Exhibits

Black music is the soundtrack to the struggle for self-determination and liberation of Black people in the New World. It is the musical history of our evolution in this country. Black music has been key to shaping American culture. Africans stolen from their homeland were forced to give up their languages, rituals, names, and the drum. Yet, they retained the essence of these things and created spirituals, gospel, blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, and hip hop - musical forms whose powerful influence is undeniable on the cultural fabric of this county and beyond. Black music is a connection to our past and a source of inspiration, a space-creating force that encourages and seeds dreams for the future.

In 1968, when singer Archie Bell said, “Hi, everybody. I'm Archie Bell of the Drells of Houston, Texas” on the hit record Tighten Up, he helped put Houston's music scene on the world map. The music for this song was created and performed by the TSU Toronadoes, a group formed by students from Texas Southern University in the heart of Third Ward, aka “The Tre.”

In the exhibition Black Stereo, I am telling the stories and connection that African American artists and institutions of Greater Houston have with the city and the country. The works presented take the forms of concert posters, showbills, and album covers, infographics meant to highlight, educate, and entertain like music. The message is in the music. - Tierney Malone

About Tierney Malone

Malone is a visual artist and modern-day storyteller who blends African American history and pop culture to create mixed media works that challenge contemporary culture and politics. He is the host of “Houston Jazz Spotlight,” a weekly program on Radio KPFT.

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>>> Opening Reception for BLACK STEREO with Tierney Malone | May 10, 2:00 - 4:00 PM <<<

Events for Everyone

Events for Kids

EXPLORE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Black Music in Houston Collection (MSS 0159)

The Black Music in Houston Collection contains newspaper articles, programs, correspondence, and photographs of African American musicians and musical activity in Houston during the 1980s. Between WWI and WWII, Houston became a regional center of jazz music, a style popularized during the 19th century. Houston experienced a flourishing music scene from the 1960s to the 1980s with a variety of prevalent genres including blues, jazz, and rhythm and blues. Blues music was popularized in Houston during the 1940s with Gold Star Studios, more recently known as Sugar Hill Studios, who produced several prominent musicians including Lighting in Hopkins and Bobby Blue Band.

Texas Jazz Archive (RG E 0071)

In 1986, Arnett Cobb and his daughter Lizette Cobb created the Jazz Heritage Society of Texas as a non-profit education, literary, and cultural arts organization. Arnett Cobb expressed an interest in creating a jazz archive. In 1987, the Jazz Heritage Society of Texas partnered with the Houston Metropolitan Research Center (now Houston History Research Center) to document the under-represented jazz scene of Texas by establishing the Texas Jazz Archive. The strong points of this collection are the oral history interviews and the number of photographs chronicling these musicians' professional careers.

Jazz Education Inc. (RG 0041)

The Jazz Education Inc. Collection contains records related to the operations of Jazz Education Inc. between 1990-2022. Jazz Education Inc. was established in 1970 by Bubbha Thomas, to provide training and educational opportunities to children about the history and culture of jazz music, which were unavailable at both private and public institutions. The organization also sponsors four main programs: Music in the Schools (Jazz and Poetry Series), Summer Jazz Workshop, SJW Scholarship Jazz Brunch, and the Houston International Jazz Festival.

Carlos Johnson Papers (MSS 0051)

This collection contains the personal and professional records of Charles “Carlos” Johnson during his career as a percussionist. Charles Harold “Carlos” Johnson was born on August 31, 1945, to Ernestine and T.Z. Johnson in Fifth Ward, Houston, Texas. He attended Kashmere Junior and Senior High School and performed under Conrad Johnson. He attended Texas Southern University and performed with the TSU Jazz Ensemble. During his 35-year career as a percussionist, he adopted the stage name “Carlos” and in addition to jazz, he performed with classical, country, rock, and pop musicians. Johnson taught music, performed as a solo artist through Congos By Carlos, and was part of music groups such as D.R.U.M. (Divine Rhythm United Motion).

