Northern Illinois University
Pick Museum of Anthropology
Department of Anthropology

Hateful Things

February 1, 2021- April 9, 2021

From Aunt Jemima advertisements to the board game Ghettopoly, American popular culture is replete with racist images. The traveling exhibition Hateful Things – created and circulated by the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University – represents nearly 150 years of anti-black/racist material culture and imagery. The exhibition contains 39 items from the late 19th century to the present, embodying the terrible effects of the Jim Crow legacy.

In addition to items from popular and commercial culture, the exhibit also contains images of violence against African Americans as well as the Civil Rights struggle for racial equality. This powerful exhibit lifts objects from their original purposes to serve as reminders of America's racist past and challenges present-day images of racial stereotyping with the aim of stimulating the scholarly examination of historical and contemporary expressions of racism, as well as promoting racial understanding and healing.

This exhibit is sponsored by the Center for Black Studies and Pick Museum of Anthropology.

To help fund this exhibit and related programming, please direct your donations to the Center for Black Studies through the link below.

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