Expanding Freedom
Overview
Revealing the enduring impact of racial slavery and charting a vision for a brighter civic and economic future
Inside Richmond’s historic Main Street Station — located in Shockoe Bottom, once a center of the nation’s domestic slave trade — the Shockoe Institute’s Expanding Freedom exhibition connects the economic engine of American racial slavery to the policy choices that shaped civic power, opportunity, and inequality.
Designed by Local Projects the flagship exhibition and a dynamic, interactive space called “The Lab” operate in tandem to “put history to work,” helping visitors translate historical truth into civic agency. Together, they offer a rare model for what honest national storytelling can do in a polarized moment.
Through the immersive exhibition, The Lab, and ongoing creative programs, the Shockoe Institute examines the national ramifications of this history and deepens visitors’ understanding of the contemporary challenges and opportunities we face as a nation.
Partners
1220 Exhibits, Electrosonic
Services
Exhibit Design, Media Design, Software Design