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Kid/Juvenile

• Adoff, Arnold, Roots and Blues: A Celebration
• Dell, Pamela, The Blues: Birth of an American Sound
• Earl, C. F., Hip-Hop: A Short History
• Koopmans, Andy, The History of the Blues
• Loney, Andrea J., The Double Bass Blues
• Mour, Stanley I., Innovators of American Jazz
• Myers, Walter Dean, Jazz
• Wheeler, Lisa, Jazz Baby
• Williams, Jarrett, Hip-Hop: The Beat of America
• Winter, Jonah, How Jelly Roll Morton Invented Jazz

Adult

• Bradley, Andy, House of Hits: The Story of Houston's Gold Star/SugarHill Recording Studios
• Corcoran, Michael, Ghost Notes: Pioneering Spirits of Texas Music
• Corcoran, Michael Joseph, All Over the Map: True Heroes of Texas Music
• Faniel, Maco L., Hip-Hop in Houston: The Origin & the Legacy
• Steptoe, Tyina L., Houston Bound: Culture and Color in a Jim Crow City
• Walker, Lance Scott, Houston Rap Tapes: An Oral History of Bayou City Hip-Hop
• Wood, Charles Roger, Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues

Watch

• When Houston Had the Blues
• Beyonce

Listen

• Rhino Hi-Five: Archie Bell & The Drells
• Arnett Cobb
• Thelonius Monk: The London Collection Vol. 1
• The Dixie Hummingbirds
• The Crusaders

Library of Things

• Portable record player

   

This exhibition is generously supported by Houston Public Library, Houston Public Library Foundation, and the City of Houston.

Renowned photographer Laura Wilson offers us intimate glimpses into the everyday lives of more than 30 influential and internationally acclaimed writers. This exhibition features of a selection of portraits from her book, The Writers: Portraits (Yale University Press, 2022), which was inspired by the popular photo essays published in Life magazine in the mid-20th century. After viewing this collection of portraits and candid photographs, borrow and enjoy the works of these best-selling writers from Houston Public LIbrary's collection.

Laura Wilson's photographs have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and London's Sunday Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, among others. She has published seven books of photographs and text including Avedon at Work (2003), Grit and Glory (2003), That Day: Pictures in the American West (2015), and From Rodin to Plensa (2018).

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Opening Reception with Laura Wilson | Thursday, February 13, 2025, 5:00 - 7:00 PM

RELATED MEDIA

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Books by Laura Wilson

• Avedon at Work: In the American West
• Hutterites of Montana
• That Day: Pictures in the American West
• Watt Matthews of Lambshead

Writers Featured in this Exhibition

• Margaret Atwood
• Russell Banks
• John Banville
• Brit Bennett
• A. S. Byatt
• Peter Carey
• Michael Chabon
• Ta-Nehisi Coates
• J. M. Coetzee
• Rachel Cusk
• Edwidge Danticat
• Louise Erdrich
• Richard Ford
• Carlos Fuentes
• Gabriel García Márquez
• Seamus Heaney
• Cormac McCarthy
• David McCullough
• Ian McEwan
• Thomas McGuane
• Larry McMurtry
• Haruki Murakami
• Tim O'Brien
• Michael Ondaatje
• Annie Proulx
• Marjane Sartrapi
• Sam Shepard
• Zadie Smith
• Tom Stoppard
• Paul Theroux
• Colm Tóibín
• Tobias Wolff

This exhibition is generously supported by Houston Public Library, Houston Public Library Foundation, and the City of Houston. Special thanks to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

Space for Us: Afrofuturism and the Poetic Imagination is a multidisciplinary exhibition that seeks to usher in a new Houston by exploring both the historical and contemporary demands of organizers, poets, archivists, and community members within this city. Pairing photos and materials from the archives of the African American History Research Center at the Gregory Campus with multilingual poems exploring ideas of home, community and imagined futures, audiences will experience the urgency of worldbuilding, using the tools we have and the tools we create, to actualize a liberated Houston. Alongside these poems and archives, a poetic tapestry of interviews from Black community leaders across Greater Houston will showcase the present organizing efforts that move through, beyond, and alongside the page to create the Houston we deserve. Through this exploration of poetry, preservation and movement building, Space for Us is a poetic manifesto of this audacious city we aim to see in our lifetime and long after.

