Gezicht op de ingang van het gebouw voor de vrije kunsten tijdens de World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 1893

Charles Dudley Arnold captured this view of the entrance to the Palace of Fine Arts at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, in 1893. The World's Fair was a monumental event intended to showcase the progress of civilization and the promise of the future. The architecture is in the neoclassical style, emulating ancient Greece and Rome, which were considered the cradle of democracy and culture. This style was intentionally chosen to communicate America’s aspirations of power and sophistication on the world stage. It is important to remember that the fair took place at a time of enormous social inequality in the United States. The fair presented an idealized image of America that sharply contrasted with the realities of racial segregation, labor exploitation, and westward expansion that dispossessed indigenous populations. The fair’s narrative of progress was largely a white, Eurocentric one, often marginalizing or misrepresenting other cultures. Yet, looking at this image today, we might ask ourselves: who was included, and who was excluded from this vision of progress?