摘要：Museums are among the most significant places to represent history in their communities and influence visitors, including various generations, classes, and ethnic groups.There are often unequal power relationships between mainstream and minority groups at museums in a diverse society.Minority groups have had the opportunity to present their own historic interpretation in museum exhibits and programs in the United States since the 1960s.This helped to shape public memory in their societies.Does this mean museums contribute to peoples' understanding of other cultures, enabling them to see from a different perspective? I fear that the result of this increased ethnic diversity may be that people will get into ethnic enclaves.Museum professional staffs have the difficult responsibility for creating exhibits and programs that will attract visitors from both mainstream and ethnic groups.When that happens, museums fail to serve as a forum promoting diversity.In fact, they may act to maintain the distance between ethnic enclaves.Museums need to promote dialogues between ethnic groups in order to encourage museum visitors to accept diversity and learn about cultures other than their own.
关键词：museum; historic representation; ethnic diversity; African-Americans; European-Americans; education; museum anthropology.
