implicit messageof "Soul Soldiers" was that by fighting Communism in the Third'World, black citizensof the United Statestraded in the African side of their double for the American side. consciousness The most prominent part of the exhibition is also the areathat most emphasizesthat narrative. In a re-createdG.I. "hooch" (the makeshift bunker that many troops lived in during their time in country), visitors to the exhibition sit on wood planks and watch a thirteen-minute video, "The Soul of Vietnam," which strikes an elegiactone in describing the contributions ofAfrican Americans to the U.S. involvement in the war. Yet, even there, surrounded by corrugated tin, rope, and mock barrelsof ammunition, an edge of anxiery evenApocalypseNow-style paranoia, creeps in. A pungee stick that had almost killed Sgt. John Clark of the U.S. Marines stands nearby,as if to puncture holes in the celebratoryconsensusnarrative that presentsthe U.S. intervention in Vietnam as a "good war." Many parts of the exhibition emphasize the ways the Vietnam experience sparked a strong critique of U.S. foreign policy and a turn to the possibilitiesof a diasporic, international, Third'World vision of African American identiry. Vietnam, Julian Bond and T.

tton'

June2009

Navy recruiting poster ad_ .L'.S.. rh:r hinrs ar the tensi6n between resolveit for Afiican Americans unccd rheme of "Soul Soldiers." th ania.

r rhe sroqyof double consciousicron' feelings. On the surface . like so many American wars rheir rights as citizens. That is r ralismans. photograptuso[inndarion, Purple Heart medds, > enlisr, the exhibition focuses r(cn'ention in Vietnam. "Soul rhe larger consensusnarrative ac exhibitions at the DuSable I viewed it in the summer of ' lighring Communism in rhe he.{frican side of their double rea rhar mosr emphasizesthat lcer rhar many troops lived in on r.t'ood planks and watch a (cs an elegiac tone in describrlvement in the war. yet, even {s of ammunition, an edge of pungee stick rhat had almost rs ii ro puncrure holes in the cnrion in Vietnam asa'good 'iernam experience sparked a iibiliries of a diasporic, interlTcnam, Julian Bond and T

Exhibition Reviews

r55

G. Lewist remarkable1967comic book critiquing the Vietnam'War, offersa viewpoint from the growing domesticantiwar movemetti.kt the exhibition one can seea few pages and of Bond *a I-.riis's creation,which tells the story ofVietnam's anticolonid struggle of use thelinks it to the African American civil rights movement for freedom through debold, black ink line drawingsand spars.,.*,. Pastan enlistmentadvertisementthat Afio and a dashiki and declarei"Your son can be Black, picts a young black man *iiir "n African Americansin Vietnam who N""y ,olo,"visitorsbegin to seephotographs_of "rd 6stsin black Power$ut9;' Visitheir org"rrirei black studiest idittg groupsand raised "\7'hy should me, a toi, ,."d a journal from yo,rig-Aftican American soldierwho asks, " can brotherof soul,whose*", i, on1h. streetsin the States,be here6ghting?'-ft. viewer American glimpsethe emergingcritique of U.S. foreign policy in the storiesof African "p.#ot-.*, to those doing was war the what o saw journalistr-*t women-nurses, "rrd on headphonesand listen to songsthat-
r56

The Journal of American History

June2009

outright mutiniesby African AmericanG.I.t during the war. "Soul Soldiers"hints at the costsof posttraumaticstressdisorderfor African Americanveteransbut neverconfronts the issuein depth.And eventhough the exhibit is subtitled"AfricanAmericansand the Vietnam Era,"it doesnot addressthe deepsocialproblemsfacingAfrican Americanson the home front as the triumphs of the Civil RightsAct of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965gaveway to heartrendingtragediesof assassination and riot, which provided ofAmerican racism. firrther evidenceof the persistence Of course,an exhibition cannordo everything."Soul Soldiers,"which beganwith curator Samuel\7. Black'scuriosityabout a photographof his brotherJimmyMcNeil, who servedand died in the Vietnam War, bringstogethera remarkablerangeof materials.It is pardcularlystrongin recoveringthe story ofAfrican Americanwoment experienceof the Vietnam \far-the story of thosewho servedasnursesand thosebackat home who beganto protestthe wart coststo black Americans(sometimesthey were one and the same).And just when the exhibition might seemto be smoothingover the disillusionment with the United Statesthat African Americanscaughtin the war'squagmirefelt, the exhibition returnsto the disappointment,rage,and bitternessthat the Vietnam era involvedfor so many.Allowing both s1s1is5-1heofficialaccountof how African Americansservedtheir Americancountry bravelyand the hidden tale of how African Americanspursuedan African-inspired,anti-imperidist, Third \florld alternativebecauseof of a war history that the Vietnam experisn6s-"$oul Soldiers"capturesthe ambivalences remainsdeeplyfraughtsomefotty yearsafter it happened "Theret more than a nation insideus,"YusefKomunyakaawrote in the poem "Tir Do the exhibition (p. 150). For AfStreet,"which is reprintedin the book that accompanies ricanAmericansin the Vietnam era,that indeedseemsto havebeenthe case.The war inspiredmany to servetheir Americannation, no questionsasked.But Vietnam alsoforced them to confront their vexedrelationshipwith the United States."Soul Soldiers"shows seekinga African Americanscaughtbetweenthe mro sidesof their doubleconsciousness, way to hed the woundswhile alsoshowinghow the woundspersist. Particularlynow, as the United Statescontinuesto wagewars of questionableworth evenwhile it looks to a new presidentwho embodies-and has boldly examined-Afthe Vietnam era is worth rememberingin all its rican Americandouble consciousness, "Soul helps us do so. complexity. Soldiers" MichaelJ. Kramer No rthwesternUniuersity EuAnston,Illinois National Museum of the Marine Corps,Triangle,Va. http://www.usmcmuseum.com. Permanentexhibition, openedNov. 2006. 118,000sq. ft. FentressBradburnfuchiChuck tects;ChristopherChadbourneandfusociates,exhibitionplannersand designers; museum of exhibit services. Museum the Marine Corps chief of Girbovan,National "soldiersare not as other men,"John KeeganobservesinA History tf Warfare(1993). Not one himselfi,indeedphysicallyunqualifiedfor military service,Keeganhasdevoted a lifetime to military history.The military is a "world apart," one that "existsin parallel with the everydayworld but doesnot belongto it." Military organizationssuch as