An American Inheritance: The Story of Racist Memorabilia in Wisconsin & the US
People across the country have collected or inherited racist memorabilia from their families. These objects are sometimes called “Americana.” Today, there is an ongoing debate about what should be done with these artifacts. Many people are unsure whether it is ethical to destroy, sell, or donate them.
The Wisconsin Black Historical Society & Museum and America’s Black Holocaust Museum preserve African American history. We also face questions about donations we receive that contain racially harmful material.
This exhibit does not attempt to fully answer these difficult questions. Instead, it creates a space where artifacts donated to our museums can be placed in historical context. It also opens conversations about what should be done with these materials, which are still common and continue to cause pain and trauma.
These images are not of real people; they are, as the founder of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia states, “a distortion, a lie.”
As you explore the exhibits below, consider the intent of these images: why they were created, who created them, and the effect they were intended to have. Do these images and the ideas they represent continue to influence perceptions today?
In this mini-gallery, you will learn about:
- how racist stereotypes were created and spread through American culture.
- how these images were connected to slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and racial violence.
- how racist imagery appeared in advertising, postcards, games, household objects, and popular media.
- Wisconsin connections to this history, including The Birth of a Nation.
- and how these images and ideas continue to influence perceptions today.
People across the country have collected or inherited racist memorabilia from their families. These objects are sometimes called “Americana.” Today, there is an ongoing debate about what should be done with these artifacts. Many people are unsure whether it is ethical to destroy, sell, or donate them.
The Wisconsin Black Historical Society & Museum and America’s Black Holocaust Museum preserve African American history. We also face questions about donations we receive that contain racially harmful material.
This exhibit does not attempt to fully answer these difficult questions. Instead, it creates a space where artifacts donated to our museums can be placed in historical context. It also opens conversations about what should be done with these materials, which are still common and continue to cause pain and trauma.
These images are not of real people; they are, as the founder of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia states, “a distortion, a lie.”
As you explore the exhibits below, consider the intent of these images: why they were created, who created them, and the effect they were intended to have. Do these images and the ideas they represent continue to influence perceptions today?
In this mini-gallery, you will learn about:
- how racist stereotypes were created and spread through American culture.
- how these images were connected to slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and racial violence.
- how racist imagery appeared in advertising, postcards, games, household objects, and popular media.
- Wisconsin connections to this history, including The Birth of a Nation.
- and how these images and ideas continue to influence perceptions today.
People across the country have collected or inherited racist memorabilia from their families. These objects are sometimes called “Americana.” Today, there is an ongoing debate about what should be done with these artifacts. Many people are unsure whether it is ethical to destroy, sell, or donate them.
The Wisconsin Black Historical Society & Museum and America’s Black Holocaust Museum preserve African American history. We also face questions about donations we receive that contain racially harmful material.
This exhibit does not attempt to fully answer these difficult questions. Instead, it creates a space where artifacts donated to our museums can be placed in historical context. It also opens conversations about what should be done with these materials, which are still common and continue to cause pain and trauma.
These images are not of real people; they are, as the founder of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia states, “a distortion, a lie.”
As you explore the exhibits below, consider the intent of these images: why they were created, who created them, and the effect they were intended to have. Do these images and the ideas they represent continue to influence perceptions today?
In this mini-gallery, you will learn about:
- how racist stereotypes were created and spread through American culture.
- how these images were connected to slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and racial violence.
- how racist imagery appeared in advertising, postcards, games, household objects, and popular media.
- Wisconsin connections to this history, including The Birth of a Nation.
- and how these images and ideas continue to influence perceptions today.
People across the country have collected or inherited racist memorabilia from their families. These objects are sometimes called “Americana.” Today, there is an ongoing debate about what should be done with these artifacts. Many people are unsure whether it is ethical to destroy, sell, or donate them.
The Wisconsin Black Historical Society & Museum and America’s Black Holocaust Museum preserve African American history. We also face questions about donations we receive that contain racially harmful material.
This exhibit does not attempt to fully answer these difficult questions. Instead, it creates a space where artifacts donated to our museums can be placed in historical context. It also opens conversations about what should be done with these materials, which are still common and continue to cause pain and trauma.
