The National Civil Rights Museum opens the I AM A CHILD exhibit to shed light on the immigrant family separation at the U.S.-Mexican border. It is a display of more than 30 black-and-white images of protesting children sending out a powerful message for recognition of human rights protection. The exhibit runs July 26th through December 31st.
“Through I AM A CHILD exhibit, we hope to raise awareness to all about the ongoing border crisis as well as an understanding of human rights,” notes Noelle Trent, the museum’s director of interpretation, collections, and education. The exhibit is based on a photographic collaboration between creative director Paola Mendoza and photographer Kisha Bari. When the images they took a month ago instantly went viral on social media, the museum contacted Mendoza for producing the exhibit. Mendoza was also the co-founder for the Women’s March in Washington, DC, in January 2017.
Children ages 3-10 posed in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency in New York City. The photo shoot was in response to the zero tolerance policy regarding undocumented immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexican border. Inspired by Ernest Withers’ iconic I AM A MAN photos (coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Sanitation Workers Strike and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.), children posed with I AM A CHILD signs in protest of family separation.
It opens today as part of a national day of action to bring attention to the continued crisis at the border. A coalition of organizations called Families Belong Together marched today to the Senate Hart Building in Washington, DC, and the sit-in is tweeted on social media with #FamiliesBelongTogether.
“In a larger context, our children are in crisis – the crisis at the border is part of a bigger problem where children’s human rights are being ignored,” mentions Trent. “And the exhibit speaks to the power of social media in the fight for social change.”
It features excerpts from the 1948 United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Digital copies of the declaration are available for public viewing. The exhibit is bilingual with text in English and Spanish.
The exhibition is included with museum admission. Visit the National Civil Rights Museum's website for more information on this new exhibit.