An exhibit on the history of racially discriminatory lending practices in Johnson County has proved so popular with visitors that the Johnson County Museum is now seeking to make it a permanent digital resource.
“REDLINED: Cities, Suburbs and Segregation” closed in January after a year’s run at the county Arts and Heritage Center.
But the public reaction to it was so strongly positive that museum officials have begun raising funds for the exhibit to have an expanded online presence that will serve as a resource on the subject, said Lindsey Arnold Seevers, the museum’s curator of engagement.
‘REDLINED’ drew thousands of visitors
- The exhibit attracted more than 100 private tours from churches, social justice groups, banks, real estate groups and the like, Seevers said.
- “You name it, we probably had a group come out,” she said.
- Seevers did not have an exact number of overall visitors that came to the exhibit but said it amounted to “tens of thousands.”
Funds are being raised to put exhibit online permanently
- Putting the exhibit in digital form will allow the museum to expand its offerings and continue to offer more artifacts and information on an issue that is of continuing interest, she said.
- The idea is still in the planning stages and there’s no set timeline yet on when it might be live or what form it might take.
- Seevers said the goal is to raise $125,000 for a comprehensive and well-designed exhibit.
- The Park and Recreation Foundation of Johnson County has offered a $10,000 match challenge and museum staff will explore other fundraising opportunities as well.
The exhibit examined racist housing policies
- Redlining refers to institutional policies, often financial policies, that exclude people from certain neighborhoods based on race or ethnicity.
- The exhibit detailed how those policies shaped the neighborhoods of Johnson County and Kansas City and worked especially to keep out Black and Jewish homebuyers from certain neighborhoods and suburbs.
- The county museum staff worked with other parties in Kansas City, including the Black Archives of Mid America, she said.
It was eye-opening for many local residents
- The exhibit drew people from the metro area and beyond, Seevers said.
- For many Johnson County visitors, the exhibit was eye-opening because people had not learned about it in school, she said.
- “For a lot of visitors, it was that they had never heard about this policy and practices and they were surprised to learn that their neighborhood might be on the list of redlined subdivisions,” she said.
- Others came because the exhibit gave voice to their own lived experiences and explained the ripple effects of divestment in neighborhoods, she added.
- Several school field trips of mostly high schoolers also visited, some using a multi-media field trip kit that employed the play “Raisin in the Sun.”
Interested in more? The “REDLINED” exhibit is already available in book form.
Roxie Hammill is a freelance journalist who reports frequently for the Post and other Kansas City area publications. You can reach her at roxieham@gmail.com.