These images are not of real people; they are, as the founder of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia states, “a distortion, a lie.”
As you explore the exhibits below, consider the intent of these images: why they were created, who created them, and the effect they were intended to have. Do these images and the ideas they represent continue to influence perceptions today?
In this mini-gallery, you will learn about:
- how racist stereotypes were created and spread through American culture.
- how these images were connected to slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and racial violence.
- how racist imagery appeared in advertising, postcards, games, household objects, and popular media.
- Wisconsin connections to this history, including The Birth of a Nation.
- and how these images and ideas continue to influence perceptions today.
Exhibits
INTRODUCING & UNPACKING STEREOTYPES
This page introduces the racist stereotypes explored throughout the gallery and examines how caricatures were deliberately created and repeated to dehumanize Black people and deny their dignity and individuality. It also defines key concepts—including dehumanization, objectification, and racial terror—that provide context for understanding the images and objects that follow.
JIM CROW ERA
Reconstruction brought new opportunities for Black Americans to reunite families, build communities, pursue education, work, vote, and participate in public life, followed by a violent backlash during the Jim Crow era. Racist images and stereotypes helped undermine these hard-won freedoms by portraying Black people as inferior and using those false representations to justify racial violence, segregation, and white supremacy.
STEREOTYPES OF BLACK WOMEN
Examine the harmful stereotypes of Black women that emerged from slavery and were reinforced through popular culture, advertising, entertainment, and everyday objects. Consider how the figures of the Mammy, Jezebel, and Sapphire were created to shape perceptions of Black women—and how the ideas behind these caricatures continue to influence how Black women are seen and treated today.
STEREOTYPES OF BLACK MEN
Examine the harmful stereotypes used to portray Black men as submissive, foolish, threatening, or less than human, from the Sambo and Jim Crow caricatures to the Savage stereotype that fueled racial violence. Consider how these images were created and circulated through entertainment, literature, advertising, and popular culture to justify slavery, segregation, and racial terror—and how their influence persists today.
STEREOTYPES OF BLACK CHILDREN
Examine the harmful caricatures used to portray Black children as less than fully human, from the pickaninny imagery of cartoons, postcards, and minstrel shows to the widely circulated character of Little Black Sambo. Consider how these images denied Black children their innocence and dignity, shaped racial attitudes across generations, and left a legacy that continues to raise questions about representation and cultural memory.
BIRTH OF A NATION
Trace how popular fiction, stage productions, and early cinema helped romanticize the Ku Klux Klan and spread racist portrayals of Black Americans, culminating in one of the most influential films in American history. Discover the Wisconsin connections behind its production and the efforts in Milwaukee to prevent its racist message from being shown to local audiences.
BLACK AMERICANA IN ADVERTISEMENTS
Trace how American advertising used racist caricatures to sell products while normalizing harmful ideas about Black people in everyday life. From servant and Mammy imagery to child and comic stereotypes, these advertisements reveal how commercial culture helped turn racial prejudice into familiar images and marketable products.
BLACK AMERICANA POST CARDS
Racist postcards carried harmful stereotypes into everyday correspondence, allowing people to share and normalize degrading images of Black Americans alongside ordinary personal messages. Lynching postcards reveal an even more violent dimension of this practice, including the 1930 lynching that America’s Black Holocaust Museum founder, Dr. James Cameron, survived, and raise questions about how these images reinforced racial terror and white supremacy.
GAMES / MEDIA
Board games and playing cards helped pass racist stereotypes from one generation to the next, sometimes turning racial violence into entertainment for children. Follow the changing portrayal of Black people in American games, from caricatures and simulated lynchings during the Jim Crow era to the growing presence of games that affirmed Black pride through the initiative and creativity of Black entrepreneurs.
ARE MUSEUMS THE RIGHT PLACE FOR THESE? / IMPACT TODAY
What responsibility do museums and society have for preserving, interpreting, or letting go of racist artifacts from the past? Consider the challenges of caring for these objects and the lasting influence of the stereotypes they carry, then reflect on how confronting this history can help us recognize and challenge racial bias today.