Our Dark Past - Exhibiting Race and Racism in Local History Museums by Admin Admin

ONCE UPON A HISTORY

Our Dark Past Exhibiting Race and Racism in Local History Museums

Kimberly Simmonds, B.A.

This year marks the 160th anniversary of the Bartholomew House Museum, run by the Richfield Historical Society in Richfield, Minnesota. Riley L. Bartholomew moved his wife and four children to Minnesota in 1852 and built the two-story home of local lumber on land that sat on the outskirts of Fort Snelling. The Bartholomew’s lived in Minnesota at a time when slavery was not allowed in the territory, and hired a local African American as a farmhand. Though the 1860 United States census shows that Minnesota’s African American population only amounted to 259 men, women and children,1 it seems that Minnesota, and Richfield in general, was a good place for free African Americans to settle. They found work on farms like the Bartholomew’s, taught in local schools (one taught between sixty-five and seventy-five students at once), worked on railroad lines and shopped on Main Street. 2 Much has changed in the 160 years since the Bartholomew’s made their home in Richfield. The Richfield History Center was built adjacent to the home to provide additional interpretation on the history and happenings of the city of Richfield. A football practice field and a baseball field take up land south of the house that used to be used for farming, and tarred roads where hundreds of automobiles speed by each day break up the lot where Bartholomew once used a horse and buggy for transport. Perhaps the biggest changes that have taken place, however, have to do with perceptions of race, not only in Richfield, but throughout America. These changes present the following questions: How are matters of race exhibited in local history museums like the Richfield Historical Society, and what stance does the museum take when exhibiting them?

Minnesota Historical Society, “Civil War Programs,” Minnesota’s Role in the Civil War, http://sites.mnhs.org/civilwar/minnesotas-role-civil-war (accessed June 17, 2012). 2 Frederick L. Johnson, Richfield: Minnesota’s Oldest Suburb (Richfield, Minnesota: Richfield Historical Society, 2008), 25.

Since 1852, when the Bartholomew’s moved to what is now Richfield, race matters have changed immeasurably in some ways, and very little in others. Minnesota became a territory where slavery was forbidden in 1849. In 1857, Dred Scott, a slave who had lived with his master at Fort Snelling and in other free territories, appealed to the Supreme Court to be declared free because he was living in a free territory when his master died. The Supreme Court declared that Scott could not bring a suit to the courts because he was not a citizen of the United States, he was property, and the Congress could not take property without due process of law, which included depriving persons of their slave property. 3 Just four years later, the American Civil War began when southern slave states seceded from the north after President Abraham Lincoln was elected to office. Richfield’s youth, including Rollin Bartholomew, the youngest son of Riley and Fanny, were recruited, along with young men from around the country, to fight to return the states back to their united front, one without slavery.4 In 1865, the North won the war and ended slavery in the United States, but it did not end the problems with race and racism in the country. Though the Civil Rights Act of 1866 declared African Americans citizens of the United States and the 1875 Civil Right Act guaranteed that everyone, regardless of race, color or previous condition of servitude, was entitled to the same treatment in public areas, it took nearly a hundred years for African Americans in the United States to be thought of, not as second-rate, but as equals and citizens.5 In 1876, the Jim Crow Laws were established in the southern United States, which introduced racial segregation as a mainstay. African Americans were not allowed

Alan Brinkley, The Unfinished Nation (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008), 349. Keith L., “Richfield Pioneer Homestead,” The Historical Marker Database, http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=37380 (accessed June 17, 2012). 5 Brinkley, Unfinished, 401. 4

to use the same washrooms as whites, the same restaurants, parks, trains, schools, etc.6 Racial segregation and the idea that African Americans were not equal to whites continued until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 overruled the Jim Crow Laws, and the Civil Rights Act of 1965 gave African Americans the right to vote.7 Reminders of racism and racial injustice still exist today, even in places where you might least expect it. The Richfield Historical Society is one of those places. Among the collection of photographs of early settlers of Richfield, ice cream socials held by the Historical Society and businesses that were started in Richfield and have thrived for over 100 years, are a small stack of photos that reveal a darker past. They could easily be missed by someone looking through the drawers quickly for pictures for an exhibit. In fact, at first glance, one might think that these photos show a community or high school theater event. But upon closer examination, the photos confirm the existence of a darker past for Richfield: the existence of the performance of minstrel shows in the city. White men in blackface have portrayed African American characters (based on comic buffoons or romanticized noble savages) since well before the American Revolution.8 However, it was not until the 1820s that white men began to base their characters on detailed observations of African Americans. Popular performers of the time, like George Washington Dixon and Thomas Dartmouth “T. Daddy” Rice, would tour the country “performing alleged Negro songs” such as “Zip Coon and “Jump Jim Crow.”9

