New ‘Redline 101 Exhibit’ Takes Off at Windy Open Streets ICT Shocker Neighborhood Event

A visitor captures the QR code on the new Redline 101 Exhibit on display at the wind-blown Open Streets ICT Shocker Neighborhood event held Sunday, April 16th.

WICHITA, Kan. — The new "Redline 101" exhibit premiered at Sunday's Open Streets ICT Shocker Neighborhood event. Despite gale force winds that kept the murals "grounded" lest they blew away, the new exhibit offered visitors a chance to see it for the first time, and to learn more about the barrier of racial discrimination in Wichita and and around the nation.

The new Redline 101 Exhibit was unveiled Sunday April 16th at the Open Streets ICT event near Wichita State University.

The new exhibit was coordinated by Naquela Pack, Director of Engagement at WSU, and will become a permanent addition to the city’s history. The panels feature several organizations, including Habitat for Humanity, the WSU History Department, and the Kansas African American Museum.

Also included in the exhibit is a historical novel, "The Real Education of TJ Crowley," written by local author Grant Overstake. Set in the shadow of Wichita State University’s campus, the novel depicts actual events and real people who lived on both sides of the redline at a time when Wichita was among the most racially segregated cities in the nation.

Visitors to the exhibit were invited to use smartphones to learn more and to add their own stories about redlining, and to listen to scenes from the novel's full-cast radio theater adaptation, funded by the Kansas Creative Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.

In conclusion, the Redline 101 exhibit and Open Streets ICT Shocker Neighborhood event was an excellent opportunity for everyone to learn about the Redline and how it has impacted the community.

You can listen to sample chapters at the TJ Crowley Redline Page.

Author Grant Overstake’s historical novel, “The Real Education of TJ Crowley” captures life on the Redline in Wichita during the late civil rights era, in 1968.