In 1932, Indiana Governor Harry G. Leslie tasked Col. Richard Lieber, the first director of the Department of Conservation, with helming the Indiana Commission for the Century of Progress Exposition. Wanting to depart from the typical state fair display of threshing machines and farm produce, Lieber proposed a 250-foot mural showcasing state history. 

The contract went to relative unknown Thomas Hart Benton. The muralist asked for complete artistic freedom on the job, including the composition of the overall narrative and the realistic treatment of social facts. His request was granted.

Benton divided the murals into two parallel, chronological sequences, one focused on culture and one on industry. The narrative of both streams dramatized the changes in society and the environment, capturing the aspirations and hard work that helped Indiana transform from a wilderness to an agricultural and industrial state.

Once completed, the murals headed to Chicago. Benton was on site not only to survise their installation but also to paint a free-standing panel of the Indiana Dunes. This work has since gone missing.

On July 2, 1933, Governor Paul McNutt dedicated the mural display in Chicago. Critics were sharply divided with some believing that the murals made Indiana’s state exhibit the most artistic at the fair. Others disliked Benton’s style and subject matter, which addressed numerous social issues such as the Civil War, women's rights, labor unrest, and racial tension.

Controversies

Cultural Panel 10 ("Parks, the Circus, the Klan, the Press") depicts a vivid, startling image of a Ku Klux Klan rally and a burning cross. The Klan had ruled Indiana politics during the 1920s—much to the embarrassment of progressives like Col. Lieber who preferred to bury the state's sins of the past.

Industrial Panel 9, titled "Coal, Gas, Oil, Brick," was also controversial. It pictured Socialist union leader Eugene V. Debs (from Terre Haute) rallying Indiana workers with a placard stating, "Workers, Why Vote the Rich Man’s Ticket? You've Got a Choice." The panel also features hints at the physical violence that took place during union strikes and rallies. In the midground to the right, Benton painted a crouched figure poised to throw a rock at a hired guard.