Fair Housing Exhibit ‘Unwelcomed’ Opens
I am so proud to share that "Unwelcomed: A Fair Housing History of Sales & Lending Discrimination," a housing discrimination exhibit I researched/curated on behalf of the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, opened April 11th at the Indianapolis Public Library. This exhibit was an honor to work on - my second largest exhibit and my second traveling exhibit to date.
Images: Photographs of the FHCCI exhibit on opening day, April 11, 2022, by the author.
There were many times I had to step back and walk away from this content. So many lawsuits and testimonials of the most vile discrimination - most of what I read was based on race, disability, and gender. The scale of housing discrimination, historically and today, is overwhelming. I do not know how the staff at FHCCI deals with the constant horror of these atrocities; they are fighting the good fight. Housing is a human right. Housing is connected to everything. Where you live matters, and your access to all facets of life is intertwined with your access to housing. We must do better, and to do that, we need to understand the context of housing discrimination.
Images: Photographs of the FHCCI exhibit on opening day, April 11, 2022. Center Photo: Myself with Amy Nelson, Executive Director of the FHCCI. Right Photo: Pointing out some of my favorite 1930s images of Indianapolis neighborhoods used to help visualize what redlined neighborhoods actually looked like in the 1930s.
Stop by the Indianapolis Public Library Central Branch, third floor, this month to see the exhibit. Otherwise, the FHCCI is hoping to display it in other locations throughout the year - I will share news when I know more.
If you have vision impairments, audio recordings of the exhibit text are available here along with works cited, image citations, and other resources. Click on the link to each panel to learn more about that panel’s resources and audio files.
View the recorded press conference here and the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana’s exhibit press release here.
And a congrats is in order to the FHCCI for winning the City of Indianapolis’ 2022 Accessibility Award - one of four Access and Inclusion Awards given by the Office of Disability Affairs and the Mayor’s Advisory Council on Disability. Read that press release here.
Read the exhibit press in The Indiana Lawyer here and WFYI here.
Images: Photographs of the FHCCI exhibit on opening day, April 11, 2022, including opening remarks by both Mayor Joe Hogsett (left) and Amy Nelson, FHCCI Executive Director (center). Right Photo: The Accessibility Award presented to the FHCCI at the exhibit opening.