Racial and Ethnic Ephemera Collection

Access and use

Location of collection:
College of William and Mary
Special Collections Research Center
Earl Gregg Swem Library
College of William and Mary
400 Landrum Drive
PO 8795
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (757) 221-3090
Fax: (757) 221-5440
Restrictions:

Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Terms of access:

Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.

Preferred citation:

Racial and Ethnic Ephemera Collection, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Summary

Extent:
4 Linear Feet
Language:
English German
Preferred citation:

Racial and Ethnic Ephemera Collection, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Background

Scope and content:

The racial and ethnic ephemera collection contains various materials regarding race, ethnicity, and racism in the United States. The collection includes papers and items that promote racial prejudice and propaganda. The collection also contains items and papers that exemplify the fight for civil and equal rights. African Americans are the most broadly represented group in the collection. Other ethnic groups include Native Americans, Asian Americans, Jewish Americans, Muslim Americans, and Cuban Americans. Ku Klux Klan pamphlets and anti-immigration publications are also included. Through this collection, the American struggle of racism and prejudice is realized.

Included are published items like travel guides, joke books, song books, story books, programs and handbills, comic strips, a yearbook, election fliers, political publications, pamphlets and calendars.

This fFolder contains three envelopes: Union patriotic envelope depicting a black man picking cotton, titled "One of the Rebels", (Acc.2014.123), Union patriotic envelope of a slave dressed as the "King of the South," (Acc. 2014.124), Union patriotic envelope with a map of the south (Acc. 2014.125).

A booklet of twenty minor dramas, extravaganzas, and farces for the amateur stage. The plays contain stereotypical typecasting of African Americans.

A story book entitled "The Ten Little Niggers," with stereotypical illustrations. The layout of the book is similar to that of "Ten Little Indians."

This songbook features stereotypical illustrations of African Americans including pompous dresses and large lips.

This joke book features jokes that promote racism and a negative view of African Americans. The jokes are also anti-immigration and misogynistic.

The scrapbook dates from the late 1800's. The pictures in the book vary, from paintings of flowers to advertising cards for household items. One page in the book features several stereotypical images of African Americans. Pictures of monkeys are also placed on this page, therefore stating that they are one in the same.

Advertising trade cards that contain stereotypically racist images of African Americans. The cards are for a clothier. The folder also contains an advertisement for Jos. J. Foley, Tailor, Boston MA, which has a November 1908 calendar alongside an illustration of African American children swinging and climbing trees.

This folder contains multiple advertising cards. The items advertised include soaps, clothing, and household goods. The cards contain stereotypical images of African Americans.

This folder contains advertising cards that depict African Americans in a negative light. Common features are large lips and flouncy outfits. The sketches on the cards often have little to do with the product being advertised.

Stereotypical black representations on three advertising trade cards. The cards for pancake batter and clothes depict African Americans with large eyes and mouths along with other stereotypical features.

Advertising cards for a clothier. The cards depict an African American man trying to command and then falling off a horse-drawn wagon.

Advertisement card for Old Virginia Cheroots from the American Tobacco Company. The advertisement has a sketch of an African American man.

Advertising label for Old Black Joe's blackeyed peas, showing a black man with a white beard.

Sketch for "The Connoisseurs", a popular advertising image for Cream of Wheat. The painting features a black man in a chef's hat, teaching a child about the taste and health benefits of cream of wheat.

Print of the painting by Edward V. Brewer entitled "The Connoisseurs" for the Cream of Wheat Company. The painting features an African American man in a chef costume tasting Cream of Wheat along with an African American boy in an apron and chef hat. Oversize item.

Five cards that have negative, stereotypical images of African Americans. Images include a black woman being compared to a donkey and young men playing craps.

Set of 22 racist postcards. Features include large lips and big eyes. Images also include depictions of African Americans stealing goods. Other cards include cartooned drawings of African Americans in flouncy clothing.

Set of 42 cards with racist imagery. Images include cartooned sketches of African Americans with big eyes and over exaggerated lips. Images depict African Americans as lazy and inept. They are shown stealing chickens, eating watermelon, and improperly serving white people.

A postcard with an image of an African American boy with a large mouth, kneeling next to two watermelons

Set of eight postcards that have negative, stereotypical sketches of African Americans. Images include women with large behinds, boys eating watermelon, and men with large lips.

