Stories of history are often told by the “winner.” The winner in this sort of context can be the winner of a war, the empire that thrived the longest, the voice of the majority. The winner can also be imperialistic countries who colonized other lands. The winner gets to tell the story because they have the power to do so.

In this particular example, artifacts from different tribes in African countries are shown in pristine glass displays in the Museum of Great Britain. Seeing as the character shown (excuse the fact that very unfortunately, I have not seen Black Panther and don’t know any character names) has to ask for background information on the artifacts, it can be inferred that there is no information given on them within the display. So Great Britain has used its power to tell the story by simply putting the artifacts in a glass case with no real context, no real perspective.

In class, we’ve discussed a few similar cases in which museums underrepresented certain stories or groups of people. The first case was the Maryland Historical Society that, prior to Wilson’s exhibit, had not had many exhibits relating to African-Americans, Native Americans, women, and other marginalized groups. Wilson’s exhibit provided a interesting and informative view on racism and slavery within the United States that the society had not previously explored. While the museum featured in Black Panther did have the exhibit, it failed to provide any meaningful context to the pieces shown.

We also visited the Museum of Fine Arts in order to see the Nubian exhibit, only to find that many of the pieces within the exhibit had been put away and what remained were only a few pieces sparsely filling one room. Meanwhile, in several adjacent rooms, there were hundreds of pieces from Egyptian history. This also reflects the idea of the “winner” telling the story; as someone mentioned at the museum, Egypt had conquered Nubia.

My immediate response as to whether or not the “winner” should return illegally acquired items in such cases is that they should. Objects should be returned to their rightful owners. However, there is a part of me that thinks it is important for museums in Great Britain, for example, to show the history of African cultures, especially considering its history of colonialism. That being said, I still believe the objects that were taken illegally cannot really be properly displayed if their own history includes being wrongfully acquired.

A solution to this could be to offer the items back to their original locations and perhaps ask if they can instead be purchased. Ideally, this would allow for some items to be returned and displayed pridefully in their home locations and for others to remain in other places and hopefully be able to share the stories of various cultures.

I believe the purpose of museums is to share stories. This means all stories. This means sharing them in a way that allows people to understand others. This means sharing cultures in a way that respects them and does not diminish them.