FROM PLANTATION TO EMANCIPATION - A UNESCO SITES OF MEMORY EXPERIENCE

BLACK HISTORY MONTH TOURS

BOOK TICKETS HERE

We are proud to present Black History Tours year-round. Tour of 3 Historic Houses designated by UNESCO as Sites of Memory for their "Slave Route Project" including the Reverend Jack Yates House.

As seen in The New York Times, 36 Hours in Houston: “The Bayou City’s reputation is for tearing down rather than preserving. But at Downtown’s Sam Houston Park, a collection of historic structures has been thoughtfully restored. The Heritage Society offers a popular Black history walking tour ($15 for 45 minutes) in the area, which includes three sites recognized in 2022 by UNESCO’s Slave Route Project.”

These tours are a treasure for families, schools, universities, interest groups, places of worship, and companies that promote fun and enlightening diversity initiatives.

House Beautiful recently published how our tour was a must-see Black History event! The tour consists of three (3) historic structures including the 1847 Kellum-Noble House, 1870 Jack Yates House, and the 1866 Fourth Ward Cottage.

Our tour guides will demonstrate the contrast of the lives of African-Americans living in Houston before and after the Civil War. New research conducted on the 1847 Kellum-Noble House has revealed the names of several enslaved men, women, and children who lived and worked on the property. The history of this home discusses urban slavery in Houston, whereas the Yates House and Fourth Ward Cottage tell about life after Emancipation in the community known as Freedmen’s Town established by African-Americans.

Come see why the Reader’s Digest named the Yates House the most famous house in Texas, twice!

WOMAN: SPIRIT OF THE UNIVERSE EXHIBIT

The artist, Carolyn Marks Johnson, created the exhibit, Woman: Spirit of the Universe to be a celebration about women who had spirit and a desire to accomplish things for other women. Through bronzed collar sculptures, Johnson exemplifies 21 women who made a contribution to all women in the effort to gain equality.

• Abigail Adams, advocate for women’s rights

• Elizabeth Blackwell, the first medical school graduate and the first woman’s medical school founder

• Myra Bradwell, the first lawyer

• Margaret Brent, first woman in the English North American colonies to appear before a court of the common law

• Deborah Sampson Gannett, who wanted to be a soldier and put on men’s clothing and fought bravely

• Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who knew that what is good for women is good for men and that what is good for men is good for women. She inspires us to say that reason exists that men and women were placed here together but we have a duty to stand with other women, to join them in bringing improvement for all women, to share power, when we get it, with them, to work and promote them, and to be proud of the progress they made. If we do that, woman will truly be the spirit that holds the Universe together.

• Barbara Jordan, Texas State Senator and Congresswomen who was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement

• Dorothea Lange, whose photographs influenced the development of documentary photography and humanized the consequences of the Great Depression

• Sen. Mazie Keiko Hirono, one of the first Asian women of color to enter congress

• Dolores Huerta, who brought labor rights to grape pickers

• Chief Wilma Mankiller who led the Cherokee Nation

• Patsy Takemoto Mink, one of the first Asian women of color to enter congress

• Georgia O’Keeffe, who is the Mother of Modernism in American Art

• Nancy Pelosi, first woman as Speaker of the House of Representatives

• Ann Richards, 45th Governor of Texas

• Sally Ride, who broke the glass into space

• Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, who redefined the role of the First Lady, she advocated for human and women's rights

• Betsy Ross, seamstress of “Old Glory”

• Margaret Louise Higgins Sanger who believed women had a basic right to know and understand their own bodies

• Sonya Sotomayor first Latina, first Hispanic, and first woman of color to become a Supreme Court justice

• Sojourner Truth, carried the message of abolition to every part of America she could reach

• Harriet Tubman, the Moses of her time, known for freeing enslaved people
  
  Over the last six years, artist Carolyn Marks Johnson designed and created each special sculpture piece to honor a woman who made a difference for other women.” The collars begin with hand-stitched and hand-worked cotton; they end with the permanence of bronze, each a celebration of a single woman’s accomplishment! The late Philip Renteria (1947 -1999), a sculpture teacher at Glassell School of Art in Houston, donated the name of the exhibit and the idea in conversation with the artist about one of his own works. He believed that the spirit of the universe is feminine and woman’s spirit holds the universe together.

Museum Gallery Showtimes (“Hours”): Tuesday – Saturday; 10 a.m.– 4 p.m.

Admission: $5 for adults, $2 for children ages 6–12. Members receive free entry as a benefit.

The exhibit will be available for your enjoyment until Fall 2022.