Series 03 - Artifacts

A central component of the James N. Eaton Collection is the Artifacts Series, which encompasses a wide range of three-dimensional objects and material culture associated with African American life and representation from the slavery era through the Jim Crow period. These artifacts include, but are not limited to, racially stereotyped figurines, domestic objects, commercial advertising items, public signage, and items connected to segregationist and white supremacist organizations.

Objects within this series provide tangible evidence of the pervasive role of racial imagery in shaping public consciousness and social practice. Black caricature objects—often produced for commercial consumption—demonstrate how visual stereotypes were commodified and disseminated through popular culture. Similarly, segregation-era signage, including “Whites Only” and “Colored” markers, illustrates the spatial enforcement of racial boundaries in public and private settings. These items function as critical primary sources for understanding the codification of racial hierarchy within the built environment and everyday social interactions.

Particularly notable within the Artifacts Series are items associated with extremist groups, including regalia and symbolic objects linked to the Ku Klux Klan and related organizations. The preservation of such materials serves an interpretive purpose rather than a commemorative one, enabling scholars and the public to examine the visual language of racial terror and its role in sustaining systems of disenfranchisement and intimidation. These artifacts must be contextualized within broader narratives of resistance, community resilience, and the pursuit of civil rights.

The series also includes commercial advertising materials that employ racially charged imagery or language. Product packaging, promotional signage, and novelty items reveal how racial stereotypes were embedded in consumer culture and normalized through routine economic transactions. In this respect, the artifacts offer insight into the intersection of race, commerce, and media representation in the United States.

Collectively, the artifacts provide a material record of how racial ideologies were both imposed and contested within domestic, commercial, and civic spheres. Their interpretive value lies in their capacity to prompt critical engagement with the historical construction of difference and the enduring legacies of inequality.

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All rights reserved. The use of any part of these objects and photographs transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system without the prior written consent of Meek-Eaton Black Archives is an infringement of the copyright law.