Jim Crow Laws had no place in Richfield. Though Richfield had a small population of African Americans, they were still respected within the community. African American schoolteacher William E. Patrick of East School taught between sixty-five and seventy-five students each year in Richfield. Johnson, Richfield, 117. 7 Brinkley, Unfinished, 830. 8 Robert C. Toll, Blacking Up: The Minstrel Show in Nineteenth-Century America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974), 26. 9 Toll, Blacking Up, 27.

In the mid-1840s, minstrel shows took off. Whereas performers had originally thought of themselves as single acts, newly formed troupes of actors, sometimes with as many as 100 members, would put on a show to last the entire night based on “darky life.”10 These shows were popular everywhere and with everyone- at the White House with the President, on Broadway in New York City and in small towns where the traveling minstrel shows would stop during their tours around the country. The shows were popular not only because they allowed white people a glimpse into the lives of African Americans, but also because there was no build up, no character development, no fixed script. Each actor tried their best to be the highlight of the show, whether with a song, or a skit, a dance or a joke.11 Most people believed that there was an air of authenticity to the show because the actors performed in blackface, which only led to further ideas of racism and ethnocentrism by whites. The minstrel shows were not sympathetic to African Americans at all. In fact, the characters portrayed were made up of horribly racist caricatures of African Americans, diligently researched by the white men who played them. Billy Whitlock, a member of the Virginia Minstrels, was just one minstrel that would study African Americans in order to satirize their lives. Whitlock noted that he would grab a jug of whisky and head over to “some negro hut to hear them sing and watch them dance and ply them with liquor to make things merrier.”12 Whitlock and other minstrels would take what they learned from their “field work” and create wildly exaggerated versions of the songs and dances. The minstrels would choose an English melody and insert words that were “neither unusual or especially clever,”13 yet made African

Warren Bowles, “Black Theatre,” Lecture at Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 10, 2010. Toll, Blacking Up, 34. 12 Toll, Blacking Up, 46. 13 Toll, Blacking Up, 43. 11

Americans look stupid or inferior. The dances they created showed feet that would shuffle, barely lifting off the ground, yet arms and hands that would flail peculiarly above their heads. There were groups of people, like abolitionists and women’s rights groups, who disapproved of minstrel shows and found them extremely offensive. Frederick Douglass, the African American who escaped from slavery to become one of the country’s leading abolitionists, wrote in an 1848 issue of his North Star newspaper that blackface performers are, “the scum of white society, who have stolen from us a complexion denied them by nature, in which to make money, and pander to the corrupt taste of their white fellow citizens.” 14 However, minstrel shows were the most popular form of entertainment in antebellum America. Audience members enjoyed the shows “because of [the actor’s] ability to address forbidden topics of race, class and gender in America.”15 The minstrel shows did line the pockets of the white people involved like Douglass pointed out. The most popular performers earned huge salaries because of the “abilities” stated above and during 3000 performances over nearly 30 years, E. P. Christy Minstrels made $160,000 of profit in the late 1800s.16 Minstrel groups made up of African Americans, including the Georgia Minstrels and Heverly’s Genuine Colored Minstrels, began to appear in the mid-1850s, and started to take some of the business away from the white minstrel troupes. African Americans decided that minstrel shows could be done better and were acknowledged as experts at portraying plantation material.17 A new dance that mixed the Irish jig and the African gioubu, also known as jigaboo, and choral music was added to their repertoire to make the shows more joyful.18 However, since

