CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA (September 5, 2024) — The African American Museum of Iowa unveil a new exhibit, Racist Things: Hateful Imagery in the American Home. This exhibit will thoughtfully consider the impact of post-Civil War society and the culture surrounding Jim Crow laws as the basis of the popularity of dehumanizing Black imagery.
While this imagery was pervasive in all forms of pop culture and mass media, much of this imagery manifested itself in the American home. From salt and pepper shakers to lawn ornaments, objects of racism were accepted for decades in homes across America. These objects were a form of propaganda that created an acceptance of intolerance and injustice of the Black community for a century. The attitudes and acceptance of these biases continue to form social and cultural inequality and intolerance to this day.
This exhibit will open September 13, 2024, in the newly-renovated AAMI building and will close August 16, 2025. For Museum hours and admission, visit blackiowa.org.
About AAMI:
The African American Museum of Iowa is a statewide museum dedicated to preserving, exhibiting, and teaching Iowa’s African American history. As Iowa’s leading educational resource on the topic, we educate more than 30,000 people each year through in-person and virtual museum tours, traveling exhibits, research services, youth and adult education programs, and community and fundraising events.