Facilitated as part of Aris Kian Brown's community outreach project as 2023-2025 Houston Poet Laureate, this exhibition aims to challenge the boundaries between art and organizing, protest and poetics, imagination and demand. Audiences will be able to engage with the demands of Houstonians in real time, allowing the urgency of poetry to serve as a tool for contemporary organizing, worldbuilding, and language justice for communities in Houston fighting for all marginalized people.

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Opening Reception - March 20, 2025 | 6:00 - 8:00 PM

Rap & Poetry Workshops for Teens

Creative Writing Club for Adults

Summer Reading for Grown-Ups: Talking Poetry

EXPLORE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Ben Desoto Photographs Collection (MSS 0118)

The Ben Desoto Photographs Collection documents his career in Houston as a freelance photographer and as a photojournalist for the Houston Chronicle and Houston Post from the 1980s to 2020s. This collection contains over 30,000 photographic items including photographs, negatives and slides, newspapers, and notebooks that depict life in minority communities and the early stages of gentrification in historically Black neighborhoods and hip hop and rock music during the 1980s and early 1990s. His work captures Freedmen's Town, the Allen Parkway Village and Direct Exposure youth projects along with local social problems including homelessness and poverty in his Understanding Poverty Project.

Eliza Johnson Home for Aged Negroes Collection (RG 0047)

The Eliza Johnson Home for Aged Negroes began as a dream of Anna Dupree. Dupree moved to Houston from Galveston in 1916. When the Eliza Johnson Home opened in June 1952, it was largely due to her determination and resources, as well as support and encouragement of her husband, Clarence (C.A.) and others in the black community. The goal of the Home - located on a 35-acre tract off Chocolate Bayou Road in the historically black neighborhood of Sunnyside - was basic: to provide a place “where our old people enjoy kind, human care and freedom from fear and want in their remaining days.”

Black Photographic Collection (MSS 0137)

This collection is composed of mostly photographic images having to do with African Americans in the Houston area from 1896 to 1968. Except for its singular focus on images of African Americans, this collection is miscellaneous. Several of the photographs are of Jack Johnson, the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion and a Juneteenth Parade float. Some images are tintypes of well-dressed people in Third Ward and downtown Houston during the early 20th century.

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Adult

• Anastacia-Reneé, Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere
• Brookins, KB, Freedom House: Poems
• Duplan, Anais, Blackspace: On the Poetics of an Afrofuture
• Hersey, Tricia, Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto
• National Museum of African American History and Culture, Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures
• Zepeda, Gwendolyn (ed.), Houston Noir

Works by past Poet Laureates

• Davidson, Robin, City that Ripens on the Tree of the World
• Davidson, Robin, Luminous Other
• Mouton, Deborah D.E.E.P., Black Chameleon: Memory, Womanhood, and Myth
• Schwartz, Leslie Contreras, From the Womb of Sky and Earth
• Zepeda, Gwendolyn, Better With You Here
• Zepeda, Gwendolyn, Falling in Love With Fellow Prisoners: Poems
• Zepeda, Gwendolyn, Houston We Have a Problema
• Zepeda, Gwendolyn, Monsters, Zombies + Addicts: Poems

This exhibition is generously supported by Houston Public Library, Houston Public Library Foundation, and the City of Houston.

The biennial Citywide African American Artists Exhibition is a collaboration between the University Museum at Texas Southern University and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The exhibition offers all artists of the African Diaspora in the Greater Houston area the opportunity to show their work to a broader public and art-collecting community.

The 2024 exhibition was curated by Christopher Blay, director of public programs at the National Juneteenth Museum. It was on view at the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston from December 12, 2024, through January 12, 2025. The 2024 Artist prizes were juried by Dr. Laura Augusta, Jane Dale Owen Director & Chief Curator of Blaffer Art Museum; Christina Grubitz, Curator at Houston Public Library; and Christopher Paul, Houston artist.

