“The Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world,--a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness,--an American, a Negro; two warring souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”

It is the manifestation of this world at William and Mary, the world that DuBois described so eloquently, that this exhibit explores. During the Jim Crow Era, law and custom in this country dictated racial segregation, and Jim Crow provided blacks a mirror through which to see themselves—as lazy, shiftless, womanizing drunks or Jezebels without morals and good only for physical labor. However, there was a second mirror, one provided by their communities—perhaps it was this reflection that prevented blacks “from being torn asunder.”

The university adhered to the law of the land, and employed blacks but only as laborers. Henry Billups labored at William and Mary from 1888 until 1955, spanning most of the Jim Crow period. He operated in two different worlds, and it seems fitting to study Jim Crow at the university through his eyes. This exhibit, curated by Professor Jody Allen’s class “The World of Henry Billups,” includes four cases. One focuses on Billups, the other three look at the evolution of segregation and the outcomes that took place during his lifetime.

Student curators: Kathleen Adams, Hillary Bray, Jerome Carter, Danielle Greene, Sebastian Kreindel, Shannon Linehan, Rebecca Little, Andrew Ojeda, Kellie O’Malley, Elliott Perkins, John Sullivan, Amanda Reynolds, Blair Smith, Scott Williamson, Kaylene Woods.

Exhibit design and installation: Chandi Singer, Burger Archives Assistant; Priscilla Wood, Volunteer; Staci Chapman ’11, Student Assistant; Justin Ferrell '11, Student Assistant; Fred Hassell ’11, Student Assistant; Zoe Weinstein '12, Student Assistant.

Images of the installed exhibit are available from Special Collections on Flickr.