What's wrong with labeling a portrayal of an African Ubangi leader a "witch doctor of the Ubangi savages," as he gestures at a person prostrate on the ground below him?
Or what about the label, "Old Squaw snake medical discovery" next to the image of a young American Indian woman, as she puts a snake to her mouth while others wrap around her arms?
Do these words and what they suggest even see the light of day anymore?
Both of these individuals are portrayed in Kresge Art Museum's "Circus: The Art of the 'Strange and the Curious'" exhibit currently on campus until July 27.
Included are 12 wall-sized, painted canvas banners from old circus sideshows that sought to lure paying customers inside to gape at the "strange and curious."
And there it all begins - the step back into the 20th century via these banners that date from the early 1900s up until the 1970s. There also is a step back into the vernacular of the times that jolt today's viewers into the realization that, "Yes, Virginia, things have changed," in recent decades regarding our awareness of and sensitivity to diversity among our fellow human beings. Or to some degree, at least.
Kresge's show provides a veritable gold mine for examining and comparing society's values over time to how we regard one another. And it nudges us to think about our own mind sets - how do we view others' differences and where do these views come from?
Don't miss the chance to take in this exhibit, which extols the childlike wonder of circus parades and pure, old-timey big tent thrills. But along with that, consider the chance to respond to the social issues that reverberate from many of its banners, right alongside their artistic and historical merit.
For example, what's your perception of what it must have been like to be people across the country barely able to scrape out a living based on their body's uniqueness and labeled "Emmett the armless and legless boy," or "Roberta-Ray: Two bodies and one head?"
They're all waiting for you there in this exhibit, big as life, among the almost tangible aroma of salty peanuts and fresh sawdust.
And speaking of big, it's impossible not to miss the banner greeting you from the opposite wall if you enter through the main gallery doorway. A young woman of very large proportions coyly poses at the beach, flashing a bland smile from atop her bulging blue bikini. In today's medical terminology, she would be described as morbidly obese.
Dangling from one of her hands is a rather distraught but perfectly proportioned miniature man wearing swim trunks and staring up at her with a bit of shock, if not apprehension.
Strange enough is this startling difference in their sizes. But then the bold letters emblazoned at the top of the banner pop into view, decrying its title: "Oh My! But she is FAT!"
Anyone who has gone through agonizing self-evaluation when trying on a bathing suit in front of a mirror cannot help but give her an empathic sigh.
It's interesting this is one of the more recent banners, painted as late as the 1950s, given contemporary thought about healthy weight and the attention to illnesses associated with achieving and maintaining it.
It also reinforces today's conflicting societal pressure to strive for often unattainable, as well as unwise, weight standards touted in media images.
Other physical challenges are a recurring theme in many of the banners, as exemplified in "The Only Three-Legged Football Player in the World." The museum has focused its exhibit-related events on this particular theme, including the showing of the vintage film, "Freaks" on July 18.
If there was ever a wealth of hot-button topics tucked in one single art show, this is it - even though it's easy to skim over its gaiety or get lost in warm childhood circus memories.
What an experience it can provide for all of us in the university community and in East Lansing to deepen our understanding of individual differences.
Just as society's portrayal of diverse people and cultures has evolved over the years, so has the city's Human Relations Ordinance. It now includes both sexual orientation and student status as categories protected from discrimination. Neither is otherwise covered by state or federal statute.
This exhibit raises the timeless question for us to ponder: How do we view the right of everyone to be regarded with respect and dignity?
Dorothy Brooks is commissioner on the East Lansing Human Relations Commission.