1st Prize: Sir Charles, II by Afi Ese

2nd Prize: Green with Envy by Jon Gilcrist

3rd Prize: Circle of Trust by Eddie Filer, Jr.

Special Mentions: Fragmentation I by Ebony, Opulence V by Jaymes Earl, All Night Long / Around the Way Girl by Quentin Pace

Curator's Choice Award: Jesus Pieces by Christopher Crooke

5A (MFAH African American Art Advisory Association) Choice Award: Our Bookcase by Patricia Henderson

Please visit both locations to see artwork by Shawn Artis, Mathieu Jean Baptiste, Mikal Boston, Rodney D. Butler, Sinden Collier, Christopher Crooke, John NEGRASSO Duncan, Jaymes Earl, Ebony, Anne Edwards, Afi Ese, Eddie Filer, Jr., Melissa Fontenette-Mitchell, Sara Ford, Marc Furi, Jon Gilchrist, Karl E. Hall, Patricia Henderson, Prof. Charles Holmes a.k.a. Hakeem Hassan, Monae Jacobs, Dannye Jones, Christie Leday, C. M. Lewis, Terry Madison, Quentin Pace, Romeo Clay Robinson, Daniel Sam, Shunshieva, La'Toya Smith, Oluseyi Soyege, Kamryn Sterling, Roy Vinson Thomas, Vonola Joseph Trinidad, Vernon, and Rickale West.

EXPLORE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Oscar and Maudene McNary Collection (MSS 0022)

The Oscar and Maudene McNary Collection reflects the lives of Oscar and Maudene McNary as art collectors and art consultants, and the many artists they have known both professionally and personally over the years. This collection, which dates from 1915  to 2008, consists of news clippings, correspondence, programs, photographs, art books, art related publications, and art and artifacts created by African American artists including John Biggers, Carroll Harris Simms, Jacob Lawrence, and Robert Neal Williams.

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Kid/Juvenile

• Ames, Lee J., Draw the Draw 50 Way: How to Draw Cats, Puppies, Horses, Buildings, Birds, Aliens, Boats, Trains, and Everything Else Under the Sun
• Crilley, Mark, The Drawing Lesson: A Graphic Novel That Teaches You How to Draw
• Freeman, Daniel, The Beginner Art Book for Kids: Learn How to Draw, Paint, Sculpt, and More!
• Knutson, Julie, Project Row Houses
• Llimós Plomer, Anna, Easy Clay Crafts in 5 Steps
• Vagts, Carolyn S., I Can Quilt

Adult

• Biggers, John Thomas, Black Art in Houston: The Texas Southern University Experience
• Bunch, Robert Craig, The Art of Found Objects: Interviews with Texas Artists
• de Lima Greene, Alison, Texas: 150 Works from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
• Graves, Laia Farran, The Story of the Hermès Scarf
• Finkelpearl, Tom, What We Made: Conversations on Art and Social Cooperation
• McEvilley, Thomas, Bert Long: The Artist's Journey
• Theisen, Ollie Jensen, A Life on Paper: The Drawings and Lithographs of John Thomas Biggers
• Theisen, Ollie Jensen, Walls that Speak: The Murals of John Thomas Biggers
• Wardlaw, Alvia, J., The Art of John Biggers: View from the Upper Room

Watch

• Garrison, Andrew, Third Ward TX

Create with our Library of Things!

• Watercolor Markers
• Wood Carving Set
• Rubbing Plates - Floral
• Rubbing Plates - Abstract

This exhibition is partnership with Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the University Museum at Texas Southern University, and is generously supported by Houston Public Library, Houston Public Library Foundation, and the City of Houston.

A love story born from letters and nurtured through decades of dedication, the Lawson Love Letters transport you to a time of heartfelt correspondence and a timeless romance. Step into a world where years of letters changed the course of two lives forever. Labor of Love: The Lawson Love Letters highlights a unique interpretation of the Black History Month theme African Americans and Labor, by showcasing the labor of love exercised in building and sustaining relationships. These letters invite you to immerse yourself in and celebrate the extraordinary courtship of Reverend William and Mrs. Audrey Hoffman Lawson—a romance that blossomed from an audacious dormitory dare and flourished over fifty-six years of unwavering love. 