This folder contains five racist postcards. They contain images including boys eating watermelon and a cartooned black man stealing a chicken.

Set of three postcards and a pamphlet entitled "Fun on the Run." The "Fun on the Run" pamphlet includes several racist and sexist caricatures.

Postcard containing an image of a cartooned black man and woman. The man has large lips and torn clothing. The woman's features are exaggerated.

This souvenir features common images of African Americans in the south, including picking cotton, eating watermelon, and playing the fiddle.

This folder contains three Happy Birthday and one Christmas card. The cards contain cartooned sketches of African Americans, with factors such as large lips and big eyes. One happy birthday card has a sketch of three black women riding in a large watermelon.

This folder contains numerous happy birthday cards featuring cartooned sketches of African American girls. The girls' features include large eyes and curly hair.

Cards that promote the seven principles of Kwanzaa.

Publications from the Jim Crow era.

This is a book of rag-time melodies, which includes advertisements, sheet music, and lyrics.

This item is the yearbook of the African American high school in Essex County, Virginia. The yearbook includes photographs, poems, and advertisements.

This travel guide of "negro" hotels was published by Afro-American Newspapers. The guide includes a map of the East Coast and advertisements from multiple hotels.

Two advertisements promoting performances by African American musicians and artists.

The folder contains an item promoting the Lost Cause ideology, which conveys nostalgia for the Confederacy prior to the Civil War. Confederate norms are presented in the best possible light.

Natchez Pilgrimage Brochure, 1955 March 31, invites people to celebrate the Old South by touring Antebellum mansions in Natchez, Mississippi. The brochure contains multiple photographs and descriptions of the old Antebellum mansion. (Acc.2012.278)

This folder contains publications celebrating the accomplishments and contributions of African Americans.

The booklet describes the history and curricula of Hampton Institute, now Hampton University.

The multiple brochures feature African American jubilee singers and performers.

This brochure is for the Negro History Society of the Hampton Institute and their presentation of singer Dorothy Maynor.

This calendar features the stories of famous African American inventors, politicians, and scholars.

This flyer promotes the election of Arthur H. Vandenberg as senator of Michigan. It states that Vandenberg promises to outlaw the poll tax and favors an anti-lynching law. Vandenberg promises to support African American causes if elected.

These comic strips promote racial tolerance. One comic entitled "Stand Up For Sportsmanship," features Batman stopping a fight between two boys, one white and one black. When Batman asks what happened, he discovers they're fighting because the white boy doesn't want the black boy to play with them because "he don't belong, he ain't a real American." Batman responds with a lesson about racial tolerance, saying "don't believe the crackpot lies about people who worship differently, or whose skin is of a different color, or whose parents come from another country... a nation divided by prejudice is like a football team without teamwork." The next one, featuring Batman, teaches the reader that a country divided by racial prejudice is the same as a football team without teamwork. The next comic encourages a baseball team to be accepting of players of different ethnicity. The last comic, featuring superman, promotes both racial and religious tolerance.

Reprint of an article from the American Legion magazine concerns the buying of Negro votes.

This folder includes a pamphlet published by the Independent Socialist Club promoting the black power movement.

This pamphlet entitled "Here's Proof of the Red Pro-Negro Plot Against South & USA." argues that communist are trying to stir up trouble between white and black races, promoting racial mixing, and eventually want to control America. Pamphlet includes a map of the south, which it states Communist want to turn into a Negro Communist Soviet.

This flyier shows a picture of Martin Luther King, Jr. and other Civil Rights leaders at a supposed Communist training school. The flier states that these leaders have brought tension, disturbance, and violence while trying to promote these Communist ideals.

This booklet was published by Robert Welch. He argues that the "negro" population is much better off than populations around the globe. He also states that the population has made great strides in the last hundred years. Welch believes that the Communists are trying to turn black people against white people in America.

This pamphlet was printed by the Communist Party of Cleveland. The pamphlet states that black and white people work side and side, and therefore black and white children should be able to learn and live with each other.

A pamphlet from the Communist Party of California.

An editorial from the Monroe, La. Morning World, concerns the author's fears that the United Nations is secretly a Communist plot.

