President Dwight Eisenhower's construction of a vast interstate highway system connecting the country was considered by many to be the crowning achievement of his presidency. The cost of realizing this vision, however, would reverberate throughout countless Black and brown neighborhoods across the U.S., including Old South Baton Rouge, for decades to come.
Capitol Park Museum’s upcoming exhibition, The Yellow Book: Old South Baton Rouge explores the legacy of interstate construction in the Old South Baton Rouge neighborhood. It is part of photographer Johanna Warwick’s larger project The Yellow Book, named after a 1956 government publication showing proposed interstate routes. Ultimately, she will document all one hundred and four cities designated in the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956, which authorized the biggest public works project in the nation's history. In this exhibition, Warwick examines how Interstates 10 and 110, built in the early 1960s, divided Old South Baton Rouge in two, displacing people and businesses and rupturing its sense of community. Using the structurally elevated interstate as the framework for this series, Warwick captures the physicality of the highway and the shadows it casts over this African American neighborhood.
Warwick, an Assistant Professor at LSU, examines the residual impact of this federal decision by photographing the Old South Baton Rouge landscape, its residents, and relevant historical documents, visualizing the socioeconomic barriers formed as a result—from the shuttering of area businesses, to rising crime, to environmental factors like heavy traffic and increased pollution. While delving deeper into this geographic history, she is simultaneously documenting its future and recasting the historical record as the highway is expanded, blight is mitigated, and the potential for gentrification grows. The show will run from December 1 to February 26, 2022. An opening reception will be held on Tuesday, November 30, from 4—7 pm. Sponsored by the Friends of the Capitol Park Museum, the reception is free for members and $10 for non-members; two drink tickets are included with admission.
Before that, however, Warwick will host a conversation-style forum on The Yellow Book at Capitol Park Museum on Thursday, October 28, from 4—7 pm. Admission to The Green Book After Hours event is $10 and includes museum entry and two drink tickets. You can also join Old South Baton Rouge Redevelopment Alliance for a History Bus Tour exploring locations of prime commerce and social life in Old South Baton Rouge's history on Saturday, November 30 from 9 am—11 am. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.
Sponsored by Capitol Park Museum
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