HUMAN TOLL: A Public History of 35W

Exhibition Dates:  September 30, 2021 – December 31, 2022

HUMAN TOLL: A Public History of 35W explores community resistance and resilience; and illustrates how freeway construction destroyed and divided Black communities across the United States, amplifying the effects of systemic racism that are 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 developed through a partnership with the Heritage Studies and Public History program at the University of Minnesota: it was researched and developed over two years by a diverse team of South Minneapolis community members and advisors working in collaboration with student and faculty.