Toll, Blacking Up, 196. Richard L. Hughes, “Minstrel Music: The Sounds and Images of Race in Antebellum America,” The History Teacher 40, no. 1 (November 2006): 28. 16 Warren Bowles, “Black Theater,” Lecture at Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 10, 2010. 17 Toll, Blacking Up, 196. 18 Warren Bowles, “Black Theater,” Lecture at Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 23, 2010. 15

they inherited the white-created stereotypes and could only make minor modifications to them, the African American minstrels only added credibility to the way whites made it seem they really acted.19 Minstrel shows themselves gradually diminished in popularity in the late 1800s due to a depression, but the racist comedy used in them continued to be popular well into the twentieth century, with shows like “Amos ‘n Andy” on the radio, and later on the television.20 Even as late as the 1960s, minstrel shows were being used as entertainment in theatres and at fundraising events. Starting in the 1940s, the Richfield Lions Club in Richfield, Minnesota used minstrel shows as a revenue producer for the community. In1954, the Lions Club had a cast of 185 people in their minstrel show, which they regarded as “an easy-to-produce audience favorite.”21 Frederick L. Johnson, writer of Richfield: Minnesota’s Oldest Suburb, believes that it was unlikely that those who participated in the minstrel shows considered them to be racist. It is entirely possible that the citizens of Richfield found nothing racist or insensitive about the minstrel shows they put on to fundraise for the community because they were “taking part in a long-accepted American entertainment tradition.”22 Perhaps it could have been that the first African American family to settle in Richfield did not do so until 1951, so an African American presence in the city was not felt up to that point.23 Johnson said in his book, “Racism had relegated blacks to the background of American society for so long that they had been rendered almost invisible.” 24

Toll, Blacking Up, 196. Warren Bowles, “Black Theatre, Lecture at Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 10, 2010. 21 Johnson, Richfield, 120. 22 Johnson, Richfield, 120. 23 Robert and Mary Jane Samples were one of only two African American families to live in Richfield in 1951. Johnson, Richfield, 118. 24 Johnson, Richfield, 120. 20

Public historians have long grappled with which parts of African American history they should be presenting: the dark or the bright.25 To be fair, Johnson included two of the photos of the 1954 minstrel show in his book, from the small stack in the collections at the Richfield Historical Society. The book is also for sale at the Historical Society. However, unless one reads through the entire book, page by page, they will not ever see the small section on minstrel shows in Richfield. There is no mention in the index and flipping through it will not find the page it is on. So, the only way for the public to learn more about minstrel shows in Richfield is to purchase Johnson’s book, and even then, he makes it seem like the shows were no big deal because racism was just glossed over during the time the shows took place. Jodi Larson has been the director of the Richfield Historical Society since 2011 and has worked exceedingly hard to bring quality, educational interpretation to a small local history museum with limited resources. Although the museum is run in a culturally diverse city, the visitorship at the museum is predominately white. While there has been no question as to the lack of race-related materials exhibited at the museum, Larson believes that “minority cultures may not be asking [about the exhibits] because they simply don’t come. They don’t come in because they assume that there is nothing there that reflects their story—and they would be right.”26 However, Larson is slow to jump at the chance to display the minstrel show photos in their collection. “I am not convinced,” she said, “that displaying them would help tell the story of Richfield while not hindering the bridges that could be made [with the African American community].”27

John E. Fleming, “African American Museums, History and the American Ideal,” The Journal of American History 81, no. 3 (December 1994): 1020. 26 Jodi Larson, interview by author, June 7, 2012. 27 Jodi Larson, interview by author, June 7, 2012.

A strong backbone is needed to run a successful museum and Larson is confident that the board members of the Richfield Historical Society are “exceptionally progressive in terms of audience engagement, interpretation and the discussion of cutting edge museum practices.”28 She also believes that a small exhibit explaining the significance of the minstrel show photos and the context into which they fit would not ruffle any feathers on the board. However, while she is certain that museums exist to create connections and to spark conversations, and that showing something offensive is just as good a spark as any other strong emotion, she says that she has “learned that the community ties created over time are much harder to create and tend (and mend) than the mass audiences cultivated by larger museums that can afford to lose a few offended patrons.”29 Other local history museums across the country have struggled with representing and exhibiting race and racism, including some of the ways that Larson talked about. Regina Faden, former director of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum in Hannibal, Missouri, hit barriers based on race when she first started working at the museum. People are first and foremost drawn to the Museum to be close to a man that they admire, and to imagine themselves in the stories of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Until 2005, the museum focused on telling Tom’s fictionalized story instead of focusing on the writer’s own story. After Faden took over as director, a plan was implemented to make Twain the focus, as well as implementing the topic of slavery into the exhibits for the first time.30

