The Jim Crow Museum's Traveling Exhibit ―Hateful Things‖ Is Drawn from Some 4,000 Pieces That Represent Nearly 150 Years of Anti-Black, Racist Objects and Images

Home , Black doll, Coon Chicken Inn, Rastus, Watermelon stereotype, Zip the Pinhead

The Jim Crow Museum's traveling exhibit ―Hateful Things‖ is drawn from some 4,000 pieces that represent nearly 150 years of anti-Black, racist objects and images. Each object in the exhibit is accompanied by a didactic panel explaining its historical and cultural significance. The traveling exhibit has made its way around the state of Michigan at various colleges and universities but has never been on display at a high school venue. In addition to the 39 pieces and didactic panels, the exhibit includes a documentary (DVD format). Installation requirements call for a minimum linear wall space of 150 feet, minimum floor space of 300 feet and proper lighting and security. Additional information is available at the Museum Website at http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/menu.htm

HATEFUL THINGS DETAILED INVENTORY

C1-01 JOLLY NIGGER BANK 11 x 11 x 11 This is the infamous Jolly Nigger Bank that first appeared in the 1880s. Its eyes roll back when it swallows coins. Many companies produced versions of the bank. It was mass-produced until the 1960s. The Civil Rights Movement sensitized many Americans to the horrors of racial stereotyping and racial caricaturing; hence, objects like the Jolly Nigger Bank lost some of their appeal in the 1960s and 1970s. However, in the 1980s racist collectibles were again in high demand. Vintage versions of the Jolly Nigger Bank escalated in value, and cheap reproductions of the bank became commonplace. This bank is from the 1920s.

C1-02 TOBACCO TIN 8 x 9 x 8 Beginning in 1878, the B. Leidersdory Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, produced NiggerHair Smoking Tobacco. In 1917, the American Tobacco Company had a NiggerHair redemption promotion. NiggerHair coupons were redeemable for "cash, tobacco, S. & H. Green stamps, or presents." In the 1940s the name was changed to BiggerHair Smoking Tobacco. The can in this exhibit is from the 1920s.

C2-03 RUNNING GUN TARGET 19 x 25 x 14 In the late 1960s flyers were distributed in many American towns showing a cartoon silhouette of a black man with a large Afro and monstrous lips, apparently running. Below the man was written, ―Official Running Nigger Target.‖ Numbers designated different scores for different parts of the anatomy, with a relatively low score for a headshot, and the highest score for hitting his feet. By the 1970s prints, posters, and tee shirts with the target were sold at gun shows. In the early 2000s the targets were widely available through white supremacy websites. The metal ―Running Nigger Target‖ displayed here was created in the 1980s but used until 2001. Please notice the holes produced by high caliber bullets.

C2-04 COLORED LAUNDRY BAG 21 x 13 x 14 The picaninny caricature shows Black children as either poorly dressed -- ragged, torn, old oversized clothes -- or, and worse, they are shown as nude or near-nude. This nudity suggests that Black children, and by extension Black parents, are not concerned with modesty. The nudity also implies that Black parents neglect their children. The clothing bag in this exhibit is typical of the way that Black children were portrayed in the 1960s: naked, happy, and laughable.

Read: Patricia A. Turner, Ceramic Uncles & Celluloid Mammies: Black Images and Their Influence on Culture (New York: Anchor Books, 1994).

C2-05 ASHTRAY 9 x 9 x 9 The objects in the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia are everyday objects. They are racially insensitive objects—often depicting Blacks as physically grotesque and culturally deficient. They are also functional items, meaning, a racist ashtray serves multiple purposes. It perpetuates anti-Black caricatures and stereotypes, but it also serves as a place to put cigarette ashes. Maybe at some psychological level the ashtray serves both purposes, simultaneously. The ashtray in this exhibit is from the 1950s.

