LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56) — Libraries are meant to be places of education, and the Lexington Public Library will soon have an interactive way to educate the public on the nation’s past.

An interactive exhibit called “Undesign the Redline” will soon come to the library. It’s meant to be an immersive and thought-provoking experience that aims to uncover the deep-rooted systematic inequities that have shaped our cities and communities.

“The goal is just to inform people. There’s been a lot of conversations in our community about affordable housing, and this exhibit will really help people understand how we got to where we are today,” Lexington Public Library Executive Director Heather Dieffenbach said.

The name comes from the term “redlining,” which created maps that determined what spots were good investment areas. Spots that wouldn’t get any money were outlined in red and were left out almost entirely based on race.

The exhibit is sponsored by the Lexington Public Library Foundation in partnership with the Blue Grass Community Foundation, the University of Kentucky, and Designing the We and has been stewarded by a dedicated volunteer community advisory group.

“Clarissa Thomas is the library’s first director of education. She saw this exhibit in Dayton and thought it could be really interesting to bring it here in Lexington, that we were discussing many of the same issues that cities across the Country are talking about right now,” Dieffenbach said.

To really drive the message home, the community is being urged to read “The Color of Law.” The intent of this community read is to bring the community together to learn, grow, and have a shared experience.  

The exhibit opens Sept. 22 and goes through Nov. 17 at the library’s main branch downtown.