Past Meets Future: Transforming Civil Rights History

Overview

The MLK Day Experience at Charlotte's Harvey B. Gantt Center revealed something unexpected: when thoughtfully designed, interactive installations can dissolve social barriers. As over 4,000 visitors engaged with our four-station experience, we watched grandparents and teenagers collaborate, activists of different generations find common ground, and strangers connect through shared discovery.

Our challenge was to make civil rights history resonate with young audiences. What we created was a space where everyone – regardless of age, background, or tech literacy – became a beginner together. Through strategic creative direction, we transformed historical content into living experience, using technology to unite rather than divide.

Experience Design

The experience unfolded across four distinct stations, each designed to create a different moment in the visitor's journey through civil rights history. Each station balanced technological innovation with historical relevance.

Station 1: The Blockchain Interactive

• Reimagined four historic Black Charlotte neighborhoods as futuristic 3D landscapes
• Visualized community economic strength through flowing particles representing historical "Black dollars"
• Created interactive storytelling revealing each neighborhood's cultural legacy
• Connected directly to museum's existing narrative through the mural

Station 2: Minority Report

• Curated 140+ civil rights images from Library of Congress archives
• Transformed static historical content into dynamic, physical interaction
• Created sci-fi inspired interface that made history tangible
• Generated emotional connections through innovative interaction

Station 3: MLK's Legacy Today

• Repurposed contemporary discussions about King's legacy
• Created visual connection to spoken content
• Built bridges between historical and current perspectives
• Demonstrated effective content reuse

Station 4: Witness to History

• Provided historical grounding through traditional documentary
• Created contemplative space for reflection
• Completed the temporal journey with return to source material