Colorful Prism of Racism Archive

5November 3, 2009
The Very Best From Hallmark: Greeting Cards Through The Years

The Very Best from Hallmark: Greeting Cards Through the Years, by Ellen Stern, is not a collector’s guide, really; there are no prices or discussion of the secondary market at…
0September 29, 2009
It’s Not Blackface When They Have Black Faces, Right?

I love this vintage cotton novelty print blouse from the Bahamas — well, at least until I spotted the three Bahamian singers… Then I worried that they looked a lot…
4August 17, 2009
The Fear Filled Prophecy For The Monday Move Meme

This week’s Monday Movie Meme topic is “fear.” I don’t particularly enjoy being scared; life is scary & fragile enough, thanks. Nor do I find any entertainment value in repeated…
0August 4, 2009
Signs Of The Times: 1968

Photograph by Steve Schapiro, New York, 1968. As an ephemera collector, I can’t help but wonder… What ever happened to that sign?
4July 28, 2009
If You’re Forced To Have A Baby, Don’t Throw It Out With The Bathwater (Or, Of Margaret Sanger & Eugenics)

In Margaret Sanger in Context, Tracey McCormick defends the vilified Margaret Sanger. Sanger, who founded Planned Parenthood and advocated for planned parenting & birth control before women even had the…
1July 22, 2009
Popular Racism, 1857

In 1857 (a year before Darwin’s The Origin of Species), creationists Dr. Josiah C. Nott and George Gliddon published Indigenous Races of the Earth, which included illustrations comparing the skulls…
1June 29, 2009
Some Lessons In The Soiling Of Old Glory

At Collectors’ Quest I just reviewed Louis P. Masur’s The Soiling of Old Glory: The Story of a Photograph That Shocked America — a book I can’t recommend highly enough….
0June 10, 2009
How To Make Yourself A Black-Faced Negro

From Max Factor’s Hints On The Art Of Make-Up, Booklet No 5: Popular Stage Types (23rd edition, copyright 1961), instructions for “black-face comedians” to become The Negro. Part of my…
2June 3, 2009
When Does It Become Too Hot To Operate A Model Railroad? (Or, Taking A Ride On A Model Train To Meet The Emperor of Death Valley)

When does it become too hot to operate a model railroad? When the thermometer reaches 160 degrees. So said T.R. Goodwin, superintendent of Death Valley National Monument — and model…
6April 14, 2009
In Other Craft-Store Scandals…

Who knew craft stores would be home to so many scandals? But beneath their glitter, pipe cleaners, & plush for teddy bears, I guess the heart of American culture beats……
1March 30, 2009
The Goodness Of A Mike Shayne Twinkie

A relatively recent 50 cent thrift store grab, a paperback copy of The Homicidal Virgin; cover illustration by Robert McGinnis. The Homicidal Virgin is, like all the Mike Shayne works,…
1March 18, 2009
You Can’t Judge A Racist Nun By Her Habit, Part Three (Or, The Little Chink In Sister’s Armor)

That darn Sister Patricia also owned a copy of Little Chink, one of (at least) three Musical Recitations by Helen Wing. Little Chink is by one Mildred Merryman — who,…
0March 16, 2009
You Can’t Judge A Racist Nun By Her Habit, Part Two

More vintage sheet music owned by Sister Patricia; this time, Story Poems with Musical Settings by Phyllis Fergus. The song, The Woodpecker (copyright 1925 by Clayton F. Summy Co.), takes…
3March 10, 2009
You Can’t Judge A Racist Nun By Her Habit

Normally the most interesting thing to me about vintage sheet music is the cover art; this is because I’m musically illiterate and can’t use it for anything but decoration and/or…
2February 24, 2009
The Zulu Lulu Barware Infection

Don’t hate me for wanting to get one of these Zulu Lulu swizzle stick sets — it’s just too horrific not to own if you’re into non-PC things, which I…
1February 15, 2009
Lawsy Me! What Pe-Culiar Postcards

Some vintage black stereotypes presented on vintage linen fold-out postcards: