A new exhibit at Arkansas State University’s Museum takes a look at racial identity and stereotypes in thrift store donations. The exhibit is called “Sorting out Race”. It will be held Monday through March 10th. Director of the A-S-U Museum Dr. Marti Allen.
“This is on loan to us through the Kauffman Museum at Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas,” says Allen. “This is the first time that this exhibit has been loaned to an institution east of Kansas so we are pleased to have this exhibit at Arkansas State.”
Curator of education at the Museum Jill Kary says the exhibit will be set up like a store, with subject matter that is designed to stimulate healthy conversations about racial stereotyping, and the harm that stereotyping can cause.
“You will find stereotypical images that might rub you the wrong way,” says Kary. “The public will be asked certain questions and the public will be left to their own interpretation and to answer these questions themselves.”
Allen tells what the purpose of the exhibit is.
“We want people to think twice about collections of Aunt Jemima bottles and toothpick holders showing lazy Mexicans,” Allen says. “These are the kinds of images this exhibit will have. These kinds of things are not just found in thrift shops. At one time, decades ago, these items would have been considered cute by some people, but now we know they have a large impact and we should think twice before we have these things on our shelves or buy them at thrift stores and show them to people.”
Allen says the exhibit is funded by the A-State Office of Diversity.
“We developed a committee of university faculty and some people off campus to help guide us as we were doing this, because some of the content could be seen as being controversial,” says Allen. “We want to prepare the public for what they will see when they come to the exhibit.”
It is free and open to the public. The exhibit can be viewed at the ASU Museum during normal hours. A panel discussion on the event will be held at the Museum Auditorium on February 6th from five to seven. The panel discussion will feature A-State faculty members Dr. Cherisse Jones-Branch, Dr. Lillie Fears, and Ms. Sandra Combs. The exhibit at the museum runs through March 10th.