C3-06 PLAIN BROWN RAPPER 13 x 11 x 11 All racial groups have been caricatured, but no group has been caricatured in as many ways, and as often, as have Africans and their American descendants. Many of the caricatures arose during slavery—for example, Mammy, Tom, Sambo, and Picanninny—and some like the Brute arose shortly after slavery. Unfortunately, anti-Black caricatures are still being created. The Plain Brown Rapper is a caricature of young Black men as dope dealing thugs. This mask was produced in 1996 and is popular as a Halloween mask.

C3-07 WOODEN TARGET/BALL TOSS 15 x 21 x 9 Many games of the late 19th and early 20th centuries reflected violent racial attitudes towards Africans and African Americans. These games revealed an intense white hostility towards Blacks. This enmity was legitimated, even celebrated, by making it appear as if the Blacks depicted enjoyed the ill- treatment to which the games subjected them. The implicit message was that Blacks did not feel pain in the ways that Whites did; the games’ players could enjoy aggressive assaults because no real pain was inflicted. The game in this exhibit is a reproduction of a 1920s game. It instructs players to ―aim for Alabama Coons’ big smile.‖

Read: Denis Mercier, From Hostility to Reverence: 100 years of African American Imagery in Games. Accessed July 9, 2004 http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/links/games/

C3-8 WOODEN HEAD TOSS 11 x 13 x 12 ―The target games found in traveling carnival shows, seashore resorts and fairgrounds throughout the nation were among the most racially aggressive of all popular games. A painted canvas of a scene, usually a cotton plantation, had a hole through which a Black man stuck his head and tried to get out of the way of the ball. Small prizes were awarded for a direct hit. In 1878 the C.W.F. Dare Company of New York offered painted "Negro Head Canvases" and "Negro Heads" made of wood since live targets were not always easy to come by. Some operators provided human targets with protective wooden helmets covered with curly hair. Eventually such games grated against public sensibilities and were declared illegal.‖ The head in this exhibit is a recreation of a carnival head target from the late 1800s.

Read: Denis Mercier, From Hostility to Reverence: 100 years of African American Imagery in Games. Accessed July 9, 2004 http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/links/games/

C4-09 GHETTOPOLY 32 x 34 x 2 In 2002, David Chang released Ghettopoly, a parody of the popular Monopoly game. Chang, a Taiwanese immigrant, claimed that his game was a satirical look at Black images in BET and MTV rap videos, namely, pimps, prostitutes, crack addicts, and gangsters. When civil rights organizations protested the game, sales increased. In 2003, Hasbro sued Chang to make him stop selling the game; Chang countersued.

C4-10 LOUISE BEAVERS 23 x 23 x 11 Louise Beavers’ first job in Hollywood was as the real-life maid for actress Leatrice Joy. In the 1920s she began picking up film roles as maids, and despite her considerable performing talents, her long film career was mostly limited to playing domestics. One of her outstanding performances was as ―Delilah Johnson‖ opposite Claudette Colbert in the 1934 film Imitation of Life. Beavers had a weight problem: it was a constant battle for her to stay overweight. She often wore padding to give her the appearance of a mammy. In 1939 she starred in Prison Bait; a handbill is included in this exhibit. On the back of the exhibit is written, ―May 1-2 first time showing for colored.‖

Read: Donald Boggle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films (New York: Continuum, 1973/1994).

C4 Panel for C5-12

C4 Opening Panel Hateful Things

First on de heel tap, Den on the toe Every time I wheel about I jump Jim Crow. Wheel about and turn about En do j's so. And every time I wheel about, I jump Jim Crow. - Lyric transcribed from 1823 sheet music

In the 1820s Thomas Rice, a White entertainer, caused a nationwide sensation by darkening his face with burnt cork and performing the song "Jump Jim Crow" on stage. His Jim Crow song-and-dance routine was a national and international success. Rice’s "Jim Crow" became a stock character in minstrel shows, along with counterparts Jim Dandy and Zip Coon. White audiences were receptive to the portrayals of Blacks as singing, dancing, grinning fools.

