Projects by University of Houston Honors College American History and Center for Public History Houston History students will be displayed at The Heritage Society Museum Gallery at Sam Houston Park from July 12 to Aug. 19. An opening reception is 5-8 p.m., Wednesday, July 12.
The exhibit, “Great Migrations Past and Present,” examines patterns of migration and immigration to Houston through visual art, literature, film and music. The Great Migration (1917-1970) of more than 6 million African-Americans out of the rural South to other regions of the United States, including 44,000 people who came to Houston, is one of the most consequential movements in our nation’s history.
“We cannot fully understand our nation’s history without delving deeply into the fraught issue of race, yet most students are uninformed about the oppression and violence African-Americans endured in the decades between the end of the Civil War and the peak of the Civil Rights Movement,” said Irene Guenther, a historian and assistant professor at the Honors College.
Debbie Z. Harwell, editor of Houston History in the Center for Public History, and an adjunct professor, noted that Houston has grown from a small town to the world’s energy capital, with the nation’s most diverse population.
“That transition is the story of hundreds of thousands of people who migrated and immigrated here, making Houston their home, building the city on the backs of their labor, and creating a distinctly Houston culture,” she said.
WHAT: “Great Migrations: Past and Present”
WHO: UH Honors College and Center for Public History
WHEN: Wednesday, July 12- Saturday, Aug. 19; 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday and 10 a.m.- 8 p.m. Wednesday
WHERE: The Heritage Society Museum Gallery at Sam Houston Park, 1100 Bagby, Houston, 77002. Click here for a map.
About the University of Houston
The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized by The Princeton Review as one of the nation’s best colleges for undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation’s fourth-largest city, UH serves more than 43,700 students in the most ethnically and culturally diverse region in the country.