A little bit of racism sneaks into an OMSI exhibit

Years ago I picked up one bit of American cultural history, which was that in the South, whites addressed blacks by their first names in circumstances in which they would address other whites by a title and their last names.  One echo of this unhappy custom showed up in the book In the Heat of the Night, and in the film of the same name.  Early in the story, the deep-South sheriff (played in the film by Carroll O'Connor), investigating the murder of his town's leading citizen, takes into custody a black man, Virgil Tibbs (played in the film by Sidney Poitier) before discovering that Tibbs is a homicide detective from California.  The sheriff says to Tibbs, "Incidentally, Virgil is a pretty fancy name for a black boy like you.  What do they call you around home where you came from?"  Tibbs responds, "They call me Mr. Tibbs."

That came to mind when I visited the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry this week.  A small room off of the Turbine Room holds exhibits about the physical sciences, including a telegraph, a build-your-own-circuit display, and a van de Graaf generator.  It also has some placards that describe famous scientists of the past, including Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison.  A display headlined "Faces of Science" describes the careers of three eminent American scientists and inventors, all black: George Washington Carver (1864-1943), Lewis Howard Latimer (1848-1928), and Elijah McCoy (1844-1929).  Curiously, OMSI's writeups of the first two persons I named describe them as Franklin and Edison, but the writeups of the last three describe them as George, Lewis, and Elijah.

Someone at OMSI has messed up.  What's the chance that OMSI will correct its gaffe by September, before the school tours start up again?

Comments

[Rachel S]

Really good example of the subtle affects of language.

[Changeseeker]

Did you write them a quick note about it (or email them a link to your blog post)? Speaking to someone sometimes has a way of having the issue brushed off (or forgotten about), but writing (even briefly) as high up in the food chain as possible often helps. It could easily be handled by school time. Good looking out. Many European-Americans would probably have walked right past it without paying any attention (as a result of that subtlety Rachel is speaking of).

[Sailorman2]

That's so odd. I don't actually think I've ever heard George Washington Carver mentioned without ALL his names (including middle) included. "George" seems so bizzare and clearly inappropriate. Do post the followup...

[Melissa]

(Here via Green Gabbro.)

I'm not really surprised--that sort of thing is commonly done for husband/wife science teams in books, articles, and exhibits. He's always Dr. Lastname or just Lastname and she's Firstname, when she's not Mrs. Lastname. It drives me nuts.

And historically, the language of prejudice varies surprisingly little between groups.

I agree that writing them a short note might get results. Then again, it might not. I confess I don't know what to think of OMSI these days.