By 1838, the term "Jim Crow" was being used as a collective racial epithet for Blacks, not as offensive as nigger, but as insulting as coon or darkie. Obviously, the popularity of minstrel shows aided the spread of Jim Crow as a racial slur. This use of the term did not last past a half century. By the end of the 19th Century, the words Jim Crow were less likely to be used to derisively describe Blacks; instead, the phrase Jim Crow was being used to describe laws and customs that oppressed Blacks.

The exhibit, Hateful Things, uses items from the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University, to tell the story of life under Jim Crow.

C4 Closing Panel

The banner in this exhibition was used in the 1960s in several protest demonstrations. The values of the Jim Crow Museum are consistent with the values displayed by Dr. Martin Luther King.

Racism is wrong.

We oppose all forms of racism. The Jim Crow Museum's emphasis on anti-Black racial artifacts should not be seen as a lack of concern about other expressions of group oppression. We believe that prejudice and discrimination directed toward any group is wrong and must be opposed.

The fight against racism requires pro-active work.

Some people claim that race relations are worsened by discussions. We disagree. Rather, we agree with the Reverend Martin Luther King's assertion that "time is neutral." Social problems cannot solve themselves. We confront racism – publicly, continually, and relentlessly.

Scholarship is essential.

Our work must be guided by top quality research. Racism is a serious problem, and it deserves treatment as a serious problem. We bring the scholar's intellectual toolbox to this endeavor: curiosity, the objective pursuit of truth, the systematic collection and analysis of data, and the honest interpretation and presentation of those data. We do not see a conflict between activism and objective scholarship.

Our expectations are high. We encourage excellence in instruction. We promote collaborative learning among students and faculty. We are scholars debunking the many myths about Black Americans. We want to teach. We want to learn.

We are a community.

Ferris State University is one of several communities that have our allegiance. Our efforts are designed to make Ferris State University a safer community; this is partially accomplished by educating our students, faculty, and administration about issues of race and racism. We are also members of the Big Rapids community, the state of Michigan, the United States, and the world. The Internet makes the Jim Crow Museum accessible in every nation. We have an opportunity to teach untold millions. We accept that responsibility.

We must serve. We reject the "ivory tower" model of scholarly life. We are a resource to universities, high schools, civic organizations, and human rights groups.

C5-11 LITTLE BLACK SAMBO BOOKS 33 x 18 x 2 There are few, if any, children’s books as controversial as The Story of Little Black Sambo. Helen Bannerman’s original version (1898) may or may not have been racist; however, there is little doubt that the many knockoff versions that followed were blatantly racist. The characters were often drawn with racially caricatured features, and they used stereotypical language. Nevertheless, the story is often cited by middle-aged Whites as their ―favorite childhood story.‖ Many Blacks remember the story as insulting. The items in this exhibit were drawn from the 1940s through 1960s.

Read: Phyllis J. Yuill, Little Black Sambo: A History of Helen Bannerman’s The Story of Little Black Sambo and its popularity/controversy in the United States (New York: Racism and Sexism Resource Center for Educators, 1976).

C5-12 TEN LITTLE NIGGERS 30 x 22 x 2 This popular children’s story, written by Frank Green in 1869, celebrates the demise of ten Black children one-by-one. The story appeared in many children’s books, including Mother Goose’s Fairy Tales. The illustrations in this exhibit are from a 1890s booklet. The tale was originally set to music, and often sung to children at bedtime. Ten Little Niggers was also the name of a 1939 Agatha Christie novel, whose cover showed a black doll hanging with a noose around its neck. The story remained well-liked until the 1960s.

Here is the entire story:

Ten little nigger boys went out to dine; One choked his little self, and then there were nine.

Nine little nigger boys sat up very late; One overslept himself, and then there were eight.

Eight little nigger boys traveling in Devon; One said he'd stay there, and then there were seven.

Seven little nigger boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in half, and then there were six.

Six little nigger boys playing with a hive; A bumble-bee stung one, and then there were five.

Five little nigger boys going in for law; One got in chancery, and then there were four.

Four little nigger boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one, and then there were three.

Three little nigger boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one, and then there were two.

Two little nigger boys sitting in the sun;

One got frizzled up, and then there was one.

