This project was for Resilience Week at the Maine College of Art, a week dedicated to celebrating diversity and resilience, while educating white students about the struggles of students of colors and opening constructive dialogues. Graphic Design students were asked to select commonly used words or phrases that have a racist history or hidden connotation, and then create folios that give a history on these words, while providing substitutes for these words. 

The first word I researched is "Podunk." The word originally comes from the Algonquin language, but its original meaning is lost. I wanted to convey the word being stolen from Native Americans, and then transformed as it travelled, and is now the word we know. 

The second word I researched was "Boy." This word was, and still is, used by white people, predominantly in the deep south, to refer to fully grown Black men. The intent of calling adult men "boy" is to degrade, demean, and humiliate them. It reduces any life experience they have had to that of a child. White people would even refer to Black people who were older than them as boy. The usage of this word in a derogatory was one of the key factors in the iconic "I Am A Man" march, in 1968. 

These works were designed and produced by Trey Jones for their Graphic Design Core Studio class in collaboration with Resilience Week and the Students of Color Coalition in their Junior Year at the Maine College of Art in the Spring of 2021.