Discover first hand accounts of people who fled their homelands — or their adopted homelands — to escape authoritarianism and find freedom. Choosing Freedom: Lives That Defied Tyranny is on view from June 17, 2026 through May 9, 2027 in the Lou Henry Hoover Gallery at Hoover Tower, Stanford University.
The twentieth century was an era of upheaval and displacement unprecedented in modern history. Driven by war, industrialization, and political persecution, millions were forced to seek new lives beyond borders. Within those mass migrations were the courageous individuals who refused to be broken by the regimes they fled.
Drawing from personal testimonies, smuggled belongings, and powerful images held in the Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Choosing Freedom presents the stories of those who did not merely survive oppression — they defied it.
Choosing Freedom: Lives That Defied Tyranny is organized and curated by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Every Hoover Institution Library & Archives exhibition is a collaboration. Special thanks to the team members listed below as well as many others who directly shaped the development and production of Choosing Freedom.
Curators & Contributors
- Jean McElwee Cannon, Curator for North American Collections, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
- Katharina Friedla, Taube Family Curator for European Collections, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
- Haidar Hadi, Curator for Middle East & North Africa Collections, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
- Hsiao-ting Lin, Curator for Modern China & Taiwan Collection, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
- Amanda Robb, Chinese Language Materials Archivist, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
- Ria Roy, Kleinheinz Fellow, Hoover Institution
- Anatol Shmelev, Robert Conquest Curator for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
- Kaoru “Kay” Ueda, Curator for Japanese Diaspora Collections, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
- Eric Wakin, Everett and Jane Hauck Director, Hoover Institution Library & Archives; Deputy Director, Hoover Institution
This exhibition has been made possible through the generous support of the Hoover Institution Board of Overseers and the staff of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