One little nigger boys living all alone; He got married, and then there were none.

C5-13 I AM A MAN 30 x 21 x 2 Jim Crow was wounded in the 1950s and 1960s. The Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), ruled segregated schools unconstitutional. This decision emboldened Blacks in the fledgling Civil Rights Movement. Whites, especially northern ones, were confronted with images of Black protesters being beaten by police officers, attacked by police dogs, and arrested for trying to vote, eat at ―White‖ lunch counters, and attend ―White‖ schools. The heroism of civil rights protesters helped pave the way for the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The images in this exhibit are from the early 1960s.

Read: Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters, America in the King Years 1954- 1963 (Riverside, New Jersey: Simon & Schuster, 1988).

C5-14 ATTA BOY 32 x 22 x 2 The Jim Crow system operated on the assumption that Whites were superior to Blacks in all important ways, including but not limited to intelligence, morality, and civilized behavior. Whites were seen as hardworking, intelligent, and ―normal‖; Blacks, on the other hand, were seen as lazy, stupid, and weird. These racial portrayals, common in many material objects, are illustrated in the game Atta Boy (circa 1930s). Mistah White, Mammy White, and the White children are tacit arguments against allowing Blacks to vote, attend integrated schools, and hold well-paying jobs.

C6-15 WORLD’S FAIR 28 x 20 x 1 Ota Benga was an African Pygmy brought to the United States by a missionary named Samuel Phillips Verner to be put on display like a carnival oddity at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. In 1906 Benga was placed in the Bronx Zoo as part of an exhibit on evolution; Benga was placed in a ―primate house‖ with an orangutan as a roommate. There were many Africans and African Americans exhibited in circus sideshows during the Jim Crow Era. William Henry Johnson, a black American born with a small, tapering cranium, was in circus sideshows from the 1850s to the 1920s as "Zip the Pinhead," the "What-Is-It?" Working with P.T. Barnum and the Ringling Brothers, Johnson was exhibited in a cage and monkey suit as the ―missing link‖ or the ―man-monkey.‖ This poster (circa 1940s) illustrates the stereotyping of Africans as ―freaks.‖

C6-16 COON CHICKEN INN 23 x 30 x 2 The Coon Chicken Inn was a small but successful restaurant chain in the American West from the late 1920s through the 1950s. The restaurants were especially notable for their entrances: a huge winking, grinning, grotesquely caricatured black man wearing a porter's cap. The words "Coon Chicken Inn" were spelled out on teeth framed by monstrous red lips. The doorway was through the middle of the black man’s mouth. The menu included southern

7 fried "Coon Chicken" sandwiches and chicken pie, as well as hamburgers, seafood, chili and assorted sandwiches. Blacks (especially ones with very dark skin) were employed as waiters, waitresses, and cooks. Blacks, of all shades, were not necessarily welcomed as customers. Spike Lee used several Coon Chicken Inn porter images in the movie Bamboozled. The photograph, ashtray, and menus are from the 1950s; the tin sign was created in the 1990s.

Read: Farrar, S. The History of the Coon Chicken Inn. http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/links/chicken/ Accessed July 7, 2004.

C6-17 WHITE/COLORED ONLY SIGNS 23 x 30 x 2 Jim Crow statutes severely regulated social interactions between the races. Jim Crow signs were placed above water fountains, door entrances and exits, and in front of public facilities. There were separate hospitals for Blacks and Whites, separate prisons, separate public and private schools, separate churches, separate cemeteries, separate public restrooms, and separate public accommodations. In most instances, the Black facilities were grossly inferior -- generally, older, less-well-kept. In other cases, there were no Black facilities -- no Colored public restroom, no public beach, no place to sit or eat. The signs displayed here are reproductions made in 1999 for a movie (unnamed) that dealt with segregation in the 1940s.

Please read: C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow. (Oxford University Press, 1957/2001).

C6-18 SWIZZLE STICKS 26 x 25 x 1 The Europeans, locked into the racial ethnocentrism of the 17th century, saw African nudity, polygamy, and tribal dances as proof of the African’s uncontrolled sexual lust. William Bosman described the Black women on the coast of Guinea as ―fiery‖ and ―warm‖ and ―so much hotter than the men.‖ William Smith described African women as ―hot consitution’d Ladies‖ who ―are continually contriving stratagems how to gain a lover.‖ The genesis of anti- Black sexual archetypes emerged from the writings of these and other Europeans: the Black male as brute and potential rapist, the Black woman as Jezebel whore. The objects in this exhibit are from the 1930s and 1940s.

Please read: Deborah Gray White, Ar’n’t I a Woman? Female Slaves In The Plantation South (New York: Norton, 1985/1999).

C6-19 AUNT JEMIMA POSTER 28 x 32 x 1 Mammy was born on the plantation in the imagination of slavery defenders, but she grew in popularity during the period of Jim Crow. The mainstreaming of Mammy was primarily, but not exclusively, the result of the fledgling advertising industry. The mammy image was used to sell almost any household item, especially breakfast foods, detergents, planters, ashtrays, sewing accessories, and beverages. As early as 1875, Aunt Sally, a mammy image, appeared on cans of baking powder. Later, different mammy images appeared on Luzianne coffee and cleaners, Fun to Wash detergent, Aunt Jemima Pancakes, and other products. Mammy represented wholesomeness. This obese maternal figure, with her wide grin and great love for White families, was a perfect pitchwoman. The poster in this exhibit was produced in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

The advertising icon Aunt Jemima was born at the 1893 World Columbian Exhibition in Chicago, Illinois, with ex-slave Nancy Green’s promotion of inventor Charles Rutt’s pancake mix. Aunt Jemima not only advertised the 8 great American breakfast, but also portrayed Black women as happy servants reminiscent of Mammy in Gone with the Wind. Despite a corporate image makeover in the early 1980s, which involved slimmer features and the loss of servitude-signifying bandanna, the trademark ―Aunt Jemima‖ continues to invoke memories of slavery and segregation. The poster in this exhibit was produced in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

Read: M. M. Manning, Slave in a Box: The Strange Career of Aunt Jemima. (Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia, 1998).

C7-20 SAMBO TARGET 20 x 28 x 1 A stereotype is a preconceived and oversimplified generalization about an entire group without regard for individual differences.

Look at this game (circa 1930s). What do you see? What do you really see?

If the only thing you knew about Blacks was what you saw in this object, what would you think about African-Americans?

Read: C. Neil MacRae, Charles Stangor, and Milies Hewstone, eds. Stereotypes and Stereotyping (New York: Guilford Press, 1996).

C7-21 BLACK FACE 28 x 15 x 2 Minstrel shows developed in the 1840’s, peaked after the Civil War and remained popular into the mid-1900s. In these shows, white men blackened their faces with burnt cork to ridicule Blacks, performing songs and skits that sentimentalized slave life on Southern plantations. Blacks were shown as childlike buffoons who sang and danced the days away, gobbling "chitlins," stealing watermelons, and inexplicably expressing their love for "ol' massuh." Minstrel shows continued to be popular well into the 1950s, as high school students, church groups, fraternities and local theater groups often performed minstrel shows in blackface.

Read: Annemarie Bean, ed. Inside the Minstrel Mask: Reading in Nineteeth- Century Blackface Minstrelsy. (Weslyan University Press, 1996).

C7-22 LYNCHINGS PAINTING 28 x 23 x 1 "The ultimate goal of lynchers," as Ralph Ellison stated in Going to the Territory (1986), "is that of achieving ritual purification through destroying the lynchers' identification with the basic humanity of their victims. Hence their deafness to cries of pain, their stoniness before the sight and stench of burning flesh. . . ." The horrors of lynchings were captured in this painting, entitled, The Lynched (2003). The artist, Laertis Limnidis, interpreted lynching from the perspective of the victim.

