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Sorting Out Race
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Every day thrift stores receive items with racial imagery—antique advertising cards, collectible salt-and-pepper shakers, vintage children’s books, and mugs with sports team mascots. Are these harmless reminders of past attitudes or do they perpetuate stereotypes about race? Should thrift stores sell these objects? Or should they be “sorted out” of the resale environment and discarded?
Enter Sorting Out Race
To Our
Visitors
This exhibition explores controversial themes and displays racially offensive images with the goal of stimulating a healthy community conversation about our ongoing struggles with race.
Kauffman Museum formed the Thrift Store Collection from items found in thrift shops in Kansas from 2010 to 2015.
Race and Racial Identity
- the act of running
this meaning comes from Old English and was in general use by the mid-16th century, and used to mean a speed contest by the 17th century
- a group of humans who share skin color, or language, culture, or geographical origin
this meaning dates from the early 16th century via French from Italian razza
Racial Identity
- People define themselves based on a common bond with their own racial group
- Society defines groups of people according to racial categories
Adopted at age five by a family she calls “good people,” Houseman-Whitehawk grew up in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, and endured alone the racism of her predominantly white community. She disclosed that her adoptive parents “didn’t know what kind of Indian I was, so there was always this question mark in my identity: who am I and where did I come from?” At age 22 she discovered her Winnebago and Santee Sioux background. Three years later her birth mother and uncle introduced Houseman-Whitehawk to Winnebago traditions, roles, and spirituality, which led her to focus her art on her Indian heritage.
Three Winnebagos and One Sioux
1989
Gouache painting by Laurie Houseman-Whitehawk, produced as print for 1990 Lawrence Indian Arts Show. Hand-signed.
Thrift Store Collection 174
Beginning in early reservation days, the US government and missionaries promoted a “civilized” lifestyle including the values of individuality and Christianity for Native Americans.
Yakima Indian Christian Mission School
Adopting clothing and hairstyles of the dominant culture were part of this transformation. Sometimes benefits were withheld if Yakama men did not cut their braids, even though cutting their hair was a traditional sign of mourning.
The Yakima Indian Christian Mission encouraged formal education by providing boarding facilities for children of the Yakama Nation who attended public school. Fostering a “Christian perspective” meant changing children to values and styles that would more closely reflect those of white society.
Rev. Malcolm L. Norment, director of the mission, probably wrote the photo captions quoted below. In 1953 Norment was featured in a Christian Century article “Are Indian Rights Again Being Betrayed?” as an advocate for preserving the rights of Indian fishers who were facing the construction of a dam that would contaminate traditional salmon runs. How do we reconcile Rev. Norment’s advocacy for maintaining the traditional livelihoods of Native Americans with his disregard for their long-held beliefs about the symbolism of hair cutting?
Three Photos from Yakima Indian Christian Mission School, White Swan, Washington , 1952-55
Thrift Store Collection 274, 235, 234
Witness
Witness
Bible Hand Puppets
Bible Hand Puppets
1960s
Lambert Huffman, Publishers, Winona Lake, Indiana
Thrift Store Collection 68
The community of Winona Lake was once the home of evangelical preacher Billy Sunday (1862-1935). While Sunday publicly advocated for cooperation between the races, he discouraged blacks living in the American south from relocating to northern states on the basis that “The south is as naturally your home as Alaska is the home of the Eskimo.”
What gender stereotype can you see in this poster?
Sunday School Poster of Mother and Daughter
1966
Published by DCC Publishing Company (David C. Cook).
Stereotype and Racial Stereotyping
- a simplified description applied to every person in a category
- learned from society around us, our families, friends, community organizations, and the media
Stereotypes shape what we see, how we act and respond to others. They can be unfair descriptions that create distance between groups of people. Stereotypes resist change because we are often not conscious of them.
• a generalization about people of a specific racial group
Racial Stereotypes
Racial stereotypes are assumptions that races can be differentiated by their traits, characteristics, behaviors or values.
- Mexicans are lazy.
- Blondes are ditzy and dumb.
- Asian Americans are good at math.
- Native Americans live in harmony with Mother Earth.
- Black Americans love watermelon.
Snake Eyes Dice Game
1930s
Dice game from the maker of Parcheesi.
Thrift Store Collection 183
The Stupids Have a Ball Storybook
1978
The blond-haired Stupid family holds a costume ball to celebrate their children flunking all their school courses.
Thrift Store Collection 566
Watermelon and Pickaninny on a Seashell Throne
1910s
A popular travel souvenir from Florida. Why do you think someone repaired this with hot glue and gave it to a thrift shop?
