Broken Bonds

Among the darkest threads running through American history is the willingness of those in power to use family separation as a strategy for achieving their goals. While nothing comes close to the horrors of chattel slavery, in which generations of children were forcibly removed from their parents, family separation was also a key part of 19th and 20th century efforts to destroy American Indian culture. More recently, we’ve watched as immigrant families are torn apart for punitive purposes, and as native-born families are fractured by the carceral state. This exhibit collects some of those stories.