Museums as White Spaces

Can art museums — bastions of beauty, sanctuaries of culture — be intimidating to racial minorities? Do they qualify as "white spaces"? First Lady Michelle Obama said as much at the dedication of the $420 million Whitney Museum.

“You see, there are so many kids in this country who look at places like museums and concert halls and other cultural centers and they think to themselves, well, that’s not a place for me, for someone who looks like me, for someone who comes from my neighborhood," she said. "In fact, I guarantee you that right now, there are kids living less than a mile from here who would never in a million years dream that they would be welcome in this museum. And growing up on the South Side of Chicago, I was one of those kids myself."

According to the American Association of Museums just 9 percent of core museum visitors are minorities. In this story we consider why many museums are off-limits to people of color.