Museums Mirroring Society: The Persistence of Racial Inequality in Museums

Abstract

This paper examines the long history of racial inequality in museums on both the staff and artist level. While progress in other troubled areas such as gender inequality in the museum grows- racial inequality persists. The side effects of said disparities include continual maintenance of societal injustices, tokenizing exhibits, lesser opportunities for non-white youth, and both artists and civilian protest. There are necessary and achievable steps to take as a means to bridge the gap between white and non-white success in the art world- this paper explores those as well.