Houston Shines Spotlight On Equality

HOUSTON —From the Holocaust era in Europe to the Civil Rights movement in America, racism and intolerance has, unfortunately, left an indelible mark on our world. Houston organizations will attempt to shine a light on prejudice and the quest for equality.

Today through March 5, Five-A—the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston's African American Art Advisory Association—will host the 15th-annual Citywide African American Artists Exhibition. Works by 34 artists will be on view at the University Museum at Texas Southern University and the Community Artists' Collective.

Learn of the changes taking place in the U.S. during the 1960s in The Menil Collection’s, The Whole World Was Watching: Civil Rights-Era Photographs from Adelaide de Menil and Edmund Carpenter. The 230 photographs, which will be on show from March 5 to September 25, include a variety of images relating to race and politics including Dr. Martin Luther King in protest, prison labor camps in Texas and the Ku Klux Klan. 

May 1-8, the Ensemble Theatre will pay homage to Hattie McDaniel—the first African American to win an Academy Award for her portrayal of Mammy in Gone With the Wind—in a musical biography. Hi-Hat Hattie: The Story of Hattie McDaniel chronicles the actress’s rise to stardom—including the two stars she received on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—and the backlash she faced from members of her own race that accused her of "selling out" and helping to perpetuate stereotypes. 

Shortly thereafter, the Holocaust Museum Houston takes a look at the history of segregation—with a special focus on Houston’s past—in The Impact of Racist Ideologies: Jim Crow and the Nuremberg Laws. On view May 13 through November 6, the exhibit highlights how the American Jim Crow Laws, which mandated "separate but equal" status for black Americans, influenced the Nazis' legal assault on the Jews between 1933 and 1939.