Jodi Larson, interview by author, June 7, 2012. Jodi Larson, interview by author, June 7, 2012. 30 Regina Faden, “Changing Old Institutions: Race in the Mark Twain Museum,” Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies 40, no. 1 (Spring 2009): 6. 29

Twain began his life in a town that practiced and protected slavery. In his adult life, however, he was a “staunch defender of equality and social justice.”31 As an adamant supporter of abolition and emancipation, Twain went as far as to say, “Lincoln’s Proclamation…not only set the black slaves free, but set the white man free also.”32 He believed in equal rights so much that he paid for at least one African American to attend Yale Law School, and for another to attend a university in the south to become a minister.33 Faden was confident that with this knowledge, the entire community would be accepting of her new ideas for the museum. As the plans came together, Faden met with community leaders to find out how to raise funds for the overhaul of the museum. She learned that the city of Hannibal had allowed a Ku Klux Klan rally to take place within city limits, and an elderly couple’s car had recently been vandalized, with “KKK” spray painted on the side. The African American community was not only afraid of the “unfriendly” citizens, but they also saw nothing at the museum that spoke to them and was worthy of their visit.34 Faden decided to let the members of the community share their own experiences, “to act as storytellers.”35 The museum would create an exhibit about the African American experience in Twain’s hometown. Faden wondered, “how does an institution engage members of its community, particularly those who have long felt marginalized like the African Americans of Hannibal?”36 Choosing to network through local churches seemed like the best bet, and a group of fifteen “community curators” came forward to help with the new exhibits. Most of the members

Faden, “Changing,” 5. Philip S. Foner, Mark Twain: Social Critic (New York: International Publishers, 1958), 200. 33 A.B. Paine, Mark Twain: A Biography (New York: Harper, 1912), 1701. 34 Faden, “Changing,” 7. 35 Faden, “Changing,” 7. 36 Faden, “Changing,” 7. 32

believed Twain to be racist, based on a sign from the 1930s that read, “[n-word] Jim.”37 Faden explained Twain’s views to her recruits, and, reassured by Faden’s teachings, the group came together to create an exhibit that attracted African Americans and whites alike. That was not the end of the barriers for Faden, however. When working on an exhibit about Huckleberry Finn, one of the board members asked, “Won’t black people be upset if we talk about slavery?” This is a question that would be asked in just about every museum, large or small, in the country. Faden believes that a question like this comes about, not because someone is simple or racist, but because they are unsure where to start or what to say about the tough topic. The museum chose to present the book in two ways: first, to tie the novel to today’s world, and second, to place in context of the world Twain grew up in.38 They also had an interpreter who portrayed Twain and talked about how Twain felt about slavery. Visitors were enthusiastic about his portrayal.39 If Richfield Historical Society were to create an exhibit around the minstrel show photos in their collection, they might want to take a hint from Faden and her work in Hannibal. Consulting the leaders of the community, along with the museum’s board members would be the logical first step in finding out if exhibiting those photos would help or hinder community relations within the museum. If they chose to go forward, finding that it would be an excellent learning opportunity for visitors, the next step would be to consult the community itself, learn from them what they know and do not know about the subject, and educate them along the way. The work that Faden did at Twain’s boyhood home and other historical spots around the city would be an excellent jumping off point for those who run the Richfield Historical Society now.

Faden, “Changing,” 8. Faden, “Changing,” 12. 39 Faden, “Changing,” 13. 38

Since the museum has overhauled its exhibits and included information on slavery and African Americans in the community, the attitudes of the public have changed. Faden remarks that there is not the anger there used to be and everyone feels as if they can visit the museum as often as they would like, regardless of the color of their skin. “The concept of race, which has so defined American since the 17th century, is becoming an outdated way of looking at things,” Faden said.40 So, if local history museums have a hard time bringing race into the picture for their general public, does that mean that matters of race should be left out? Or does it mean that only larger institutions can bring up unpleasant topics from the past because they have a larger visitorship? Unfortunately, exhibiting the uncomfortable part of history seems to only work when represented at larger museums. Though Katherine Ott, author of “Disability and Public History,” focuses her studies on the Americans with Disabilities Act and the history of the disability rights movement, she makes a lot of good points that can translate to how the history of race is exhibited. She writes, “Public historians facilitate communication of information and knowledge so that visitors, viewers and listeners can better comprehend the world.”41 If a public historian is not showing all of history, even the bad things that happened, the public cannot make completely informed decisions about what they have learned in a museum. “Much of the history of exhibition practice encompasses the display of human bodies…[including those] on minstrel stages.”42 The opportunity should be made to allow those same images to be used demonstrably and informatively in small town museums as well as the larger museums.

