“Overcoming Hateful Things,” the traveling exhibit from Ferris State University’s Jim Crow Museum of Racist Imagery, will open at Wayne County Community College District in Detroit starting Monday, Feb. 5.
The exhibit, on display at WCCCD’s Curtis L. Ivery Downtown Campus, 1001 West Fort Street, includes artifacts that serve as reminders of America’s past and as an educational tool noting generations of pushback by African Americans through activism and achievement.
“Our mission has always been to provide pathways to better lives through higher education,” said Dr. Curtis L. Ivery, WCCCD chancellor. “This exhibit offers an opportunity to see and engage in history in a way that challenges, but also builds new understanding about where we have come from, and where we are going as a community and as a nation.”
The exhibit explores the Jim Crow system, the African American experience during that era, and its legacy in contemporary society through hundreds of objects from the period. The traveling exhibit includes 151 objects, 21 exhibit crates, 17 exhibits and eight multimedia interactive displays.
“‘Overcoming Hateful Things’ is an exhibit that will help stimulate spaces where intelligent discussions about race, race relations and racism can occur,” said David Pilgrim, Ferris State Vice President for Diversity, Inclusion and Strategic Initiatives and founder and director of the Jim Crow Museum. “We are proud to share this impactful exhibit in Detroit and in partnership with WCCCD.”
Detroit is the second stop for the exhibit, which is supported by a $500,000 grant from the Wege Foundation. It debuted in June at the Grand Rapids Public Museum and can move to other parts of the country and around the world after its time in Detroit.
The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Imagery is based on Ferris State University’s Big Rapids campus. It houses the nation’s largest publicly accessible collection of artifacts of intolerance and uses them to teach tolerance and to promote a more just society.
The traveling exhibit was created to tell similar stories in ways that encourage dialogue and understanding about painful histories and issues. The exhibit was designed by Howard Revis, the Washington, D.C.–based design firm that created the exhibits at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, to further its mission and impact across the United States and internationally.
The exhibit connects and expands on a series of educational experiences WCCCD has built. WCCCD recently received a Network to Freedom’s National Park Service Historic Underground Railroad designation for its educational programming, adding to its official designation of the College’s Central Educational Complex as a Detroit Underground Railroad Site Historic District by the City of Detroit.
WCCCD is one of the largest urban-suburban community colleges in Michigan. The district has six campus locations and educational centers, including the Mary Ellen Stempfle University Center, the Heinz C. Prechter Educational and Performing Arts Center, the Michigan Institute for Public Safety Education, the Curtis L. Ivery Health and Wellness Education Center and the Outdoor Careers Training Center.
Museums across the United States have been closing off sections and even covering displays in recent weeks due to new regulations on showcasing Native American artifacts.
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