Racist Memorabilia from the Collection of William Berry, Jr.

Berry’s collection highlights how ordinary household artifacts have distorted how generations of Americans view people of African descent as somehow less than human. Mainstream media may refer to a post-racial 21st century America, but stereotypes and distortions of Black people persist nonetheless. This exhibition invited viewers to confront how everyday objects support and perpetuate racism.

“I remember at a certain point in time there was an argument that Black people should seek to have this stuff destroyed,” says Berry. “My position was that you always want to remember what happens when you allow someone to define who you are.”

A retired higher education administrator, Berry currently publishes the online literary journal, aaduna. He has researched and reflected on the variations of racial thinking since the 1960s, and started to collect “differing” images of Black identity in the early 1970s.

Press Links:

WAER
THE DAILY ORANGE
THE CITIZEN – Auburn
SYRACUSE NEW TIMES

EXHIBITION SPONSORS:

This project was made possible, in part, with funds from the Decentralization Program,
a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts  with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered by CNY Arts.

SEASON SPONSORS: