“Being Mixed Race in a Mono-racially Organized World,” a new exhibit at the Hatcher Graduate Library, debuted on April 9 and will run until Dec. 20. The exhibit features multimedia works detailing historical mixed-race figures as well as the developed acceptance of mixed-race relations and their effects on society.
The exhibit’s work is held in three main cases, each containing a map of the globe that moves forward in time toward the present day and shows the evolution of mixed-race populations over time. The purpose of the exhibit is to amplify the voices of those with mixed-race identities. Karen Downing, an education librarian and the exhibit curator, has been working on the project for three years alongside a group of students, other librarians and campus community members. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Downing said the exhibit focuses on increasing visibility and creating a sense of community among mixed-race students.
“We know from the literature and from our own experiences that it can be kind of isolating to identify this way,” Downing said. “We know that more and more people are coming to campus each year who identify this way and yet, there’s not a sense of community on campus for people who are mixed-race, and so we’re trying to raise the visibility and sense of community on campus.”
Rackham student Prakruthi Manjunatha, who was involved in creating the exhibit, said working on this project helped her find a community when she first arrived on campus.
“It had just been a month since I got here, and as an international student, it was alienating to be in a new place and not really understand what (was) going on,” Manjunatha said. “So when I saw this mixed-race project, its description was really inspiring, and it helped me a lot to feel included in a community so I wanted to step up and go ahead and join the project.”
LSA junior Donovan Johnson, who also worked on the exhibit, said an important part of the project for him was putting pictures alongside mixed-race celebrities so that mixed-race viewers could feel more seen and understood.
“One of the exhibits I did was I found some celebrities, actors and politicians who are mixed-race,” Johnson said. “A lot of younger people look up to these celebrities so I thought it would be a great way for them to learn something more about these people that they’ve worshiped for so long.”
Johnson chose to include a quote from Bruno Mars, which said misconceptions about being mixed-race often exclude the fact that the experience can be isolating.
“There are a lot of people who have this mixed background that are in this gray zone,” the quote read. “A lot of people think, ‘This is awesome. You’re in this gray zone so you can pass for whatever you want.’ But it’s not like that at all. It’s actually the exact opposite.”
The exhibit also featured a quote from Shakira that said the famous singer’s music is inspired by her mixed-race identity.
“I am a fusion,” the quote read. “That’s my persona. I’m a fusion between my Lebanese father and my mother’s Spanish blood, the Colombian folklore and Arab dance I love, and American music.”
Johnson also said he was excited to feature a timeline of information on Loving v. Virginia, a 1967 Supreme Court case that made interracial marriage legal, to highlight a fundamental moment in mixed-race history.
“I thought it was really impactful to include that court case because the two people involved in it, they went through a lot,” Johnson said. “They risked jail time, they risked being away from their families, even risked their lives, they were shunned by so many people for it just for being in love with each other despite their racial differences. While there are still a lot of problems, it isn’t as bad as it was back then. And so in a sense, we kind of owe it to those two for at least trying to make things a little easier for us moving forward.”
Manjunatha said she hopes the exhibit will help offer comfort to mixed-race students who might feel alone or unseen on large college campuses.
“Personally for me, I was hoping that when people stop, they would feel some sort of relatability with what’s been put out there and understand that there are people trying to make an effort to try and raise the visibility on this entire issue,” Manjunatha said. “I just hope they feel a little better about being in a huge educational institute and can see that there are people who are going to do something about this.”
In an additional email to The Daily, Downing said the exhibit is just the starting point for the group, and they will try to hold more events in the future to help support the mixed-race community on campus.
“We are working on putting together programming for the fall around the themes in the exhibit,” Downing wrote. “So more content (film showings, lectures, maybe an art project) is coming to help raise the visibility of mixed-race people and issues.”
In an interview with The Daily, Downing said she hopes the increasing visibility of growing mixed-race populations on university campuses will encourage educational institutes to better foster a community for those students.
“I think having more support for this kind of programming is really important … just being able to raise the visibility we talk about all the time in higher education, with the increasing number of mixed-race young people who will be coming to our campuses increasingly, and finding a lack of community, a lack of opportunities to create community with other mixed-race people,” Downing said. “It seems like universities that have these kinds of programs and people in place are going to have an advantage in that in the near future. I’d like to see the University and universities everywhere pay more attention to these issues.”
Daily Staff Reporter Audrey Shabelski can be reached at audres@umich.edu.
The post New Hatcher Graduate Library exhibit highlights the mixed-race identity appeared first on The Michigan Daily.
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