C7-23 AM MATCHING GAME CRATE C For much of America’s history the accomplishments of Black explorers, inventors, scholars, and activists were ignored or trivialized. In some parts of the South encyclopedias that discussed the achievements of Africans and African Americans were banned from school libraries. The ignoring of Black achievers reinforced the stereotype that Blacks were cultural parasites who had not made any significant contributions to the United States. In 1926, Carter G. Woodson, a professional historian, founded Negro History Week to celebrate the accomplishments of Black Americans. Later, Woodson’s idea blossomed into a celebration of African-American culture that became Black History Month in 1976 – coinciding with the nation’s bicentennial. In 1975, Reuben E. Cummings, a lay historian, created the game Blacks In American History. As with Woodson, Cummings wanted Americans to learn about the achievements of its Black citizens.

C7-24 PAPER MASKS 27 x 19 x 1 From the time that Africans were introduced into the English American colonies, they and their dark-skinned descendants have been victimized by racial caricatures and stereotypes. The Savage is one of the most vulgar caricatures of Blacks. This portrayal of Blacks suggests that they are primitive, superstitious, hypersexual heathens. The Savage is a cannibal. The Savage rapes, kills, and eats Whites. The Savage is depicted as a lesser human forever outside the reach of White civilization. The masks in this exhibit are probably from the 1950s.

Read: George M. Fredrickson, The Black Image in the White Mind: The Debate on Afro-American Character and Destiny, 1817-1914 (Hanover; New Hampshire: Wesleyan University Press, 1971/1987).

C7-25 FETCH ON DAT CAKE 28 x 23 x 1 Originally, a stereotype referred to a rigid and simplistic ―picture in the head.‖ In current usage, stereotypes are unreliable generalizations about all members of a group without regard for individual differences. They can be positive (women are nurturers) or negative (athletes are dumb), but stereotypes are inaccurate when applied to every member or most members of a group. When applied to races, stereotypes are constructed beliefs claiming that all members of a race share given characteristics, usually negative. Stereotyping causes people to view Native Americans as alcoholics, Puerto Ricans as violent criminals, and white Americans as heartless bigots. A stereotype may contain a kernel of truth, but that kernel is exaggerated and too broadly applied. What are the stereotypes of African Americans in this early 20th Century poster?

C8-26 LYNCHINGS 21 x 26 x 2 The Jim Crow laws and system of etiquette were supported by violence, real and threatened. Blacks who violated Jim Crow norms, for example, drinking from the White water fountain or trying to vote, risked their homes, their jobs, even their lives. Whites could physically beat Blacks with impunity. Blacks had little legal recourse against these assaults because the Jim Crow criminal justice system was all-White: police, prosecutors, judges, juries, and prison officials. Violence was instrumental for Jim Crow. It was a method of social control. The most extreme forms of Jim Crow violence were lynchings. Lynchings were public, often sadistic, murders carried out by mobs. Between 1882, when the first reliable data were collected, and 1968, when lynchings had become rare, there were 3,440 known lynchings of Black men and women. Most of the victims of Lynch-Law were hanged or shot, but some were burned at the stake, castrated, beaten with clubs, or dismembered.

Read: James Allen, et al. Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America (Santa Fe, New Mexico: Twin Palms Publishers, 2000).

C8-27 CREAM OF WHEAT 22 x 27 x 1 The Tom caricature portrays Black men as faithful, happily submissive servants. He is a smiling, wide-eyed, dark skinned server: fieldworker, cook, butler, porter, or waiter. The most enduring commercial Tom is "Rastus," the Cream of Wheat Cook. Emery Mapes, who wanted a likable image to help sell packages of ―breakfast porridge,‖ created Rastus in 1893. Maples, a former printer, remembered the image of a Black chef among his stock of old printing blocks. He made a template of the Black chef and named the product Cream of Wheat. The original logo was used until the 1920s when Maples, impressed by the "wholesome" looks of a Chicago waiter serving him breakfast, created a new chef. The waiter was paid five dollars to pose as the second Rastus in a chef's hat and jacket. The image of this nameless man has appeared, with only slight modifications, on Cream of Wheat boxes for almost ninety years. The advertisement in this exhibit appeared in 1941.

Read: Alice Ross, ―Rastus and Friends,‖ The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles, April 2003 [journal online]; available from http://www.journalofantiques.com/Apriil03/hearthapr03.htm; Internet, accessed 10 July 2004.

C8-28 DEED 21 x 25 x 1 A racial restrictive covenant was a contract among private property owners in a neighborhood, whereby they agreed not to sell, rent, lease, or otherwise convey property to Blacks, Jews, or other groups considered undesirable by the property owners. These legal agreements were often used to enforce residential racial segregation from 1910-1948. The Supreme Court outlawed some forms of private discrimination in Shelley v. Kramer (1948), in which it held that "restrictive covenants" that barred sale of homes to Blacks or Jews or Asians were unconstitutional. The restrictive covenant displayed here was signed January 13, 1926, in Baltimore, Maryland.

C8-29 RASTUS CALENDARS 24 x 25 x 2 Racist collectibles are highly sought after by collectors. The increased demand has resulted in a proliferation of counterfeits. Almost all heavily coveted "Black collectibles" have been reproduced, especially slavery-related items, segregation signs, advertising pieces, figurines, toys, and mechanical banks. Anti-Black ephemera seem particularly prone to forgery. Almost all Black-related postcards, posters, and advertising signs have been counterfeited. Cream of Wheat advertisements, Coon Chicken Inn hand fans, Bull Durham posters, and Aunt Jemima ephemera have all been reproduced 11 in great numbers. These two calendars are counterfeits. They were put into smoke houses to color the paper, thereby giving the appearance of being aged. There are numerous counterfeit "Whites Only" and "Colored Served In Rear" signs offered for sale by Internet auction houses. These paper signs show brown edges, but the centers of the signs are not discolored.

C8-30 ALLIGATOR BAIT 17 x 26 x 2 This print (1896) and letter opener (circa 1940s) both portray Black children as food for animals. The belief that Black children were ―alligator bait‖ implied that they were savage, animalistic, and not fully human. In verbal lore, literature, and material culture, Black children, often naked or near naked, are shown being stalked or eaten by alligators.

Read: Patricia A. Turner, Ceramic Uncles & Celluloid Mammies: Black Images and Their Influence on Culture (New York: Doubleday, 1994), 31-40.

C9-31 CUTTING BOARD 22 x 18 x 2 Jim Crow was more than de jure and de facto segregation reflected by insulting public signs. It was the systemic degrading of Blacks. This degradation was expressed in everyday items, including, but not limited to ashtrays, postcards, Halloween masks, incense burners, fishing lures, sheet music, detergent boxes, wall clocks, jewelry, and toys. Black men, for example, were depicted as slow talking, childlike servants; wide-eyed, big- lipped buffoons; or menacing, subhuman brutes. This cutting board (circa 1940s) is an everyday object that perpetuates the idea that Blacks are silly.

Read: James Boskin, Sambo: The Rise & Demise of An American Jester (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986).

C9-32 LESTER MADDOX 17 x 24 x 2 Lester Maddox (1915-2003) opened the Pickrick Cafeteria in 1947. Two years later, Maddox began a series of paid advertisements in the Atlanta Journal, called ―Pickrick Says.‖ Through the voice of ―Pickrick,‖ his fictional alter ego, Maddox spoke against racial integration. In 1964, he defied the newly passed Civil Rights bill by refusing to serve three Black college students. He threatened to shoot them and beat them with axe handles. Later, he sold his restaurant rather than serve Blacks. His stance made him a hero to White segregationists—in Georgia and nationwide. Maddox was elected Governor of Georgia in 1966, and maintained his segregationist agenda. In 1976, Maddox ran unsuccessfully for the presidency of the United States. He distributed miniature axe handles, ―pickricks,‖ to supporters. The one in the display is autographed and dated April 28, 1976.

Read: Bob Short, Everything is Pickrick: The Life of Lester Maddox (Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 1999).

