By Heidi Adelsman
Human Toll: A Public History of 35W
On view now through the end of 2022, Human Toll explores the community resistance and resilience to the construction of 35 W and illustrates how freeway construction destroyed and divided Black communities across the United States, amplifying the effects of systemic racism still felt today. With photographs, maps, oral histories and archival documents, Human Toll foregrounds the experiences of Black residents of South Minneapolis by exploring stories about displacement, housing discrimination, neighborhood division and environmental justice.
Human Toll was researched and developed by a diverse team of South Minneapolis community members and advisors working in collaboration with students and faculty of the University of Minnesota Heritage Studies and Public History program. Retired MnDOT employee Dr. Ernest Lloyd, who wrote his doctorate on the topic of 35W, served as both Community Advisor and Research Advisor on the team, assisting in interviewing community residents on the impact the construction of 35W had on their lives. As Dr. Lloyd noted during the exhibit’s opening event, “Recall as you drive down 35W that you are driving through what used to be someone’s kitchen or bedroom, through someone’s home now gone.”
Separate Not Equal: The Hale-Field Pairing
Separate Not Equal explores the Minneapolis School District’s first attempt at desegregation with the pairing of Hale and Field Elementary Schools in South Minneapolis in 1971. Led by both parents and educators, the Hale-Field pairing is celebrated as one victory in the fight against segregation and paved the way for subsequent desegregation efforts across Minneapolis. At the time there was already ample evidence that racial and socio-economic isolation had a negative effect on the attitudes and academic achievement of school age children. Field was over capacity and under-funded, while Hale was under capacity and well-funded. For these reasons, the two schools were identified as candidates for the pairing.
The exhibit examines the legal precedents and landmark rulings leading up to school desegregation and looks at community support and opposition to the pairing, as well as the racial boundaries that existed at that time in South Minneapolis. Visitors learn the lived experience of students, parents, and teachers, as well as the measurable educational outcomes of the pairing. Lastly, visitors are encouraged to reflect on what this means for the state to today’s school systems.
Separate Not Equal is a community-based public history project supported by the Heritage Studies and Public History program of the University of Minnesota and Minnesota Transform. The exhibit runs through spring 2023 and through its duration, in-person and online events will be offered by the museum to deepen the understanding of systemic racism.
Visiting the Museum
Hennepin History Museum, 2303 Third Avenue South, Minneapolis on MTC’s #11 High Frequency Route. Free parking is available at the Museum and on Third Avenue. Bike racks available. Visiting requires the use of stairs. Open Thursdays and Fridays at 10 AM to 3 PM; Saturdays at 10 AM to 5 PM. Admission- Pay As You Can. www.hennepinhistory.org
