Seventeenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

The ownership of memory is an age-old issue long debated between oppressed and majority groups. Public depiction through memorials, monuments, museums, etc., often serve in remembrance of an event, person, group or time period, but also play an imperative role in the way individuals of the present reflect on the past. The public memory of an individual or an event can only represent so much, can only please so many people. Based on the rhetorical elements utilized, these sites of memory can direct public opinion of the past, speaking for people, specifically those in marginalized groups. For this reason, ownership of narrative is extremely important in dictating who has the perceived right to reproduce a memory for public consumption. By examining a specific remembrance of Emmett Till, I plan to uncover how ownership and reproduction of a memory leads to exploitation through the silencing of memories experienced by oppressed individuals. This essay will argue that Dana Schutz’s painting of Emmett Till (titled “Open Casket”) exploited his death as a spectacle and effectively silenced the marginalized, Black narratives in remembrance of Till’s death.