C9-33 RESTAURANT SIGN 22 x 19 x 2 Blacks, under Jim Crow, were expected to ―stay in their places.‖ Simply put, this meant that African Americans were not to challenge the Jim Crow system of laws, customs, and etiquette. Blacks, for example, knew which restaurants would serve them, and how they were served—often at the back door of White restaurants. Whites Only signs were placed in many restaurants, but other restaurants had signs with more subtle messages like these two from the 1950s. Whether the signs’ messages were blatant or subtle, Blacks knew they were not going to be served with dignity.

Read: Kennedy Stetson, Jim Crow Guide: The Way It Was (Gainesville, FL: Florida Atlantic University Press, 1959/1990). 12

C9-34 REB REBEL/KKK 21 x 15 x 2 Ku Klux Klan (also called the Invisible Empire) is the name of a secret society that has terrorized Blacks from the end of the Civil War to the present. Although claiming to be a Christian organization, the Klan has harassed, beaten, lynched, and bombed Black Americans. Klan membership exceeded two million in the mid-1920s; by 2000, the number was less than 20,000. Today, there are many independent Klan organizations. The new Klans have ―mainstreamed‖ their recruitment by deemphasizing violence, but stress opposition to affirmative action, bussing, and liberal immigration policies. The Klan membership certificate, Johnny Rebel record, and Klan knife are from the 1950s and 1960s.

Read: James Ridgeway, Blood in the Face: The Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, Nazi Skinheads, and the Rise of a New White Culture (New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1990).

C10-35 SKIN LIGHTENERS 18 x 14 x 2 During the Jim Crow period, black skin was associated with poverty, ignorance, inferiority—and ugliness. Not surprising, many Blacks, especially women, sought to improve their social standing by ―bleaching‖ their skin. Products such as Lucky Brown Bleaching Cream and Nadinola Bleaching Cream were advertised in Black magazines and found in many Black homes. Mainstream America favored White skin and many Black Americans internalized White America’s antipathy toward Black skin. This briefly changed following the Black Power Movement of the 1960s and 1970s; however, bleaching creams were again popular in the 1990s. The items in this exhibit are from the 1950s and 1960s.

Read: Noliwe M. Rooks, Hair Raising: Beauty, Culture, and African American Women (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1996). C10-36 WOODEN SIGN/NO N/J/D 18 x 22 x 1 Jim Crow laws touched every aspect of everyday life. For example, in 1935, Oklahoma prohibited Blacks and Whites from boating together. Boating implied social equality. In 1905, Georgia established separate parks for Blacks and Whites. In 1930, Birmingham, Alabama, made it illegal for Blacks and Whites to play checkers or dominoes together. As this sign (circa 1950s) demonstrates, Blacks were not the only people to suffer discrimination during the Jim Crow period.

View: From Swastika to Jim Crow, dir. Lori Cheatle, 2000. Videocassette.

C10-37 HAIR STRAIGHTENER 18 x 14 x 2 During the Jim Crow period Blacks were taught that distinctive African features—primarily, dark skin and kinky hair—were ugly. Many Blacks internalized this racist notion and sought to alter their natural appearances. Bleaching creams lightened the skin, though not safely, and a plethora of licensed and homemade products were used to straighten hair. The products in this exhibit are from the 1950s and 1960s.

Read: Noliwe M. Rooks, Hair Raising: Beauty, Culture, and African American Women (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1996).

C10-38 LBJ LICENSE PLATE 20 x 14 x 1 The portrayal of Black women as lascivious by nature is an enduring stereotype. The descriptive words associated with this stereotype are singular in their focus: seductive, alluring, worldly, beguiling, tempting, and lewd. Historically, White women, as a category, were portrayed as models of self-respect, self-control, and modesty – even sexual purity, but Black women were often portrayed as innately promiscuous, even predatory. This depiction of Black women is signified by the name Jezebel. In the 1964 presidential election between Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater, Johnson used the political slogan, ―All the way with LBJ.‖ This 1964 license plate mocks Johnson and Black women. In 1964 Johnson received overwhelming support from Black voters.