Black Santa collection on display in Cedar Rapids

When she was raising her children, Patricia Sanders-Hall wanted them to see cultural icons that looked like them. So by the time her daughter was a toddler, she had begun a collection of black Santas.

'I was very ‘Afrocentric' in my younger years, meaning it was important to connect with my cultural roots and to provide a positive role model of racial pride in my community and for my children,” she told her friend and freelance curator Doris Montag. 'The idea that Santa Claus could only be a white man with blue eyes was historically incorrect and was culturally insensitive.”

Montag, who lives in Iowa City, brought Sanders-Hall's black Santa collection from her home in Kansas City to the Corridor for two holiday season displays. 'An Exhibit of Black Santas” includes 50 figurines and ornaments on display in the lobby of the African American Museum of Iowa, 55 12th Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids, through Jan. 2.

A second display, with additional pieces from Hall's collection, is to be at the Coralville Public Library, 1401 Fifth St., Coralville, from Dec. 1 through Jan. 3.

Montag said she has admired the black Santas many times over the years while visiting her friend. The actual Saint Nicholas was a Catholic bishop born in Turkey. The contemporary American image of Santa is a relatively recent phenomena, formed in the 1800s from popular culture depictions such as Clement C. Moore's poem, 'A Visit from Saint Nicholas” and Thomas Nast's illustrations.

'We don't have to accept the stereotypes of an artist. (This display) is just allowing for a child of color to see a Santa Claus that looks like them,” Montag said. 'I have mixed-race children, and in raising them, I always wanted to be sure they had a more balanced experience.”

Along with the black Santa exhibit, the African American Museum of Iowa is marking the holiday season with a Kwanzaa table and participating in Deck the District for the first time.

Deck the District includes holiday activities Dec. 2-4 at locations around the New Bohemia and Czech Village neighborhoods, with trolley rides between locations. A trolley stop, the museum is offering free admission and is to be open until 8 p.m. Dec. 3, with children's activities from 1 to 4 p.m.

Children are to be able to make crafts that relate to the seven principles of Kwanzaa: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. Children can make their own mkeka, or place mat, a symbol of tradition and history, as well as ears of corn, muhindi, symbolic of children and the future they embody.

'Kwanzaa is not really a substitute for Christmas, but it is one of the few holidays created by an African American,” museum educator Krystal Gladden said. 'A lot of families celebrate elements of both together, but as a holiday Kwanzaa has a unique African American historical significance.”

The Kwanzaa table is to be on display during Deck the District and again during Kwanzaa, Dec. 26 to Jan. 1.

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