HATEFUL THINGS
A noose hanging from a tree.
A sign that reads: “No Negroes Allowed After Sundown.”
Photos of Ku Klux Klan members posing next to a beaten and bloody African American.
These are just a few of the powerful, incomprehensible images that show how Black men, women and children have suffered intolerance and social injustice over the past couple hundred years in the U.S. They are also signature pieces on display at the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia on the campus of Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan.
“I think we’ve done a great job in terms of facilitating good discussions about race, race relations, racism and about inclusion,” said Dr. David Pilgrim, museum founder and curator. “In this country, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we like heavy history. It’s history that paints us as smart, brave and exceptional, and we cherry pick and ignore instances where people who were disfavored were mistreated. The museum documents what happens in this country’s past and uses that to encourage people to confront that past.”
The anti-racism facility, which is
