Sorting Out Race: Examining Race and Stereotypes through Thrift Store Donations

Everyday thrift stores receive donations of items with racial imagery—antique advertising cards, collectible salt-and-pepper shakers, vintage children’s books, and mugs with sports team mascots. Are these harmless reminders of past attitudes or do they perpetuate stereotypes about race? Should thrift stores sell these objects? Or should they be “sorted out” of the resale environment?

Sorting Out Race arose out of a desire to divert these artifacts from thrift stores to an exhibit that would generate a healthy community conversation about our continuing struggles with race.

Exhibit entrance recreates a store window to immerse visitors in the thrift store environment. Modular cases and pegboard walls hold 130 thrift store donations that lead to key questions: What is race and how is racial identity shaped? What is a stereotype and what is a racial stereotype? What is racism and how do racial stereotypes perpetuate systems of dominance and privilege?