Blackface Series to Jim Crow Museum.

• Position: RACIST MEMORABILIA - Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia - Brief article

The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Mich., has received a powerful collection of artwork by noted photographer David Levinthal valued at more than $2,000,000. Museum officials have catalogued all of the items and are preparing many for public exhibition. A grand opening event is expected to occur in December.

"Levinthal's Blackface series is a blunt, unfiltered rendering of anti-black representations in the objects once no, still--found in our homes," says David Pilgrim, vice president for Diversity and Inclusion at Ferris and founder and curator of the Jim Crow Museum.

"He used his camera to document the ugly representations of African-Americans in the toys, games, and dolls played with by this nation's children. These images both reflected and shaped attitudes toward black people. Levinthat's prints will be invaluable teaching tools."

The Blackface series is a thought-provoking exhibition of black memorabilia and racist household objects, many of which currently are collected and displayed as part of the museum's educational and...