A flyer created by the Bay Area Revoluntionary Union concerning streets that are still occupied by the National Guard.

A pamphlet subtitled "a voice and vote for every member in the UAW-CIO regardless of race, color or creed." The pamphlet states that whites and "negroes" are all members of the same family and should be employed to the same end. The UAW-CIO promotes the hiring of "negroes" in all fields.

A Labor Education Fund pamphlet.

This pamphlet by Angelo Herndon describes the hardship of working in a southern mining town. Herndon describes how he fought the system and promoted fair pay to working class citizens.

The themes of these games range from satirizing to celebrating the progress and intellect of African Americans.

52 playing cards from the game "In Dixie-Land". Copyrighted 1896, L.D. Baldwin, by The Fireside Game Co. The instructions are missing.

This folder contains a set of playing cards. The cards have a sketch and a brief biological summary of influential African American inventors, politicians, musicians, and activists. Rules for the game are included.

This board game is a racially based Monopoly style game. White players are allowed to buy properties throughout the board while black players are restricted to center areas. The game exemplifies the difficulties of living in a racially segregated housing market. The game is also cataloged in the Swem Library online catalog as Rare Book E185.61.B5 1970.

The game, which portrays public welfare and its recipients in a negative light, caused immediate controversy upon its publication. It was also perceived as racist and sexist and government agencies appealed to retailers to pull it off the shelves.

This game is a quiz and trivia style game. The game tests players' knowledge of black athletes, musicians, and activists. The game is also cataloged in the Swem Library online catalog as Rare Book E185.96.F67 1988

This board game tests players' knowledge of African American achievement in history, patents, inventions, sports, and entertainment. There is also a category of questions titled black awareness. Players answer questions to move along on a board, through the struggles of slavery and Jim Crow, eventually arriving back in Africa.

This game is a game of dice where players role to turn over face cards number one through twelve. The cards and box feature racist imagery, including African Americans with bulging eyes and huge lips.

This board game is a trivia style game which tests players' knowledge of African American history. Players answer questions to receive an associates, bachelors, masters, and doctorate in black studies. The word "funda" comes from an African language and means to instruct.

Five various cards and Valentine's featuring caricatures of African Americans. Most of the cards depict the individuals with over exaggerated features and stereotypes, such as one card showing an African American eating watermelon.

20 caricature and three photograph postcards of African Americans. Most of the caricature postcards feature stereotypical cartoons and captions of African Americans. The photographs show African Americans tilling in cotton fields and posing outside dilapidated homes.

Three stereoviews showing African Americans picking cotton in Georgia and Mississippi cotton fields and sugar cane in Peurto Rico. The views were produced by Underwood and Underwood, and the Keystone Viewing Company.

This box contains VHS tapes that are notable for the original video cases. Most of the movies are from the Blaxploitation genre, a controversial film movement. Blaxploitation films contained many common stereotypes. The black community is often portrayed as violent and drug related. However, some people believed the films were examples of black expression and power.

This film features a young man who accidently kills his brother and then becomes a preacher to seek amends.

This fFilm features gang life in Harlem, New York.

The film features two men who work in Harlem. They get sent on a wild goose chase looking for money hidden in a barrel of cotton.

The film features a Harlem private eye hired to save teenagers kidnapped by the Mafia.

This film features a Harlem drug-dealer who wants to make one last sell before quitting the cocaine business.

The film features Cleopatra Jones, drug traffickers' deadliest enemy.

The film takes Bruce Lee to the island fortress of a criminal warlord, whom Bruce Lee must overcome.

This film features Dracula's bloodbrother, Blacula.

The film features black CIA recruits from Chicago who become freedom fighters after their military training.

The fFilm features Pop Boyd, a martial arts champion who opens a studio on land that the Mafia wants to use as a headquarters.

This fFilm features two ex-Vietnam soldiers who pursue the elite drug dealing industries.

This film features a young black man who seeks revenge when he is arrested on false charges.

The f Film features black drug dealers, mobsters, and undercover cops.

In this sequel to Dolemite, Rudy Ray Moore flees to California, where he helps Queen Bee and her Kung-Fu girls battle a local gangster.

The film features a morally bankrupt man who can save his own life only if he marries the devil's ugly daughter.

