A New Public History Class

I look forward to a new group of students ready to tackle Public History and think about making history relevant to a larger citizenry, whether in the US or globally. As I am getting ready to teach this class I have been reading about the new museum opening in Dakar, Senegal - The Museum of Black Civilizations.  It is an incredible facility built with a 48 million dollar infusion from China. The museum is particularly suited to Senegal since its first President, Leopold Senghor, founded the movement of Black scholarship and civilization called "Negritude" in the 1960s. At his instigation the World Black Festival of Arts was held in 1966.  With the opening of the museum Senegal is demanding that France and other colonial countries return stolen art objects. It seems that museums, monuments and other sites of memory have become significant in current social justice movements. Does Public History support or resist the prescribed narratives about the past? What role can or should historians play in these debates over memory?