When murals depict traumatic history, schools must decide what stays on the wall
NPR: Henry Adams, the Ruth Coulter Heede Professor of Art History at the College of Arts and Sciences, discussed a Thomas Hart Benton mural at Indiana University featuring images of the Ku Klux Klan that some students find offensive—even though the Klan is portrayed critically. “I think Benton showed a lot of courage in introducing a significant part of Indiana history,” he said. “He was basically saying that history isn’t nice and we should look around us and talk about that. I think it’s a warning. It’s a warning to us today: democracy is always very vulnerable.”