Promise and Protest
“A world’s fair is a luxury, but a fair world is a necessity.”
—Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
World’s fairs were visions of tomorrow attended by millions of people around the globe. They presented visitors with new technologies and promises of a better future.
But world’s fairs also drew protests by people who felt excluded from their optimistic visions of the future. In 1964 the Congress of Racial Equality tried to shut down the New York World’s Fair. Their protest called attention to the sharp contrast between the fair’s shining future vision and the neglect of the city’s Black and Puerto Rican neighborhoods.
Other utopian projects have attracted similar criticism, including urban renewal schemes, and even the space program. “If we can spend $100 a mile to send three men to the moon,” one campaigner asked, “can’t we, for God’s sake, feed our hungry?” A future that looks promising to one person may not to another.
This section includes the following objects:
World’s Fair Souvenirs and Posters
Soul City
The Congress for Racial Equality
Poor People’s Campaign
Urban Renewal Protests
Stephanie Syjuco, Block Out the Sun
The World of Tomorrow
Souvenirs from the 1904, 1915, and 1933 World’s Fairs
Description: A variety of items from the World Fair. One example includes buttons that state, “I was There, Space Needle.” Other items include paperweights, souvenir badges, mugs, playing cards, model cars, etc.
Credit: Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
The World of Tomorrow
Henry Dreyfuss, 1939
Offset lithograph on paper (reproduction)
Description: A poster of a circular structure high over a landscape. The circular structure is filled with people who have a bird eye’s view of an area of land. The landscape below features a city next to a river. It has green, orange, and brown squares. The text on top reads, “Your World of Tomorrow.”
Credit: Smithsonian Libraries
Description: A red poster with two Golden Gate Bridges leading to a white, tower-like building. The tower-like building has a statue at the bottom of it. The two Golden Gate Bridges are suspension bridges. The cables between the two towers of the bridge make a “U” shape. The tower building and the bridges sit on a body of water with boats on it. There is a plane that flies by the tower, on the right of the poster. The text on top reads, “1939 World’s Fair on San Francisco Bay.” The text on the bottom of the poster reads, “Golden Gate International Exposition.”
San Francisco World’s Fair, 1939
Schmidt Litho. Co. (reproduction)
Credit: Larry Zim World’s Fair Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
The World of Tomorrow
Chicago World’s Fair, 1933
Weimer Pursell
(reproduction)
Description: A “Chicago World’s Fair” Poster of a building in front of a body of water. The building has three white towers surrounding the center building. There are two towers in the back and one in front. The front tower has a statue at the base. The central part of the building has a domed roof. The building extends to the edges of the poster. There is a large white staircase leading from the entrance to a body of water. The body of water has boats in it. Text on the top of the poster reads, “Chicago World’s Fair. May 27th-Nov (meaning November) 1st.” Text on the bottom of the poster reads, “1833 A Century of Progress 1933.”
Credit: Larry Zim World’s Fair Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
An African American Utopia
Promotional Pamphlet for Soul City
Floyd B. McKissick Enterprises, Inc., 1971
Description: A tri-fold pamphlet displaying a map and text. On the front are three panels. The cover panel has text in black, red, and green. The text reads, “Soul City. A new city developed by Floyd B. McKissick Enterprises, Inc.” The center panel has a map and a marker for the location of Soul City, just south of the North Carolina/Virginia border. On the back is a paragraph on Feasibility Perspective. The text reads, “For further information call or write: Floyd B. McKissick, Inc.” On the back, there are three panels of text that make up the interior of the pamphlet when folded open. Each column or page has an accent color. The accent color on the left page is red, black on the center page, and green on the right page. The headings of the paragraphs read as follows “What is Soul City?,” “The Builder,” “A Total Community,” “Fraternity,” “Location,” “Projected Population,” “Transportation,” “Training,” “Housing,” “Economic Development,” “Industry,” “McKissick Enterprises, Inc.,” “Soul City Foundation,” “Support,” “The Cost,” and “Financial Resources.”
A video accompanies this object. Plug in headphones to hear the audio description.
Credit: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Savanna Vaughn and C. Warfield Clark, M.D.
Founder of Soul City
This portrait was made by artist Nettrice Gaskins using Deep Dream Generator, a computer vision program that uses artificial intelligence to generate new and complex images.
Description: A portrait of Floyd McKissick. The portrait is digitally created based on a photograph. It is multicolored and is made up of map-like shapes and lines. Floyd McKissick gazes in the distance. Floyd McKissick is middle aged, has buzzed brown hair, and medium-dark skin. He is African American. He wears a suit and tie. The back of the banner has a repeating pattern of maps in two shades of green.