The film features a man who owns a disco and declares war on the producers of Angel Dust, a drug corrupting his nephew.

This film features a man who seeks revenge on his girlfriend's killer.

This fFilm features a Detroit police sergeant who is pitted against brutal thugs.

The film features friends who are hiding from the mob and hunting a gangster boss, who rigged a karate tournament.

The fFilm features a man, just recently released from prison, who uses brains and muscles to survive in the city.

The fFilm features the Black Dragon, who teams up with kung fu dynamo Dragon Lee as they take on the Korean and Japanese mafias.

The film features a man named Blade, who is the last hope for humanity, when a bloodthirsty lord declares war on the human race.

The fFilm features a vampire slayer who fights to save humanity.

The fFilm features a gang who goes from rags to riches, and then fights a knife-wielding, car stealing leprechaun.

This film is the third in a trilogy. It features a vampire hunter who must join forces with a clan of other hunters to find and defeat Dracula.

The Great Cataract or Waterfall of Niagara in North America, This folder contains a copperplate engraving of Niagara Falls on paper. The image depicts a group of Native Americans showing Europeans the beauty of the falls. In the background, there are several Native Americans hauling large stones.

Powhatan Applesauce Label. This folder contains an advertising label for apple sauce named after the famed Native American chiefdom, the Powhatan. The advertisement includes a sketch of a Native American with a colorful head band and feather in his hair.

Iron King Cook Calendar. This calendar features a scene in which white settlers shot Native Americans while hiding behind a large iron king stove.

Set of 12 postcards that feature oil paintings of Native American imagery. The cards depict a variety of different scenes, including an Indian camp, a hunted buffalo, a tepee, and an Indian carrying an American flag after Custer's Last Stand. The postcards have a short description of each portrayed scene.

Set of 28 postcards featuring images of Native Americans. The postcards represent tribes from all over the country, from the Iroquois to the Hopi. Common images are war dances and dwellings such as tepees and long houses. Many of the postcards have short descriptions of the scenes on the back.

Set of 90 postcards that portray Indian life in the south western United States. Images include young girls and boys, Indians in traditional tribal outfits, mountains, canyons, and pueblo houses.

This folder includes a souvenir folder that contains a description and multiple illustrations of Indian chiefs. The chiefs depicted are all from Western tribes, including the Pueblos, Navajos, Apache, Sioux, and Blackfoot. The description states that the Pueblos are the most civilized of the nations. The illustrations include portraits of the leaders as well as scenes of the leaders in the picturesque mountains of the west.

This folder includes a souvenir folder that describes and illustrates southwestern Native American life. The author notes that native life is "primitive" with little industry and machinery. The images contain various scenes, including a mother and child standing next to cactus brush, people gathered around a tepee, a pueblo village, and men creating wampum beads. Also depicted are images of natives performing a variety of crafts and chores.

Set of trading cards that contain negative imagery of Native Americans. Images include Native Americans being stabbed by white settler, a Native American man drinking too much, and misrepresentations of traditional Indian outfits.

The trading cards depict imagery of Native Americans, including totem poles, war dances, and stockades. The cards have images on one side, and a short description of the scene on the other.

Oversized trading that that have photographs and drawing of various Native American leaders. The cards have the image on one side, and a short biography of the leader on the other. This trading cards are housed separately due to their large size.

The trading cards have photographs and drawings of various Native American leaders. The cards have the image on one side, and a short biography of the leader on the other.

This set of 90 cards have images on one side of famous Native American leaders and of famous battles fought by various native tribes. The backside has a short, skewed description of historical events.

This folder contains a box of bridge tally cards. The cards have sketches of Native American people and scenery, along with the names and locations of different tribes.

The Wild West Gum cards contains 22 cards depicting colorized illustrations of Native Americans. The collection was part of a set of 24 cards manufactured by John H. Dockman and Son in the early twentieth century.

The Paragon Beef trading cards include negative images of Chinese men with long braids and stereotypical straw hats.

Series of advertising cards that promote the Chinese immigrant population in a negative way. Advertisers include Celluloid Corset Clasps, Kendall Manufacturing Company Soaps and Soapine, Henderson's Goods, and Gent's Furnishings and Fancy Goods Houses. The images depict Chinese men with long hair embarking on ships and men with over exaggerated eye features. The images often have little to do with the product being advertised.