Thrift Store Collection 114
“The association of Blacks with watermelons is, at its root, a mean-spirited attempt to insult and mock Blacks.”
David Pilgrim, curator, Jim Crow Museum, Ferris State University (2008)
Seeing Stereotypes
“Deliverance” Collectible Plate
1992
From painting by Chuck Ren for the Mystic Warriors Plate Collection, Plate No. 289144. Some people assume that the Noble Savage stereotype is a positive image, yet viewing American Indians as people relegated to the past limits attention to contemporary Native American issues.
Thrift Store Collection 465
Seeing Stereotypes: Antiques and Collectibles
Seeing stereotypes in antiques and collectibles requires a fresh look at historical attitudes:
- pickaninny
- slaves and servant
- Indian princess
- advertising mascot
- entertainer
- savage warrior
J&P Coats Thread Trade Card
1880-1890
Collectible novelty distributed free with purchase of cotton thread.
Thrift Store Collection 301
In the American South, pickaninny referred to an African American slave child with unkempt appearance, a bit slow and naughty, fond of watermelon, who spoke in “slave” dialect with mispronunciations and poor grammar. Manufacturers from Missouri and Kansas have copied this antique advertisement and made it into stationery. The maker claims that the image of a pickaninny riding a spool of thread is “excellent for framing.” Why is this image appealing one hundred years after its creation?
Embroidered Chinaman Laundry Bag
1940s
Thrift Store Collection 386
“…in the classrooms where Chinese American students are still seen as mere grinds, in the boardrooms where Chinese American employees are still seen as followers rather than leaders, and in the backrooms where Chinese American workers are still seen as cheap, obedient labor, stereotypes are not collapsing. They are still holding, holding us back.”
Eric Liu, A Chinaman’s Chance: One Family’s Journey and the Chinese American Dream (2014)
Pocahontas Board Book
2009
“Disney Princess” illustrated book based on the animated film. While Disney’s webpage asserts that Pocahontas was “adventurous and strong,” the book presents the “fair” but beautiful Pocahontas in the submissive role of falling in love with John Smith—an event that historians have protested is entirely fictional. This “simple” book contains stereotypes not understandable to toddlers.
Thrift Store Collection 296
“It is unfortunate that this sad story, which Euro-Americans should find embarrassing, Disney makes ‘entertainment’ and perpetuates a dishonest and self-serving myth at the expense of the Powhatan Nation.”
Chief Roy Crazy Horse, long-time leader of the Powhatan Renape
Land O Lakes Recipe Box
around 2010
In 1929 this Minnesota dairy cooperative began featuring a Native American maiden in its packaging. The image has experienced makeovers, most recently in the 1950s by Red Lake Ojibwe artist Patrick DesJarlait. Is a stereotyped caricature acceptable if created by someone from that racial group? In 2020 the Land O Lakes eliminated the woman as part of their rebranding as “farmer owned.”
Thrift Store Collection 514
Advertisement for Lucky Strike Cigarettes
1932
Back cover of “The Country Home” magazine featuring illustration of “The Fort Dearborn Massacre” of 1812 by famous American artist N.C. Wyeth. Part of an advertising campaign contrasting the mildness of their “toasted” tobacco to “raw” nature.
Thrift Store Collection 423
“The historical image of the Indians is pretty well set, we are the bad guys who burned the wagon trains and images are the white man’s game.”
Vine Deloria, Jr., Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto (1970)
Limberjack or Step Dancing Man
around 1910
A Kansan made this loose-limbed figure that will “dance” when bounced on a vibrating platform. Handmade wooden limberjack dolls have been popular street entertainment in Europe for over four hundred years.
Thrift Store Collection 180
“Each artist should be allowed to pursue their artistic endeavor. But I still think a lot of stuff that's out today is coonery buffoonery....We could do better.”
Spike Lee, 14th Annual Black Enterprise Conference (2009)
Stereotype
Cycle
Stereotypes to Racism
Racial stereotypes are harmful when they
• justify racial inequalities
• perpetuate systems of dominance and privilege
How can artifacts with racial stereotypes support conscious and unconscious beliefs that sustain racial injustice?
“You can disavow that you have any racist thoughts by saying you simply think it's a cute image.”
Maribel Alvarez, social scientist, University of Arizona (2012)
Racial stereotypes impose labels that lead to:
- prejudice—rigid, unfair attitudes about a category
Prejudice leads to:
- discrimination—unequal treatment of people based on their category
Prejudice and discrimination are the basic building blocks of
- racism—a system of advantage that sustains the wealth, power and prestige of the dominant group.
