Each year, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we arrange an Art Outta Town trip to a professional theatre see a play that deals with the themes of racial and social justice. This year’s play is The Whipping Man. The play is set in April 1865, and the The Civil War is over. Into the chaos of war-ravaged Richmond, Virginia comes Caleb DeLeon, a severely wounded Confederate officer who is Jewish. He finds his family’s home in ruins and abandoned. The only familiar faces left are Simon and John, two former slaves, waiting for the family to return. While they look out for signs of a return to normality, the three men struggle with their shared past and the reality of the new world they now live in.

This Art Outta Town trip includes your ticket to the play plus transportation, for just $10! This trip is open to all current U of M students, but seating is limited, so register today!

As you attend the University’s MLK Day events, be sure to stop by our special exhibition, “Dominated and Demeaned: Representations of the Other from New Kingdom Egypt and Jim Crow America.” This installation places a display of 20th-century household artifacts depicting African Americans (but marketed to white Americans) in dialogue with images of the enemy Other in New Kingdom Egypt. The display was conceived and created as a class project in History of Art 286 (Art and Empire in Antiquity—Fall 2011). It will be held over by popular request through Sunday, January 29, 2012.

Read more about this exhibition at http://lw.lsa.umich.edu/kelsey/Dominated/D&D.pdf