The Center for the Study of Global Slavery Internship is within the Office of Curatorial Affairs (OCA) at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). OCA including the Centers, facilitates the intellectual work of the Museum by collecting artifacts, ensuring collection preservation and stewardship, conducting research and scholarship, and sharing the rich history and culture of African Americans and all people of African descent with a diverse public in accessible, multifaceted ways including exhibition, digitization, and publication. OCA is comprised of many different divisions and teams including: Administration, Collections/Acquisitions, History, Culture, Visual Art, Collections Management, Conservation, DigiTeam, Registrar’s Office, Oral History, Archives, The Centers and the Scholarly Advisor Committee.
The Center for the Study of Global Slavery (CSGS) is an outward facing center that is built upon collaboration and dedicated to revealing the scope and the impact of slavery as well as recognizing the resilience of people of African descent throughout the African diaspora in resistance to slavery. It is the purpose of CSGS to leverage the power of the NMAAHC not just nationally but on a global scale. The Center provides an understanding of slavery as shared human history beyond region, nation and race, and as something relevant to understanding our local communities and global societies in the 21st century. It is comprised of multiple interconnected initiatives, each of which is committed to fashioning hope even while emphasizing slavery’s history of catastrophe and despair.
The CSGS Intern will work with Center staff on our signature exhibition project, “In Slavery’s Wake: Making Black Freedom in the World” and assist with research and exhibition development tasks related to the ongoing development of the exhibition. The intern may also assist on other CSGS projects, including the Slave Wrecks Project and Slave Voyages. The CSGS Intern will learn about the exhibition development experience, inclusive of research, writing, curation/object selection, planning, and collegiality; and digital humanities projects; and working in global collaborations.
Duties Include (but are not limited to):
· Supporting center’s two major international collaborative initiatives: The Slave Wrecks Project and the Global Curatorial Project
· Assist with content research for exhibitions in development including research on objects, images and archives
· Engage in the development of digital products to support the Center’s work, including blog posts, outreach, and story research
