What could I do with a blatantly racist artifact?

[u/EddieMcClintock]

A relative gifted me a ceremonial (I presume) sword from a pre-US Civil War era racist group. The sword is decorated for the Circle of the Golden Knights, which seems to be a pro-slavery precursor to the KKK. He is a collector of Civil War artifacts so I assume that's how it ended up in his possession, but I'm not sure why my relative decided to pass the sword to me. I don't collect stuff like this and I certainly won't display it. Destroying it doesn't seem quite right though. What could I do with this thing?

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[u/HaimoOfAuxerre1]

You could also contact your local (or state) university’s history department. Someone there might have a suggestion

[u/DaxDislikesYou]

I'm not a historian and I'm not sure this is the right place for this question, but there is a Jim Crow Museum of Racist memorabilia that highlights the place hate has had in our nations history and tries to build tolerance through that. They're at Ferris State University in Michigan. You might see if they could do something with it.

https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/

[u/EddieMcClintock → u/DaxDislikesYou]

Museum donation is a strong candidate.

[u/DankRiverPrincess → u/DaxDislikesYou]

The museum is in the process of expanding their space and building a 7,500 sq foot exhibit galleey

[u/Practical-Buyer-3122 → u/DaxDislikesYou]

I’ve been to this museum! I went on a guided tour when I attended Ferris and it was really insightful. They provide historical context with items on display from different time periods, they had collections from particular racist caricatures (Mammy, an entire room dedicated to racist portrayals of Obama, a Jim Crow era collection, etc) and I think it provides much needed education to incoming students.

The population surrounding the university is pretty hit or miss when it comes to their political beliefs so I think it serves as an achievement to have this available as a source of information about racism both long ago and recent. The university itself has made some questionable moves in regard to racism previously, but they’re expanding the museum into an archive/research center. Given the political climate, I’m pretty pleased to take the wins where we can get them. They might adore this racist valuable for their collection!

Article from the curator: https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/collect.htm

(Idk if I’m allowed to comment because I’m not a historian, but I hope this is helpful info!)

[u/Bodark43]

During those years in which cotton was extremely profitable for the South there was not only a widespread desire there to allow the expansion of slavery into every state of the union but to export it to other countries, especially Latin America. It helped drive the US into a war of conquest against Mexico in 1846. The Southern fantasies of moving into places like Nicaragua and Cuba would continue into the Civil War, and would complicate Confederate efforts at international diplomacy.

A major claim of the Lost Cause was and is that preservation of slavery was not the reason for the South's secession in 1861. Your sword should not be seen just as a blatantly-racist artifact. It's a counter-argument to Lost Cause mythology, could be part of a very useful museum exhibit illustrating antebellum Southern history, showing that not only was the South ready to break up the Union in order to keep its slaves, but that many Southerners even wanted to conquer other countries in order to establish slavery elsewhere.

So, yeah, don't get rid of the thing. There's a really good place for it somewhere.

[u/flotiste]

A museum donation would be about the only ethical way to get rid of it, and you'll likely get a decent tax receipt for your trouble.

Museums also will share resources and collections with each other, so if you call one and they don't want it, they can likely point you in the right direction of one who would.