“Like a boil that can never be cured as long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its pus-flowing ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must likewise be exposed, with all of the tension its exposing creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.” Letter from Birmingham Jail Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. April 16, 1963 US civil rights leader and clergyman (1929 - 1968)
Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Ferris State University Them Some of these images are vulgar; most will offend members of the audience. The presenter did not create the images. The images are not meant to shock, but to stimulate honest discussion. Many of these images are found on objects in the Jim Crow Museum. David Pilgrim Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Ferris State University 231-591-3946
We are a learning lab—using objects of intolerance to teach tolerance We are a learning lab—using objects of intolerance to teach tolerance. See, www.ferris.edu/jimcrow.
That’s Not All, Folks Our goal is to get people to talk openly and honestly about race, race relations, racism, and other isms.
Museum Objectives Collect, exhibit and preserve objects and collections related to racial segregation, civil rights and anti-Black caricatures. Promote the scholarly examination of historical and contemporary expressions of racism. Serve as a teaching resource for Ferris State University courses which deal, directly or indirectly, with the issues of race and ethnicity. Serve as an educational resource for scholars and teachers at the state, national and international levels. Promote racial understanding and healing. Serve as a resource for civil rights and human rights organizations.
Racial Propaganda Jim Crow attitudes, values, norms, laws, and etiquette were supported by millions of everyday objects that portrayed Blacks as intellectually, morally, and culturally inferior “Others.”
Not Confined to the Past All the objects in the JCM are still being sold. All the images are still being used on new objects. The image in the sign is from the 1940s, but the sign was made in the 1990s.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter from Birmingham Jail
Not (only) a Black Thing The fear and hostility that we feel toward others is often reflected in the items we design, buy and sell.
Early 1900s Anti-Suffrage Postcards
Violating the Script http://www.scpronet.com/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2007/11/hillary20urinal.jpg May 29, 2008 http://www.fadingad.com/blog/hillary_spy.jpg
Killing as Gaming
They are… Ugly, stupid, dirty, unpatriotic, inferior, sexually promiscuous, disease-ridden, violent, un-Christian, weak, irresponsible, surly, rude, clannish, arrogant, needy, culturally parasitic aliens. We are… Beautiful, smart, clean, patriotic, superior, modest, healthy, peaceful, Christian, modest, strong, responsible, good-natured, civil, selfless, humble, self-sufficient, proud contributors to society.
Keep Them Out Mike Narducci, from Omaha, Nebraska, speaks in a microphone as members of the Nebraska Minuteman Civil Defense Corps stand along Dakota Avenue in South Sioux City to protest illegal aliens on August 25, 2007. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal). http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/blogs/camera_angles/?m=200708
That African Is Not One of Us
There is a cultural war going on in America, and during times of war, Us-versus-Them thinking becomes normative, even respectable.
It’s Them Or Us
Images matter. There are images that are cemented in our minds Images matter. There are images that are cemented in our minds. Here are some images that I can neither ignore not forget.
Thank you, DTE Energy Foundation I don’t want to get mawkish, but the truth is this: I do not have the words to express my gratitude to the DTE Energy Foundation for partnering with Ferris to relocate and expand the Jim Crow Museum.