Faden, “Changing,” 14. Katherine Ott, “Disability and the Practice of Public History: An Introduction,” The Public Historian 27, no. 2 (Spring 2009): 12. 42 Ott, “Disability,” 12. 41

Ott also writes that minstrel shows were not far removed from wax museums that recreated sensational events, like a person killing another, medicine shows and the circus with its freak sideshows. She says that any differences highlighted would be based on the diversity of the people involved, and those involved would struggle to embrace the inclusion of the differences.43 “We have not progressed very far beyond P.T. Barnum.”44 Anything else exhibited makes people feel uncomfortable and is likely to offend or push people away. But the offensive is exactly what the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia aims to explore. Newly opened in the spring of 2012 at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan, the museum’s goal is “using objects of intolerance to teach tolerance and promote social injustice.”45 Not only does the museum explore racial hierarchy and laws from the late 1800s to the mid-1960s, it also blatantly exhibits the racist materials that exist even today. African American men are “portrayed as lazy, violent or inarticulate.”46 African American women are “shown as kerchief wearing mammies, sexually charged Jezebels or other stereotypes.”47 David Pilgrim, founder and curator of the museum, said that “most of the objects [found in the museum] are anti-black caricatures, everyday objects or segregationist memorabilia. Because they represent a cruel, inflammatory past, they should be in a garbage can or in a museum.”48 However, Pilgrim makes no apologies for the provocative exhibits. “The goal of the gallery…is to get people to think deeply.”49

Ott, “Disability,” 17. Ott, “Disability,” 23. 45 Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, “Jim Crow” Jim Crow, http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/ (accessed April 25, 2012). 46 Mike Householder, “New Michigan Museum Showcases Racist Artifacts,” Associated Press, April 19, 2012. 47 Householder, “New.” 48 Householder, “New.” 49 Householder “New.” 44

Pilgrim designed a room at the end of the tour to encourage visitors to stop and discuss what they have just seen. “Visitors can forget about touring the exhibits and retiring to a café or gift shop. Some leave angry or offended. Most feel a kind of reflective sadness.”50 One cannot help but feel something after leaving the museum- upon entering the main gallery, the showcase is a large tree with a noose hanging from it. Video of racist acts plays in the background. On display are objects of racism from over one hundred years ago. Other objects were created just this year. Pilgrim stated, “The more racist an item, the more it costs…A lot of these items are in people’s homes today.”51 At least one-third of the museum discusses minstrel shows: the creation of minstrel shows, how white men first got into character and the popularity of the shows. The exhibits also talk about how black performers got in on the popularity of the minstrel show. The museum makes it a point to talk about how Jim Crow was originally a character created by Thomas Dartmouth Rice, supposedly modeled after a slave. Rice darkened his face with burnt cork, acted like a buffoon and spoke in an exaggerated African American Vernacular English. Rice is also known as the Father of Minstrelsy. After the American Civil War, segregation laws were put in place in the south, which were called Jim Crow Laws after Rice’s character.52 Having this additional information added to the exhibits makes it easier to understand the history of the racist items in the museum’s collections. The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia spells out what their museum is all about in their name, but not all museums have the chance to back up what they are about with a title. Most museums have to think carefully about who their public is, and how they will create

