Eric J. Garcia [US Air Force veteran], Space Invader Diorama, 2025

To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.—Howard Zinn, World War II veteran and historian

Join curator, Aaron Hughes, as he unpacks complex, military histories and creates connections toward the continued pursuit of liberation.

Uncertain Histories is situated in the historic Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall. The hall was built as a memorial to the sacrifices of Union Civil War veterans and their families. According to the renowned American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, their sacrifices were for freedom and a testament to the most profound declaration of human rights in history. Yet, Douglass also argued in a 1877 speech to the GAR, that the task of fully realizing this freedom remained unfinished. In the face of this unfinished task, and the current challenges to freedoms, Uncertain Histories reveals entanglement between past military actions and today’s state repression, between historic declarations and the current struggle for freedom.

More information on the exhibition here.