The word “racism” first appeared in English in 1936.
Witness
Seeing Racism
Seeing racism in antiques and collectibles requires a fresh look at historical and current behaviors:
• costume party
• sports mascots
Schoolchildren in Blackface
around 1935
Photo by W. Jay Pepperd, Coldwater, Kansas.
Thrift Store Collection 238
“It’s just a stupid thing to do. It’s a racist thing to do. What blackface does is give the white people privilege of representing black people, of taking black images and treating them as a thing owned.”
Eric Lott, author of Love & Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy & the American Working Class (2013)
What's so offensive?
Sports Mascots
Native Americans say these are offensive:
- dressing up in fake headdresses and face paint
- imitation war chants
- mock attacks with axes, knives, spears, bows and arrows
- cartoons with exaggerated features and clothing
- references to scalping and savagery
- taking a name that isn’t authentic to the group
Witness
In 2014, Wichita Eagle sportswriter and North High School alumnus Bob Lutz changed his mind about North’s mascot: “Because ‘Redskins’ is an offensive term. It was offensive then and it’s offensive now. And whether or not most Native Americans are offended or not, ‘Redskins’ should not be a nickname at North or anywhere else. What made me come around on this issue? Time, I suppose. A changing culture, maybe. Better understanding, I hope.”
Wichita North High School Redsk*ns Mug
around 2000
Thrift Store Collection 72
Seeing Racism in America
Racism is complex and it
operates at two levels:
Systemic
Racism
Structural
- racial bias and bigotry across society and time
- root causes found in history, culture, ideology and interactions of institutions
- systematic privilege of white people and disadvantage of people of color
Institutional
- segregation laws
- discriminatory policies
- seniority system
- tests with questions based on biased knowledge
- unequal, harmful actions by institutions: school, church or government
- redlining (real estate practices that exclude people based on race)
Individual
Racism
Internalized
- private beliefs and biases about race and racism
- personal prejudice toward other races
- privilege or beliefs about superiority or entitlement
- internalized negative beliefs among people of color
Interpersonal
- harassment
- assault/hate crime
- overt acts by one race that harm others of another race
- racial slurs, referring to others as “they”, put-down jokes
- physical or social distancing: whom you sit with or whom you exclude
what would they say about
America?
If Collectibles Could Talk
Why are African Americans almost three times more likely than whites to be subjected to police investigatory stops and five times more likely to be searched by officers?
Black man as criminal
- segregation laws
- discriminatory policies
- seniority system
- tests with questions based on biased knowledge
- unequal, harmful actions by institutions: school, church or government
- redlining (real estate practices that exclude people based on race)
Pinching a Black Head Postcard
1915
Illustration by P. Crosby of policeman with billyclub and gun chasing a black man.
Thrift Store Collection 555
“Today mass incarceration defines the meaning of blackness in America: black people, especially black men, are criminals. That is what it means to be black.”
Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (2010)
Second class citizens
Perfect Flour Metal Sign
1980s reproduction of 1901 advertisement
In addition to trade cards, lapel pins and cookbooks, the Northwestern Consolidated Milling Company distributed signs and calendars to promote their flour. As one of three milling companies that dominated the US flour market, Northwestern products were distributed by N.T. Swezey, a flour merchant at the New York Produce Exchange which established national and world prices for petroleum, turpentine, and staples like corn and wheat.
Thrift Store Collection 414
“What has happened that people will now buy these [reproductions] and proudly display them in their homes—items that are as racially stereotypical as the originals?”
Kenneth W. Goings, Mammy and Uncle Mose: Black Collectibles and American Stereotyping (1994)
Who made the floury handprint on the black child’s cheek? Was the white child reaching behind to playfully push the black child? Was the white child pushing the black child back to protect his bread?
- harassment
- assault/hate crime
- overt acts by one race that harm
others of another race
- racial slurs, referring to others as
“they”, put-down jokes
Who gets to eat bread? What connects “Perfect” white flour with the white child?
- private beliefs and biases about race and racism
- personal prejudice toward other people of a different race
- privilege or beliefs about superiority or entitlement
- internalized negative beliefs among people of color
Vanishing Indians
The Kansas legislature officially adopted the state seal on May 25, 1861, four months after Kansas became a state. The original resolution said:
“...in the background is seen a herd of buffalo, retreating, pursued by two Indians, on horseback...”
Which figures dominate at the front and who is the smallest element disappearing in the back? How does their position promote the idea that whites are “winners” who have defeated the uncivilized Native Americans?
The Great Seal of Kansas
around 2000
Laminated teaching tool distributed by the Kansas Heritage Center.
