Yes, this says what you think it says. Click here to see a larger image. I don’t know what is more disturbing, that something like this could be found in Hagerstown’s own Rocky Ridge Collectibles or that the seller wants $45 for it.
And that was not the only piece of racist crap sitting on the shelf. No, it was only the most agregous. There were other similarly framed works of racism for sale along with this one.
Sorry for the crummy quality of the photo. I took it with my camera phone. I had to temporarily move a stack of cowboy hats to get a clear picture. Who would have guessed that the same vendor that was selling this framed piece of historical hate would also be selling cowboy hats?
It’s 2008. It would be nice if we could finally get past this type of stuff.
Cayusa
/ August 23, 2008What exactly is it. A poster? I can’t quite make out what it is. There is the possibility, and I hate to even suggest that it isn’t, that it is related to this. If that is the case, I’m torn as to its qualification as racist, especially considering the time period. Subsequent publications changed the name, thankfully, but if it does date from 1939 England, then it does have its place. I’ve never heard of Mark Twain being labeled as racist, yet many of his stories contain that term, not as a racist term, but as part of the common vocabulary of the time.
Bentcorner
/ August 24, 2008I don’t know what it actually was. That’s one of the reasons I thought it to be especially creepy and racist. There was no hint as to what the context was.
I don’t think it had anything to do with the Agatha Christie story. To be perfectly honest, I had no idea that it was once published under a different name.
I problem should have taken a photo of then entire booth. If there were other historical documents, documents that didn’t have racial overtones, I probably wouldn’t have thought it to be disturbing. It wasn’t the type of booth.
Cayusa
/ August 25, 2008The shot you got looked like a book cover to me which is what made me think of the Agatha Christie book. I don’t know why I knew that the British publication was run under a different name, but it was the first thing that popped into my head. One of those little useless facts that bump around in my skull I guess. I did note that at the bottom of the image there was a publisher (if I made it out right) listed on the bottom which makes me think book.
Steve
/ August 25, 2008I’ve seen this sort of thing at other local antique dealers, too. Apparently there’s a market for racist memorabilia in Hagerstown. We just can’t let those good ol’ days of Jim Crow and separate water fountains go, I guess.
I found this museum of racist memorabilia in Michigan. Think the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts ought to book a traveling exhibit? Or would most of the locals around here totally miss the point?
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Brian
/ October 13, 2008What a disgrace. They should all be trashed.