The World’s Columbian Exposition exhibit at the Chicago History Museum

The Chicago History Museum blog post “New Additions to an Old Favorite” reports that the museum’s permanent exhibition Chicago: Crossroads of America made some updates this past summer to the section on the 1893 World’s Fair, including:

  • an expanded section on activist and author Ida B. Wells, showing her 1893 pamphlet “The Reason Why The Colored American Is Not in the World’s Columbian Exposition,”
  • a new video that includes excerpts from Frederick Douglass’s speech on August 25, 1893, for “Colored American Day,”
  • and two flip books featuring photographs of the exposition buildings and grounds.

Crossroads is a 15,000-square-foot installation on the second floor or the museum, where guests can jump on an elevated train car heading to the fairgrounds and see artifacts and images from the Columbian Exposition.