March 14, 2026
Ferris State’s Jim Crow Museum traveling exhibit promotion earns top advertising awards on behalf of Memphis Museum of Science and History
Efforts promoting the traveling exhibit for Ferris State University’s Jim Crow Museum in Memphis have earned three top advertising awards.
“Overcoming Hateful Things” was on display from May to October 2025 at the Memphis Museum of Science and History’s Pink Palace Museum and Mansion.
The powerful and thought-provoking traveling exhibit explores the Jim Crow system, the African American experience through the Jim Crow era, and the legacies of this system today.
A new, standalone museum is under construction on Ferris State’s Big Rapids campus with plans to open in the fall.
Memphis Museum of Science and History’s entries earned three American Advertising Awards, produced by the American Advertising Federation, the top awards represent the industry’s top recognition platform for creative execution on agency level.
The American Advertising Federation’s Memphis chapter honored DCA, the Memphis agency working on behalf of the museum with two Gold Awards.
One of the Gold Awards was in the category of Cross Platform/Integrated Advertising Campaign category, and the second was in the Film, Video and Sound/Local Television Commercial, 30-Second Single Spot category.
The agency also earned the Mosaic Award, a special judges’ award honoring companies, agencies, and individuals for outstanding commitment to diversity in advertising through creative work, advocacy, and company-wide initiatives.
Entries are judged by a panel of visiting creative professionals, with the winners receiving gold and silver trophies in a variety of categories. Winning entries are eligible to entered in the District 7 American Advertising Awards and if they win there, they can compete at the National level against the best creative in the country.
The MoSH appearance was the first time “Overcoming Hateful Things” was displayed out of Michigan, bringing its impactful message to Memphis, which played a pivotal role in the nation’s civil rights history.
The traveling exhibit previously appeared at the Wayne County Community College District in Detroit after its debut at the Grand Rapids Public Museum in 2023.
The exhibit places artifacts in their proper historical context and cultivates understanding and empathy for victims of racial intolerance throughout history, to the present day.
The exhibition contains more than 150 items of material culture from the late 19th century to the present, embodying the effects of the Jim Crow legacy and efforts to rise above and move forward.
In addition to items from popular and commercial culture, the exhibit contains images of violence against African Americans and the civil rights activists struggling for racial equality.
Ferris State broke ground in December 2024 at a campus location for the Jim Crow Museum on its Big Rapids campus.
The university has had a museum with a 30,000-piece collection of racist materials for three decades, using the objects of intolerance to teach tolerance and promote social justice.
However, the new standalone building will allow the university to expand the discussion to focus on how people pushed back against racism and inspire future generations.
The 26,000-square-foot facility will be located near the State Street entrance to the campus and equipped to manage the complete collection of artifacts and a state-of-the-art archive and research component.
The new museum will have as its centerpiece a 7,500-square-foot permanent exhibit dedicated to the large-scale display and interpretation of the museum’s most compelling assets.