Series of cards that depict a scene between two white boys and a Chinese man. The children pull the man's braid, snap it off, and project the Chinese man from his perch, thus solving the "Chinese problem". Another card shows Chinese men being bitten by a dog.

Set of cards that depict Asian Americans in negative ways. Images include men embarking on a boat for China, a sketch of Mun Wong, and a Chinese child holding an umbrella.

This Fourth of July postcard displays racist imagery towards Asian Americans. The card portrays an Asian woman running away from a fire cracker.

This comic strip includes stereotypical images of a Chinese man who entrapped his long braid in a rail road track.

This game includes a small box of sticks. Each player is to shake the box and the first stick that pops out is the one chosen. Each stick has a number, and the numbers correspond to a booklet that contains fortunes.

Series of two sided trading cards. One of the sides have images of aspects of Jewish life, such as lighting candles and dancing with the torah. The other sides have short bible verses and explanations of the images.

This game is an educational trivia game that features questions regarding different aspects of the Islamic Hajj. Categories include "How to Perform Hajj," "Places of Hajj," and "General Questions on Hajj." The game is geared toward teaching children about the Muslim pilgrimage.

The postcard displays a derogatory image of a Cuban mother feeding her two small children, one of whom nurses from a goat.

Items in this folder include pamphlets instructing men on how to be good Klan members, a pamphlet regarding the Klan's attitude toward immigration, the Klan's attitude toward the Jew and other letters of propaganda.

This folder include meeting minutes from a chapter of the Klu Klux Klan in Elkton, Maryland. The folder also includes the obituary of klansmen Raymond C. Fronk.

This folder includes a pamphlet published by the Equal Rights Congress in a national effort to outlaw the Nazis and the Klu Klux Klan. The folder also contains fliers promoting integration and racial tolerance.

This folder includes a manuscript by an unknown author on the subject of foreign immigration into the United States of America. The author argues that foreign populations should be restricted from coming to the United States. The manuscript also discusses the various races and ethnicities that should be restricted, including the Irish, the Jewish population, Italians, and the African and Asian races. The document concludes with a list of prohibitions that the author would impose to keep the immigrant populations from entering the country.

This booklet is published by the Order United American Mechanics, a secret fraternity composed entirely of citizens born in the US.American citizens born. The booklet argues against competition for jobs with foreign-born immigrants.

Cards with images and phrases that promote racial and religious equality.

Acquisition information:
Acc. 2007.80 was purchased 8/30/2007. Acc. 2007.81 was purchased 8/30/2007. Acc. 2008.32 was purchased 5/1/2008. Acc. 2008.46 was purchased 5/16/2008. Acc. 2008.64 was purchased 6/9/2008. Acc. 2008.94 was purchased 9/10/2008. Acc. 2008.95 was purchased 9/10/20008. Acc. 2008.159 was purchased 12/19/2008. Acc. 2009.063 was purchased on 2/24/2009. Acc. 2009.036 was purchased on 1/19/2009. Acc. 2009.147 was purchased on 4/6/2009. Acc. 2009.151 was purchased on 3/30/2009. Acc. 2009.180 was purchased on 4/29/2009. Acc. 2009.181 was purchased on 4/29/2009. Acc. 2009.226 was purchased on 5/25/2009. Acc. 2009.235 was purchased on 5/31/2009. Acc. 2009.305 was purchased on 7/17/2009. Acquisition information for material received after 7/13/2009 is available by consulting a Special Collections Research Center staff member. Acc. 2014.123-Acc. 2014.125 purchased for Swem Library with support from the SCRC Donors Fund.
Processing information:

Acc. 2011.633, Acc. 2011.635, Acc. 2011.637 accessioned and minimally processed by Steven Bookman, University Archives Specialist, in October 2011. Full finding aid created in March 2015 and revised in December 2017 by Special Collections staff.

Acc. 2014.194

Arrangement:

The collection is divided into eight series by race and/or ethnicity. The series are African American, Native American, Asian American, Jewish American, Muslim American, Cuban American, Ku Klux Klan, and Immigration and Discrimination. The contents for each series are grouped by material type and ordered chronologically.

Accruals:

Additions are being made to this collection on an ongoing basis.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard