The Jim Crow Museum

April 14, 2007 in Don Imus, GumboTeen, arti/facts, jim crow, race, videos | No comments

Thanks JD for the heads up on The Jim Crow Museum of Hateful Things at Ferris State University. I must say I hadn’t seen this before, and won’t say much until I have some time for full perusal. There is much to look at, so let me know what you find and what you think. The museum’s collection seems particularly striking to me in light of the whole Imus thing, insofar as part of what is so painful about Imus’s remarks is the (very comfortable) way in which he so easily tapped into an historical narrative structured around cruel racial and sexual representations.

Here are some clicks some of you might find particularly interesting, viz. our discussions:

For the passing people, I thought you might find this essay on “The Tragic Mulatto” interesting. For my taste, it’s a touch too slippery with its terms (’hybridity,’ ‘passing,’ and so on–as we we’ve discussed in class), but it’s also chock full of important historical and visual references.

You girlpower people, meanwhile, might particularly find this entry on the “Jezebel Stereotype” interesting, particularly when thinking about representation of black female sexuality, which ties also to how girlpower is sometimes figured and racialized in popular culture.

And, finally, below is a little video of two young women from GumboTeen Magazine Online, doing a review of the “Hateful Things” exhibit, which is part of the Jim Crow Museum. GumboTeen also has a YouTube space, with a variety of videos examining today’s big issues from a teen perspective.

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