Did We Make the Right Decision? Katy Menne, Curator of Education, North Carolina Maritime Museum at Southport
Note: Before we begin, let me acknowledge a few things. I am a young, straight white female with a master’s degree. I recognize I have been afforded many privileges in my life. Every day we are faced with a series of choices. Some are small and made with no second thought, while others could impact your livelihood, community, and beyond. As a fairly new museum professional, many choices can feel quite daunting. We recognize imposter syndrome as feeling very real, but it is important to feel challenged, live by your convictions, and push the envelope.
Inspiration Have you ever watched a webinar and felt jazzed? While Zoom fatigue was quite common over the last year and a half, a few webinars truly sparked something within us to push for change. One of those came out of New England Museum Association (NEMA) and the National Park Service property of Longfellow House Washington’s Headquarters. The webinar was titled “Reopening The Archives: Telling Queer Stories,” and
Robin Boats: Driftwood Sailboats by Robin Douglass (She/Her).
it was awe-inspiring. Reading through historical documents, Nicole Mello had a common thought, “I wonder if this person is gay?” They were bold enough to ask the question, do the research to support this theory, and now the park presents an accurate telling of Longfellow and his life.
Buy-in How could the North Carolina Maritime Museum at Southport tell a more complete story, including the LGBTQIA+ stories, while also meeting our mission? Pondering aloud to Museum Manager, Lori Sanderlin, she challenged me to find a maritime story connecting the nautical with LGBTQIA+.
Process The first challenge was looking for places of support or organizations that served people within the LGBTQIA+ community. Having lived all over, mostly in large cities, I thought there must be a myriad of organizations to provide assistance and support in our area. Wrong. After scouring the internet, I found only a handful of organizations across the entire state of North Carolina. Within the museum’s interpretive region, I could only 53
