Existing comment:
The history of American democracy has been one of increasing participation and inclusiveness. America transformed itself from thirteen states along the narrow line of the eastern seaboard, governed by elites, to a vast country governed by a large and heterogeneous population. One of the great achievements of this past century was a series of successful campaigns to strike down long-standing segregationist practices and discrimination in American society. While these changes ultimately became enacted in the nation's courts and legislatures, the struggle to secure them was principally fought where intolerance reigned. As such, the nation's polls, buses, schools, and countless other places became battlegrounds in the crusade for equal rights. The figures represented in this exhibition were important catalysts during a period that witnessed historic changes concerning the status of women, Native Americans and other ethnic groups, gays and lesbians, and the disabled.
Most striking perhaps was the progress achieved by African Americans. Although born in an earlier century, the civil rights struggle reached a crescendo in the 1950s and 1960s. Its triumphs recast the contours of American society and contributed to ongoing campaigns being waged to bring equal opportunity to all Americans. Although not without setbacks, this expanding inclusiveness continues to be the defining characteristic of American democracy. |