This large ceramic plate created by Carroll Harris Simms features multiple textures, including a bubbling glaze covering most of the top of the piece. Simms worked alongside Dr. John T. Biggers to build Texas Southern's art department from the ground up. Simms' decorative artworks remain in high demand by collectors.
This large, brown ceramic plate created by Carroll Harris Simms features multiple textures, including a bubbling glaze covering most of the top of the piece. Simms worked alongside Dr. John T. Biggers to build Texas Southern's art department from the ground up. Simms' decorative artworks remain in high demand by collectors.
Samuel Albert Countee was a New Negro movement painter and sculptor from Marshall, TX. Brown Girl depicts a nude Black woman in nature. She has a thoughtful expression as she touches the branches that obscure her groin. In the background is a garden scene of pink flowers and lush trees.
Brown Scott was born in 1912 and came to Jackson in 1951. He recalls the "Good Old Days" as a comparison between the past and present: they were good in the sense that people enjoyed them at the time, but what is good now is quite different. He discusses racial issues he faced in Jackson and being in Europe in the Army for World War II.
Case Data and Exhibits for Brown III, a relitigation of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education (1954) that corrected resegregation issues caused by open enrollment school choice in 1992. List of analysis materials used by William Lamson in his expert testimony preparation for the Brown v. Topeka III litigation.
The estimated budget for funding Head Start in Mississippi from September 26, 1966, to September 29, 1967, the first year of Head Start operating in Mississippi. This budget proposal covered 13,500 Mississippi children in 170 centers across 37 counties. It also funded 20 administrative areas with staff and a central office in Jackson, Mississippi.
The Buffalo Soldier Stratton hat is a distinctive military headgear associated with the African American cavalry regiments known as Buffalo Soldiers, and belonged to Benjamin French. Crafted from durable materials, it features a wide brim and a high crown, symbolizing pride and resilience.
Oliver's painting shows a group of shirtless men looking towards an unseen figure or force. The painting makes heavy use of crosshatching and red and black hues. The composition bears significant resemblance to Oliver's mural Fire Fighters, which can be seen in the 1978 book, Black Art in Houston: The Texas Southern University Experience.
Hubert C. Taylor was an architect and artist from Kilmarnock, VA. Bus Stop is a non-finito depiction of a bus stop. The piece displays a sign pole with indistinct shapes and shadows surrounding it.
A front-view photograph of businesses on N. Farish Street in the Farish Street Historic District. At the time of the photograph, the businesses were closed and the building was in disrepair.
A side-view photograph of businesses on N. Farish Street in the Farish Street Historic District. At the time of the photograph, the businesses were closed and the building was in disrepair.
This rare mask could belong to the Gurunsi, Boba, or Bwa ethnic groups in Burkina Faso, one of the oldest agricultural groups in that region. They believed in strictly preserving the spirits, which brought balance to a world humans disturb. Each mask is unique, channeling these spirits for performances, celebrations, and harvest rituals.
Mr. Blythe Andrews criticized President W. H. Gray's speech at the Tampa Urban League, claiming he undermined the NAACP’s work. Andrews condemned the bigotry of "white friends" and urged Black people to match their white counterparts politically, citing a lawsuit of two Pensacola Negroes falsely registered as Democrats.
Hubbard’s senior notebook includes his written philosophy of art, photographs of the artist’s works and his process, and a copy of his senior exhibition brochure. As a part of the Texas Southern art curriculum under Dr. John T. Biggers and Professor Carroll Harris Simms, students would create these notebooks to explain their artistry and showcase the works they created as students.
Settles, a student of Carroll Harris Simms, created the sculpture “Camel” in 1978. The creation of a large terracotta sculpture was a part of each art student's curriculum. The design features include a huge hump and embellishments, including spirals, on the exterior. Sculptures lacking sufficient ornamentation were often not retained for the collection.
The Florida Times Union captured the lively campus atmosphere at FAMC, highlighting the 75-member band led by W. P. Foster and the newly constructed Coleman Library, honoring Samuel H. Coleman. The article also detailed the costs of Diamond Hall, the dining hall, McQuinn Hall, and the infirmary.
Case Data and Exhibits for Brown III, a relitigation of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education (1954) that corrected resegregation issues caused by open enrollment school choice in 1992. An April 1976 report by Ted Clark that explains the facilities improvements for Topeka Public Schools that were prioritized and funded in 1975 and 1976.
A newspaper article from The Black Panther arguing that the greed inherent in capitalism leads to racism which leads to a fascist state defined by police brutality on Black people. The author writes that capitalism is “a parasitic growth that devours whole countries,” and therefore police brutality is a form of genocidal extermination.
A card from Ashanti Alston, a Black Liberation Army (BLA) member who was imprisoned for 11 years for a robbery to raise money for the BLA, to an unknown recipient. A collage of Malcolm X photos is on the cover. He updates the recipient on a pregnancy and marriage taking place and informs them of his schedule and admits to procrastination.
A card from fellow Black revolutionary and friend of Frankye Adams-Johnson (Malika), Curtis. The front of the card is a depiction of a man with a gun and text explaining that only through the gun can freedom be realized by the Black people. On the back of the card he writes “We send you this with revolutionary love and concern, Curtis.”
A card from Frankye Adams-Johnson (Malika) to her husband, Nuh Abdul Qaiyum, who was sentenced to prison in 1975 for a 1971 Black Liberation Army (BLA) connected shooting of police officers in New York. She relates her desire to become a complete person and expresses the need for mutual love and effort for her and her husband to last together.
A card from Frankye Adams-Johnson (Malika) to her husband, Nuh Abdul Qaiyum, who is imprisoned. The front of the card is a depiction of a bridge. She writes of the beauty of Black and imagines a day where there will be no fight, and they can be the beautiful people they truly are.
Mr. Myers was the owner of Myers Coffee Company on Farish Street. He talks about his business as well as other businesses in the district and breaks down the different sections of the neighborhood.
Carolyn Parker began working with the Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) in 1966 after years of working clerical jobs for different human rights organizations. She talks about her work in the Civil Rights Movement and the role of community organization in the beginning of Head Start.
Carolyn Cannon Lindsey attended Smith Robertson School as an elementary student beginning in 1952. At the school she completed 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 8th grades. She discusses the segregation of schools during that time. She also recalls some of her teachers and fondest memories of her time as a student there.
In 1995, G. Powell, III, wrote a letter to U.S. House Rep. Carrie P. Meek filled with disparaging and discriminatory comments. It is hard to determine who exactly Powell was. Still, the document alone shows how much racism the first African American woman elected to represent Florida in the U.S. Congress since the Reconstruction era received.
Within the documents Carrie P. Meek held were racist letters sent to her, like this one. This letter made inflammatory, discriminating, and disparaging comments about Black men, calling them “brutes” and comparing them to “thugs.” It also depicted a hand-drawn racist caricature of a tribal African holding a bloody, severed white person’s head.