Discovery Place opened their newest exhibit this weekend. RACE: Are We So Different will be on display in Uptown Charlotte through May 8th of this year. RACE is an exciting exhibit that covers the history of race, the sciences of why we are different, and even touches on the experience of race and racism in the U.S.
Some of you may know this is a topic that is always on my heart. My family is multi-cultural, and I have a number of great friends and family members that are from all different cultural backgrounds. I was delighted to be able to bring the girls to this event, however in my opinion if you are looking for a learning opportunity you may want to bring children who are 10 and up, based on their maturity levels . I did not see any questionable exhibits, but some younger children just might not understand.
If you are a parent with a younger child, and would like to visit the exhibit don’t be discouraged, Discovery Place has already thought ahead for you and created a great children’s spot of to one of the sides of the exhibit. This children’s space is filled with puppets of all occupations and races, (great for role play,) and also a nice selection of books related to RACE that are age appropriate. My oldest had a great time checking it out and can even be seen at the end of News 14 Carolina’s RACE coverage playing with them. I found the children’s spot to be a great, fun, and even perhaps learning time.Back to the exhibit, it was certainly an interactive exhibit, which I loved. There were a number of video screens, quizes, and even race related questions for visitors to leave feedback on.
I also got my oldest daughter involved in a few of the interactive displays, she had a fun time checking out, “Who’s Talking,” where we tried to guess which face belonged to the voice on the speaker. Surprisingly, she got most of them right, I however didn’t do as great as she did. But it was a neat learning experience and you can choose from a group of men or women. She also checked out the Sickle Cell Anemia interactive maps and we learned together that certain diseases are based on your location not on your race.
My absolute favorite parts of the RACE: Are We So Different exhibit were the stands that had provocative questions, challenging you to leave your own story to share with others. I filled out this one: “What’s Your Story? Do you want to share a story you’ve had with race?”
I also thoroughly enjoyed the station that had several pictures of adults of different races and different looks. We pressed several buttons that relate to us. For example, you can press your height range and the boxes of those people who have your height in common light up. I thought this was an amazing display of the fact that no matter the color of our skin, our ethnic background, we always have something in common with others who may appear different from us.
Last on my, “favorites list”, was the U.S. Census section of the exhibit, something that I didn’t realize was important to me until I checked out all of the great information. I got to see options for future censuses and a great photo, that spoke more than words could to me, displaying what category certain people would have been in during censuses in history through today. Descriptions like, “Slave,” “Mulatto,” “Free White,” “Negro,” and even “Other” on real, live people’s t-shirts, really make a strong impression.
I wish I could have spent more time at this exhibit, there were wealths of knowledge to be had and the great thing about exhibits like this and topics like this is that they are always conversation starters. I actually had a conversation with one of the attendees and we did not agree, but I walked away from our talk happy that even if the world doesn’t agree on issues exhibits like these are keeping the chatter going, I think that is what is most important. This exhibit is certainly a learning experience and I highly recommend you go see it!
I didn’t even get to mention all of the great exhibits but there are more than 30 exhibits and activities in the 5,000 square foot exhibition and if you already have a Discovery Place membership or purchase a ticket admission to the RACE exhibit is included.
Check out our Facebook page for more photos from this visit: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Charlotte-Moms/178474478829582
Discovery Place is located at 301 N Tryon St Charlotte, NC 28202 and you can find them on the web here: http://www.discoveryplace.org
I’d like to leave you with my favorite picture in the entire exhibit and ask you, what does race mean to you?
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We are so grateful that you visited us and spent so much time writing a fantastic in-depth review of RACE: Are We So Different?
This is such an important topic to society and to our community and with your help we can make others more aware of how it influences us each and every day.
Thank you again!
Logan Stewart
Manager, Marketing & PR
Discovery Place
Can I please, please, please get one of those t-shirts! The one that says “1800 slave 1920 mulatto 1960 negro”!!! This shirt shouts out loud my exact feelings of race in America!