African American Museum
The African American Museum is the only museum in the Southwestern United States devoted to the preservation and display of African American artistic, cultural and historical materials. It has one of the largest African American folk art collections in the United States. The museum incorporates a wide variety of visual art forms and historical documents that portray the African American experience in the United States, the Southwest and Dallas. Started in 1974 originally as a part of Bishop College, but has operated independently since 1979. The new $6,500,000 structure, built in the shape of a cross, is made of ivory stone. It has a rotunda with a towering 60-ft. gray dome. The window shape represents an abstraction of the Dogon statue that is from Mali, West Africa. The shape also represents the entrance to a group of Ethiopian Orthodox churches that were excavated out of the rock in the 12th Century. The rich heritage of black art and history is housed in four vaulted galleries, augmented by a research library. Living black culture is experienced through education and entertaining programs presented in the community room, education facilities, theater and arts and crafts area. Natural materials and design motifs are used throughout the museum in a manner reminiscent of pre-industrialized cultures of the African continent. Sculpture garden walls emulate those of the Ndbele tribe of southern Africa. The walls are enhanced with freestanding walls depicting murals of living African American Artists.
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