Witness the evolution of their relationship as Audrey, a student at Tennessee State University, reached out to William (affectionately known as Bill), an alumnus she had never met. Through their daily letters, a remarkable bond formed—bridging the distance and transcending the constraints of time, long before the digital age. The letters, initially platonic, filled with warmth and growing affection, trace Bill’s realization that he had fallen for this faceless young woman. Despite never having exchanged photographs, their connection was undeniable. Bill’s journey to St. Louis, under the pretext of visiting relatives, led to a brief but impactful courtship, ending with their wedding on January 30, 1954. 

The vivid memory of Audrey’s bright red corduroy suit on their first meeting earned her the endearing nickname “Little Red,” symbolizing their enduring love. Bill’s proposal at a summer camp was followed by a heartfelt request for Audrey’s father’s blessing. The ruby engagement ring he gave her, surrounded by diamonds, symbolized the vibrant red theme that marked their relationship. 

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Saturday, February 22, 2025 - African American Archives Tour

EXPLORE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Rev. William and Audrey Lawson Collection (MSS 0200)

These three volumes tell the story of a courtship that began between two people who had never seen each other, and lasted for 56 years. Most people know this couple as Rev. William and Mrs. Audrey Hoffman Lawson. William had graduated from Tennessee State and Audrey transferred there after he had left. She hadn't a clue who this alumnus was, but he was writing to some of the girls in Hayes Hall, the women's dormitory. One night when they were sharing a letter from him, Audrey remarked that she liked the letters and that she might write to him. One of the girls dared her to do it, and on that dare she wrote the first letter. Can you believe that a 56-year love partnership started by a college girl taking a dare?

Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church Collection (RG 0010)

In March of 1962, 13 pioneering worshippers assembled in the lounge of Texas Southern University's Baptist Student Union for the sole purpose of establishing an ecclesiastical form of expression through which the worship of God and service to mankind could coexist. Founder Rev. Dr. William A. Lawson and the original members served to improve social justice and demand change. The institution quickly became one of Houston's leading African American churches actively in its community giving back to the needy. The Wheeler Baptist Church Collection houses the papers of the church from 1968 to 2010. This collection consists of vital news clippings, various event programs, annual reports, and funeral programs.

• Reverend William Lawson Oral History, August 12, 1974
• Reverend Bill Lawson Oral History, March 14, 2008

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Kid/Juvenile

• Baker, Keith, Hap-pea Valentine's Day!
• Dean, Kim, Valentine's Day is Cool
• Denise, Anika, The Love Letter
• Flowers, Alanna, Love Letters: An Alphabet of Affirmations
• Katzenberger, Lisa, A Love Letter to My Library
• Kirsch, Vincent, From Archie to Zack
• Nellist, Glenys, Love Letters from God: Bible Stories
• Ponto, Joanna, Valentine's Day
• Rex, Adam, XO, OX: A Love Story

Teen

• Creedle, Laura, The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily
• Han, Jenny, To All the Boys I've Loved Before
• Henstra, Sarah, We Contain Multitudes
• Kemmerer, Brigid, Letters to the Lost
• See, Melissa, Love Letters for Joy

Adult

• Lawson, William, Lawson's Leaves of Love: Daily Meditations
• Brown, Cole and Natalie Johnson, Black Love Letters
• Cameron, Julia, Love Letters from the Divine
• Newkirk, Pamela, A Love No Less: More Than Two Centuries of African American Love Letters
• O'Shea, Samara, For the Love of Letters: A 21st-Century Guide to the Art of Letter Writing
• Roberts, Rita, I Can't Wait to Call You My Wife: African American Letters of Love and Family in the Civil War Era

Listen

• Love Letters by Various Artists

Share the love with our Library of Things!

• Elegant Heart Bundt Pan