“If Black Power is to be more than illusion, it must include, if not begin with, economic power.” —Floyd McKissick
New suburbs were built all across America in the 1970s. One of them was special: Soul City, North Carolina. This community was entirely constructed and administered by African Americans, on former plantation land. It was the brainchild of Floyd B. McKissick (1922–1991), a civil rights lawyer who had marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The plan was to welcome more than 40,000 residents by the year 2000, creating a Black utopia in the heart of the American South. Legal opposition and an economic downturn prevented Soul City from being fully realized. But some of the houses remain to this day, emblems of McKissick’s dream of a more equal future.
Voices Rise Up at the 1964 World’s Fair
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Protests at the New York World’s Fair in 1964
Description, Image 1: A black and white photo of a group of people protesting the World’s Fair. They hold umbrellas and signs. One sign reads, “Freedom Now Core.” The group of people are all middle aged or older. They all have different colored skin. Some are smiling and some have serious expressions.
Description, Image 2: A black and white photo of a group of people protesting the World Fair. They walk in front of a large globe sculpture. They hold signs. Some of them wear head scarfs. It is raining. The people are of different genders and have various skin tones.
Credit: Getty Images
Space Race or Human Race?
Poor People’s Campaign protests, Cape Canaveral, Florida, 1969
Description, Image 1: A black and white poster of a “Poor People’s Campaign.” A middle aged man with buzzed hair and medium dark skin preaches at a podium. His arm is raised. He is Dr. Ralph David Abernathy. The text reads, “1969: 2nd Chapter of the Poor People’s Campaign. Feed the hungry, Hire the jobless, Care for the sick, End slums, Protect welfare rights, Educate children, Respect poor people. Dr. Ralph David Abernathy, President SCLC. Southern Christian Leadership Conference. 334 Auburn Avenue, N.E. Atlanta, Georgia 30303, Tel. (404) 522-1420.”
Description, Image 2: A black and white photo of a group of people protesting. They are walking down steps. There are rockets in the background. All of the protestors have medium dark to dark colored skin. The person in the front holds a sign that states, “$12 a day to feed an astronaut. We could feed starving children for $8.”
Credit:
Poster: Division of Political and Military History, National Museum of American History
Photo: Getty Images
Protesting the City of the Future
Urban Renewal protests in Washington, DC
Description, Image 1: A group of people are protesting on a sidewalk. They all walk in a line. The first two people hold up a sign that states, “Push Back Before You Get Pushed Out.” The couple in the foreground wears a suit and a dress. Many of the protestors wear suits or dresses. They have dark colored skin.
Description, Image 2: A black and white photo of a row of townhomes. The photo is taken from a low angle, so the buildings look very tall. There is a sign out front that states, “These homes were seized illegally…It’s another CRIME to keep them empty!”
Description, Image 3: A group of people protesting. They all stand in a line, holding signs. There are adults holding signs with young kids next to them. Many of the protestors have medium dark colored skin.
Credit: Photos (top to bottom)
1) Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Milton Williams Archives, c. 1980; 2 & 3) Reprinted with permission of the DC Public Library, Star Collection © Washington Post, 1969, 1951
Archival pigment prints mounted on aluminum
Description: An art installation consisting of many photos of photos. The photos lay flat in the case in an organized but slightly overlapping manner. The artist created color photographs of her hand placed over historic black and white photos. The historic photos depict a “living exhibit” of a Filipino village installed at the 1904 World’s Fair. The artist’s hand obscurs the faces of Filipino villagers. The remaining parts of the images show traditional dress, architecture, and the attendees of the World’s Fair exhibit.
Sometimes the Past Is Hard to Look at
The 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis was supposed to mark America’s progress. It introduced visitors to the automobile, outdoor electric lighting, and x-rays. But it also featured “Living Exhibits” with Indigenous people on display, like animals in a zoo. The largest was the Filipino Village, which included more than 1,000 people over a period of seven months. This disturbing exhibit marked the recent colonization of the Philippines by the United States.
Stephanie Syjuco, an American artist of Filipina heritage, reflects on this history in Block Out the Sun. She rephotographed images of the 1904 exposition, obscuring them with her hands as if to physically obstruct the racism they document. The artwork reminds us that stories about the future are never neutral.
Credit: Courtesy of the artist and RYAN LEE Gallery and Catharine Clark Gallery
Philippine Exposition World’s Fair St. Louis
Isadore Warshaw, 1904
Description: A pamphlet displaying people using tools. On the top is the text, “Philippine Exposition, World’s Fair, St. Louis, 1904.” There is a yellow and orange decorative border. There are two sides of this pamphlet. On the left, is a black and white photo of a young person shooting a bow and arrow in a field. They wear a cloth bottom. They have dark skin. They face away from the camera.
On the right is a black and white photo of two young people. They face towards the camera. They each wear elaborately decorated clothing and hats. They have medium-dark skin.The person on the right holds a spear over their shoulder. The person on the left holds an unusually shaped shield.
Credit: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Archives Center, National Museum of American History