Thrift Store Collection 348
- segregation laws
- discriminatory policies
- seniority system
- tests with questions based on biased knowledge
- unequal, harmful actions by institutions: school, church or government
- redlining (real estate practices that exclude people based on race)
White privilege
Stereotypes can be positive in nature and still have negative effects because they promote social hierarchies. Stereotypes that portray white people as superior, blessed, or conquering reinforce attitudes that rationalize enslavement, discrimination, and segregation. The social, political, and economic power that white people acquire from racial inequality is called white privilege.
The Story of Creation
2010
Board book that shows a white child as being made in God’s “own image.”
Thrift Store Collection 469
Witness
In 1992 Crayola launched “multicultural colors” to represent the skin tones of the world: apricot, peach, tan, sepia, burnt sienna and mahogany plus black and white for “shading.”
Flesh and Peach Crayons
1960s
Wax crayons manufactured by Binney & Smith (Crayola) and American Crayon Company (Crayonex).
The history of Binney & Smith Company, according to crayoncollecting.com:
• 1903: a pinkish brown “flesh tint” appears in crayon boxes
• 1949: “flesh tint” is shortened to “flesh”
• 1956: “flesh” is renamed “pink beige”
• 1958: the name “flesh” returns
• 1962: “flesh” is renamed “peach”
“Multiculturalism is an important issue in early childhood education today because it is important for each child to build a positive sense of self, and to respect the cultural diversity in others.” Crayola.com
Remaking Meaning
By definition, stereotypes are enduring generalizations. Remaking the meaning of a stereotype helps us to see individuals, not the generalized stereotype. It’s time to take another look, a new look.
Reclaiming Stereotypes
- Sleeping Mexican
- The Mammy
Sleeping Mexican
Since the 1930s this figure has been a stereotype in travel souvenirs. Rather than an unmotivated and passive slacker, the “Sleeping Mexican” should be seen as a hard worker escaping the sweltering midday sun before returning to work.
“The association of laziness to the siesta design is a misrepresentation of the Mexican and is no doubt a negative stereotype. This unfortunate portrayal of the Mexican has been the work of deliberate prejudice, ignorance and lack of historical knowledge on Mexico and Mexicans.”
Charles Phillip Jimenez, The Sleeping Mexican Phenomenon (1990)
Reclining Man with Bottle of Fake Tequila
around 1990
Souvenir of Saltillo, Mexico.
Thrift Store Collection 197
Maribel Alvarez of the University of Arizona has continued the work of remaking the meaning of this figure by looking at him as a symbol of honor and resistance: “He’s not sleeping. He’s dreaming of a better future.”
The Mammy
Aunt Jemima Salt Shaker
late 1940s
Made by the F&F Mold and Die Works, Dayton, Ohio, and distributed as a premium with the purchase of Quaker Oats.
Thrift Store Collection 86
Aunt Jemima brings together the history of slavery, women’s history, and the history of advertising. As the loyal slave devoted to her white family, Jemima represents the Old South myth that contrasted the large, jolly “mammy” to the delicate, leisure-loving southern belle. The stereotype continued into the twentieth century with Aunt Jemima ready-mixed products that offered kitchen help to middle-class housewives in place of black domestic servants.
Aunt Jemima Paper Napkin
1958
Distributed with free pancakes at Foodtown in Emporia, Kansas. In the 1950s, black women dressed as Aunt Jemima made guest appearances at public events to promote the sale of Aunt Jemima products. In 2020 the company decided to change its brand name and image.
Thrift Store Collection 585
Witness
Witness
Racing Forward
In 2008 and 2012 citizens of the United States elected Barack Obama as president of the United States. Does an African-American president mean that we are a more just and equal society than 100 years ago? What has changed since the passage of Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s? Have we made progress—whose progress?
Becoming Color Brave
Becoming Color Brave
State of Kansas Civil Rights Poster
1964
Public poster on state law regarding discrimination in employment for reason of
race, religion, color, national origin or ancestry.
Thrift Store Collection 350
“We don’t have to deny the progress that’s been made to also be honest about problems that remain.”
President Barack Obama, People magazine (2014)
Witness
Where do these items belong?
Take another look at items in your homes.
- Do they reflect your true values?
- Are there things that you would like to sort out of your life?
Where do these items belong?
“…in a garbage can or a museum…..the goal is to get people to think deeply.”
David Pilgrim, founder of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Michigan (2012)
This presentation is an abbreviated version of Sorting Out Race: An Examination of Stereotypes and Racial Identity in Thrift Store Donations, a traveling exhibition designed and produced by Kauffman Museum at Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas.