‘Hateful Things’ exhibit on display at NIU’s Pick Museum through April 9

DeKALB – Viewing some of the items in the latest exhibit at Northern Illinois University’s Pick Museum might make visitors uncomfortable.

The traveling exhibit “Hateful Things,” created and circulated by the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University, will be on display at the Pick Museum of Anthropology, Cole Hall 114, through April 9.

The exhibit features 39 items that represent nearly 150 years of anti-Black and racist material and imagery. The exhibit is co-sponsored by the museum, NIU’s Center for Black Studies and Friends of the NIU Libraries.

Reservations to tour the exhibit can be made via the museum’s website. Visiting the exhibit is free, but donations are accepted. A free virtual tour will be accessible for viewing on the museum’s YouTube channel.

Rachelle Wilson, the museum’s curator, said that although the exhibit’s items might make some people feel uncomfortable, “seeing them is incredibly important.”

“You might not want to see some of the images that are portrayed because they might make you uncomfortable, but you’re just viewing them as a museum exhibit,” Wilson said. “Some people have to look at those items every day and have to live with those stereotypes. They have to live with knowing that their ancestors were enslaved and treated like property. Seeing the items, being confronted with them, can have people learn more about the problematic imagery shown.

“Some images are really, really hard to look at, including discussions of lynching and violence against Black bodies,” she said. “It’s time to get a little uncomfortable to understand why Black lives matter and why we need to start moving forward and making some changes.”

Joseph Flynn, associate director of academic affairs for the center and associate professor of curriculum and instruction, described the exhibit as “a sampling of the history of racist and negative images of African Americans across history, from post-slavery and emancipation until today.”

“Racism isn’t simply someone not liking someone, it’s an all pervasive experience, and part of that experience is how people are depicted throughout society,” he said.

“African Americans were often depicted as being less than human, beastly, unintelligent, unclean, dangerous, as well as silly, lazy and buffoonish. These negative images were on everything: kitchen calendars, household products, fast food companies, toys, games, books, movies, everywhere,” he said. “These images were not meant to be complimentary. They were meant to represent African Americans in ways that made us seem dangerous or comical.”

Wilson said she and Flynn have been planning to bring the exhibit to NIU’s campus for two years.

“We have been planning the exhibit for two years, and in the two years, so much has happened, especially this past summer with the protests,” Wilson said. “It’s obvious why these conversations must take place. It’s an issue locally, nationally and globally.”

Flynn said there has been a lot of interest in the exhibit so far, with many visitors’ reactions ranging from “disturbance to disgust” at the way Black people have been depicted throughout history.

“People see [the exhibit] and ask the same question: why were they represented this way? Not as a knowledge question but more of an emotional or spiritual question,” Flynn said. “That’s part of the way racism works. It’s not just about equal protection under the law. It’s also about how an entire race of people are represented as somehow being animalistic, deficient or just plain silly. Those stereotypes persist, that’s why they’re so dangerous.

“Having these kinds of images circulating through society and culture continues that tradition of damage and dehumanization,” Flynn said. “These negative images were not just advertisements or cute Mammy figurines you can put on your kitchen counter, they were the primary way African Americans were represented. At the same time, white people were being represented profoundly differently: as beautiful, noble, elegant, rich, intelligent, and, well, human.”

To contextualize the issue, during virtual guided tours of the exhibit, Flynn has asked students to do a Google image search of the words “beautiful woman.”

“As you scroll and scroll and scroll down the results list, overwhelmingly, it’s overwhelmingly white women that are pictured,” Flynn said. “Only a smattering of a smattering of Black, Latina or Asian women are shown as being ‘beautiful’ in comparison to the sea of white female faces. Very few darker-skinned women are represented. When did we start thinking that there was something ugly about being Black?

“That’s why the museum exhibit is so important. It shows the depth to which this negative connotation has permeated, how negative stereotypes were the norm for representations of African Americans, and in many ways still are today,” he said.

Before leaving the exhibit, visitors will have the opportunity to use markers and pens to write or draw on fabric quilt squares. When the exhibit ends, the squares will be sent to a Black quilter, who will create a quilt celebrating Black lives. The quilt will be housed and displayed at NIU’s Center for Black Studies.

For more information about the “Hateful Things” exhibit at NIU’s Pick Museum of Anthropology, visit www.niu.edu/clas/pick-museum/ or call 815-753-2520.