The objects displayed in Michigan’s newest museum range from the ordinary, such as simple ashtrays and fishing lures, to the grotesque — a full-size replica of a lynching tree. But all are united by a common theme: They are steeped in racism so intense that it makes visitors cringe.
That’s the idea behind the “Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia”, which says it has amassed the nation’s largest public collection of artifacts spanning the segregation era, from Reconstruction until the civil rights movement, and beyond.
The museum in a gleaming new exhibit hall at Ferris State University “is all about teaching, not a shrine to racism,” said David Pilgrim, the founder and curator who started building the collection as a teenager.
The mission of the Jim Crow Museum is to use objects of intolerance to teach tolerance and promote social justice. The museum features six exhibit areas — Who and What is Jim Crow, Jim Crow Violence, Jim Crow and Anti-Black Imagery, Battling Jim Crow Imagery, Attacking Jim Crow Segregation, and Beyond Jim Crow.
Where: 1010 Campus Drive, Big Rapids.
Cost: Free.
Hours: Noon-5 p.m. Monday through Friday; group tours by appointment.
Information: Call 231-591-5873, visit http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow or e-mail jimcrowmuseum@ferris.edu.
Sources :
Mike Householder, “Racist memorabilia museum opens at Ferris State University”, Lansing State Journal, April 20, 2012.
John Carlisle, “Museum’s collection of racist kitsch meant to spur dialogue”, Detroit Free Press, March 10, 2013, plus video