The Talking About Race site is an online resource for educators, parents, caregivers and the general public to discuss race and its role in our lives. The Museum’s goal for the site was to help individuals and communities foster constructive conversations about one of the nation’s most challenging topics: racism and its corrosive impact. The site includes tools, resources, and guidance to help people around the country and world explore aspects of race, identity, racism and more.
“Talking About Race” is a web-based resource that guide users through role playing exercises, video presentations and scenario-based questions to help individuals, families, and communities talk about racism, racialized identity, and the way these forces shape every aspect of society. The “Talking About Race” site builds upon decades of work by the Museum’s educators and is the result of extensive research, studies, consultations, and educational resources from these fields: history, education, psychology, and human development. It includes published research from leading experts, activists, historians, and thought leaders on race, equity, and inclusion.
NMAAHC released the resource four months ahead of schedule in response to growing Black Lives Matter and other protests around the country. The campaign strategy included five key components: the education hub (i.e., the site itself), a press release announcing the site, targeted media interviews in national, regional and specialty outlets, and social media engagement.
The social engagement plan included a Twitter and Facebook rollout. A social media toolkit was produced to encourage media and influencers to share the website through their social media channels. The site continues to generate enthusiasm, garnering 3,029,759 total page views and more than 2.6 million unique visits to date.
Phase one of the portal features eight foundational subjects including:
Being Anti-Racist: a conscious decision to make frequent, consistent, equitable choices daily.
Bias: the inclination or prejudice toward or against something or someone.
Community Building: connecting and engaging with others doing anti-racism work and exploring issues of race.
Historical Foundations of Race: how race, white privilege, and anti-blackness are woven into the very fabric of American society.
Race and Racial Identity: how societies use race to establish and justify systems of power, privilege, disenfranchisement, and oppression.
Self-Care: caring for one’s mental, emotional, and physical health to sustain the work of dismantling racism.
Social Identities and Systems of Oppression: systems built around the ideology that some groups are superior to others.
Whiteness: an ideology that reinforces power at the expense of others.
The reveal of the Talking About Race Web portal on May 31, 2020 generated tremendous engagement and enthusiasm. Since the initial release, the NMAAHC website has seen a significant increase in traffic, engagement, and new visitors. The following metrics represent website traffic during the site’s first month, May 31, 2020 – June 30, 2020:
Total pageviews: 1,213,543
Unique pageviews (new visits): 1,056,765
New Visitors: 725,289
Average time on pages: 03:11
Below is the breakdown of the top 10 pages visited on the Talking About Race web portal and their pageviews:
Top Three Average Time on Pages:
Being Antiracist: 07:44
Historical Foundations of Race - 07:24
Whiteness - 07:13
Top 10 Talking About Race Web Portal Pages:
1. Talking About Race: 507,977
2. Being Antiracist: 223,697
3. Committed to Equity: 59,721
4. Whiteness: 51,236
5. Educators: 50,596
6. Parents or Caregivers: 45,861
7. Bias: 43,783
8. Social Identities and Systems of Oppression: 26,506
9. Topics: 23,337
10. Race and Racial Identity: 21,662
