Content Note: This video reproduces a panel of art depicting the Ku Klux Klan. It appears at 10:55 in the video and continues to 11:55. Viewer discretion is advised.
Thomas Hart Benton, one of America’s premier artists during the twentieth century, painted series of murals about Indiana for the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. A controversial collection of artworks, the Indiana Murals engaged viewers in a dialogue about Indiana’s complex history—a dialogue that continues to this day. The murals stayed in storage of the Indiana State Fairgrounds until someone believed they deserved a new home. That someone was Herman B Wells, the newly elected president of Indiana University.
Learn more Indiana History from the IHB: http://www.in.gov/history/
Search historic newspaper pages at Hoosier State Chronicles: www.hoosierstatechronicles.org
Visit our Blog: https://blog.newspapers.library.in.gov/
Visit Chronicling America to read more first drafts of history: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
Learn more about the history relevance campaign at https://www.historyrelevance.com/.
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Credits:
Written and produced by Justin Clark.
Music: “Fresno Alley” by Josh Lippi & The Overtimers, “Lazy Boy Blues” by Unicorn Heads, “Progressive Moments” by Ugonna Onyekwe, “Creeping Spiders” by Nat Keefe & BeatMower, and “Plenty Step” by Freedom Trail Studio
Continue reading “Art and Controversy: Thomas Hart Benton, Herman B Wells, and the Indiana Murals”