The $1.2 million project to raise funds for a permanent home for The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, located at Ferris State University in Big Rapids (Mich.), is a critically-important and ongoing mission.
The important lessons taught in the Jim Crow Museum, lessons that help the people of today learn from the painful lessons of the path, is becoming increasingly important. Many of the authentic objects (many from our past, but some from our present) in the museum will shake you up, make angry, make you cry and/or make you think. The Jim Crow Museum creates important and powerful conversations that help young people and old people, people of all races as well as males and females have open, honest and oftentimes frank discussions about race and racism in our society.
The powerful lessons learned by so many people who visit the museum, and learn the lessons the museum aims to teach, find their lives enriched by such an experience. Many times, these lessons are life-changing ones.
I can only imagine how my dad, who was from the South before he moved to the North as part of a great migration of blacks seeking jobs and a better way of life, would feel about these images.
My visit to the museum (as part of a Jim Crow class I was taking) was a powerful reminder of how racism creeps its way into every day lives in a stealth-like fashion. The racism we see every day, and oftentimes do not confront, goes unnoticed until we see it from a particular perspective.
The museum opens minds and hearts while encouraging all of us to critically think about imagery and language we see and use every day (language and imagery that is perhaps offensive in ways we struggle to comprehend).
Check out this video on the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia:
The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia is in the news. Below are a few samples:
The Detroit News
Howell’s ‘Hateful Things’ Exhibit Tramples Racial Stereotypes (Jan. 11, 2006)
Detroit News
Exhibition on Racism Stuns Visitors (Jan. 17, 2006)
Associated Press
KKK Robes, Books Sell at Michigan Auction (Jan. 30, 2005)
Associated Press
“At Ferris State, Mammy Inspires a Museum” (April 12, 2004)
New York Times
“The Perils of Improving a Racial Self” (Nov. 10, 2003)
Detroit Free Press
“Relics of Racism: Big Rapids Museum Lets its Memorabilia Tell the Ugly Story of Jim Crow in America” (Feb. 5, 2001)
Miami Times
“Evicting Jim Crow From Fraternity Row” (Nov. 27, 2001)
Grand Rapids Press
“Images of Intolerance Open Students’ Eyes (Jan. 3, 2002)
Houston Chronicle
“He’s a Pilgrim in Jim Crow Collectibles (Feb. 17, 2002)
New Orleans Gambit
“Ties That Bind” (Jan. 14, 2003)
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
“Objects of Past Racism are Utensils to Educate” (March 7, 2003)
Amsterdam News
“Jim Crow Museum Reflects Past/Present Racism, Via the Web and On Site in Michigan” (Feb. 26, 2003)
