White Supremacy

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Joshua Glover Plaque
Some Exhibits to Come – Three Centuries Of Enslavement
Harriet Tubman, "The Conductor," with fugitive slaves in Underground Railroad station
Bibliography – Three Centuries of Enslavement
Slave Auction Poster
A 1859 Slave Auction in Savannah, as Reported by the New York Tribune
slaves in cotton field
How Slavery Became the Law of the Land “For Blacks Only”
FredDouglass w:firewks
Frederick Douglass: “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro”
The Scourged Back: This slave named Gordon ran for 80 miles to join the Union Forces in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in March 1863. This famous photo of the welts on his badly "scourged back" was taken while he was being fitted for a uniform.
The Scourged Back: How Runaway Slave and Soldier Private Gordon Changed History
"Contrabands": During the Civil War, thousands of slaves escaped their owners in the South by getting to Union Army camps. Thus freed, many continued on to settle in the North.
The Freedmen of Wisconsin
This woodcut, published in 1831 with a story about the Southampton Rebellion, was titled "Horrific Massacre in Virginia."
Nat Turner’s Rebellion: Horrific or Heroic?
Map of the world showing which countries that traffic in humans to the U.S.; map shows how individual countries comply with anti-trafficking laws. The Kansas City Star 2009<p> With BC-TRAFFICKING:KC, Kansas City Star by Mark Morris<p> 02000000; 08000000; 09000000; CLJ; HUM; krtcrime crime; krtfeatures features; krthumaninterest human interest; krtlabor labor; krtnational national; krtworld world; LAB; krt; mctgraphic; 02001000; 02001007; 02011000; CRI; international law; kidnapping kidnaping kidnap; krtlaw law; 04018000; FIN; ODD; african american african-american black; hispanic; krtdiversity diversity; woman women; youth; eames; human; map; morris; prostitution; slave; slavery; smuggle; smuggled; smuggling; trafficking; victim; kc contributed; 2009; krt2009
Traces of the Trade: The North’s Complicity in Slavery
A man stands in front of the Djingareyber mosque on February 4, 2016 in Timbuktu, central Mali. Mali's fabled city of Timbuktu on February 4 celebrated the recovery of its historic mausoleums, destroyed during an Islamist takeover of northern Mali in 2012 and rebuilt thanks to UN cultural agency UNESCO. TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SEBASTIEN RIEUSSEC / AFP / SÉBASTIEN RIEUSSEC
African Peoples Before Captivity
Shackles from Slave Ship Henrietta Marie
Kidnapped: The Middle Passage

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An example of white supremacy in a newspaper article

White supremacy is the belief that white people are better than those of other races, making it a type of racism. It also includes actions that prevent other races from gaining power, which is known as white privilege, preserving that power for white people. The basis of white supremacy is the former erroneous belief that significant biological differences existed between people of different races. Although this belief focused heavily on the so-called Black inferiority in and around the slavery era, white supremacy historically and currently oppresses people of many races around the globe, especially indigenous peoples. Furthermore, definitions of who qualifies as white can vary.

This type of racism paved the way for racist hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), the attempt by the self-named Confederate States of America to secede from the Union, and various race riots or massacres, including that in Greenwood, Oklahoma.  White supremacy has also been solidified in American legislature through laws such as those preventing Black people from owning property, voting, holding office, and marrying (either at all or those of other races). In the 20th century, Jim Crow laws, which forced racial segregation, upheld the ideology of white supremacy. While laws have changed, institutions and individuals can still promote white supremacy up to and including racist violence.

This idea is closely related to white nationalism, in which being white becomes an identity. Supporters of white nationalism may endorse overthrowing the government to uphold their power. Overlap also exists between white supremacy and racist skinheads who discriminate against Jewish people. Some Christian beliefs and doctrines also align with white supremacy. White (male) supremacy can play a role in domestic terrorism incidents such as shootings like the one in Buffalo, New York.

While Donald Trump was president, this movement gained popularity, with as many as 600 groups currently existing in the United States, members of which typically supported Trump.

Although there is disagreement about how we can dismantle white supremacy, some white supremacists eventually see the error of their ways.

All of our articles, exhibits, and events about white supremacy can be found in the archive below.

Inheriting Home: The Skeletons in Pa’s Closet

August 21, 2012
Harps on porch 1919

With its store of family memories, Arkansas defines home for me. But embracing and claiming it as my own is prickly business. “Home” has closets of skeletons that are anything but comforting: the Lost Cause, Jim Crow, the Ku Klux Klan, lynchings.

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Hateful Things: An Exhibit from the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia

May 1, 2012
The mammy, Aunt Jemima, offers comfort food

In 2006, ABHM brought the traveling exhibit “Hateful Things” from the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. Two Milwaukee teens made this excellent short video about the exhibit and what they learned from it. In this exhibit you can see racist memorabilia and visit the Jim Crow Museum.

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The Long Afterlife of a Lynching

May 4, 2016

Karen Branan returns to her ancestral home in Georgia to discover the truth behind the lynching of three black men and a black woman in 1912 – including the complicity of her family. She tells the story in a new book, The Family Tree.

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Political Parties in Black and White

June 9, 2012
The Two Platforms

How the first African American voters started out with the Republican Party – and how most ended up voting with the Democratic Party today.

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The Education of Black Children in the Jim Crow South

September 11, 2012
segregated blk school in South

Education is the key to economic success. It is true now, and it was true in the Jim Crow South. Southern education was not very good – even for white children. But education for blacks in the South in the early 1900s was worse in many ways. In this exhibit you can learn what school was like for most African American children in the South – and why.

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When Jim Crow Lived In Wisconsin

August 31, 2023

These postcards were mailed to and from Wisconsin residents from 1904 to 1942. Their stereotyped pictures of African Americans were very common and accepted. Such cards were sent openly, without comment or embarrassment.

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Memorial to the Victims of Lynching

July 8, 2019

Launched online in December 2011, this is, we believe, the first memorial to remember the many victims of lynching in the United States. Here we gather their life stories, say their names, and note where and when these thousands of men, women and children were terrorized and murdered.

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