Householder, “New.” Householder, “New.” 52 Jim Crow Museum of Racist Artifacts, “The Origins of Jim Crow,” The Museum and Exhibits, http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/origins.htm (accessed April 25, 2012). 51

exhibits to draw crowds in rather than push them away. Edward Chappell, author of “Social Responsibility and the American History Museum,” believes that those who work in museums, as well as those who write historical novels and make historically-based movies, all have the responsibility to show “the range of human experience within its chosen period and location.”53 He also says that public historians must consider how exhibitions may be misinterpreted, as well as how they are intended to be understood.54 Yet much more needs to be done to continue the education of the masses. “Common wisdom holds that most Americans care only for socially inert and politically conservative museum experiences,” Chappell writes. However, in addition to a more realistic view of AngloAmerican and minorities, Chappell believes that “it is particularly healthy to reveal to both black and white visitors that such imaginary projection (as putting yourself in someone else’s shoes) does not necessarily land them in the roles of Zip Coon or Rhett Butler.”55 Chappell writes about the interpretation of slaves at Colonial Williamsburg and believes that instead of portraying each African American person as having the same type of background and upbringing, “it can help to dislodge familiar stereotypes and allow viewers to see slaves as people who had shared and contrasting affinities. The slave’s world was not simply a culture of poverty.”56 The main goal of the living history site is to “help museum goers to understand more about the system of American slavery and recognize its long term effects.”57 People may still come away offended, but in the long run, they have had the chance to learn more about a dark part of our country’s past.

Edward A. Chappell, “Social Responsibility and the American History Museum,” Winterthur Portfolio 24, no. 4 (Winter 1989): 249. 54 Chappell, “Social,” 263. 55 Chappell, “Social,” 263. 56 Chappell, “Social,” 263. 57 Chappell, “Social,” 263.

Remember just after the Bartholomew’s moved to Richfield, and the census was taken in 1860? There were only 259 men, women and children of African descent in Minnesota. Since then, the city has become one of the most diverse in the state. In 1980, only 4.5% of the students in Richfield Public Schools were non-white. By 2000, 44.6% of the student population was of color.58 Creating an exhibit about minstrel shows at the Richfield Historical Society might offend some, but overall, would present a learning opportunity for those people in the community that once thought (and might still think) that minstrel shows are “just entertainment,” but would also allow for other generations to view something from the past that was wrong, and would show that Richfield and Minnesota were not exempt from our country’s racially charged past. Though local history museums may have a harder time presenting a difficult part of our history, reaching out for support from places like the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia and the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum would help create an exhibit that is fair and educational.

Johnson, Richfield, 121.

Bibliography Bowles, Warren. “Black Theater.” Lecture at Augsburg College,Minneapolis, Minnesota. January 10-23, 2010. Brinkley, Allen. The Unfinished Nation. New York: McGraw Hill, 2008. Chappell, Edward A. “Social Responsibility and the American History Museum.” Winterthur Portfolio 24, no. 4 (Winter 1989): 247-265. Faden, Regina. “Changing Old Institutions: Race in the Mark Twain Museum.” Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies 40, no. 1 (Spring 2009): 5-17. Fleming, John E. “African American Museums, History and the American Ideal.” The Journal of American History 81, no. 3 (December 1994): 1020-1026. Foner, Philip S. Mark Twain: Social Critic. New York: International Publishers, 1958. Householder, Mike. “New Michigan Museum Showcases Racist Artifacts.” Associated Press, April 19, 2012. Hughes, Richard L. “Minstrel Music: The Sounds and Images of Race in Antebellum America.” The History Teacher 40, no. 1 (November 2006): 27-43. Jim Crow Museum of Racist Artifacts. “Jim Crow.” Jim Crow. http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/index.htm (accessed April 25, 2012). Jim Crow Museum of Racist Artifacts. “The Origins of Jim Crow.” The Museum and Exhibits. http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/origins.htm (accessed April 25, 2012). Johnson, Frederick L. Richfield: Minnesota’s Oldest Suburb. Richfield, Minnesota: Richfield Historical Society, 2008. L., Keith. “Richfield Pioneer Homestead.” The Historical Marker Database. http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=37380 (accessed June 17, 2012). Minnesota Historical Society. “Civil War Programs.” Minnesota’s Role in the Civil War. http://sites.mnhs.org/civil-war/minnesotas-role-civil-war (accessed June 17, 2012). Ott, Katherine. “Disability and the Practice of Public History: An Introduction.” The Public Historian 27, no. 2 (Spring 2005): 9-24. Paine, A. B. Mark Twain: A Biography. New York: Harper, 1912. Toll, Robert C. Blacking Up: The Minstrel Show in Nineteenth Century America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.