Exhibition explores portraiture, fashion, global politics

By Taylor Mayad

The African American Museum, Dallas will reopen to the public on Friday, May 1, following a temporary closure to complete facility improvements designed to enhance the visitor experience. 

Improvements include building maintenance, gallery enhancements and upgrades to visitor-facing technology that will support upcoming exhibitions and programming.

Marking the reopening is the debut of People Who Make the World Go ‘Round: The Legacy of Sepia Magazine, on view May 1 through August 11. 

Spotlighting some of the 20th century’s most influential Black icons — from Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles to Maya Angelou, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall — the exhibition draws from the Museum’s renowned Sepia photographic archive of more than 40,000 images. 

Published for nearly four decades, Sepia served as a powerful voice in Black journalism, chronicling political change, cultural innovation and everyday life in African American communities nationwide. 

During its peak, Sepia emerged as a national competitor to Ebony and Jet magazines, distinguished by its Southern perspective and editorial voice rooted in the American South.

The magazine was founded in Fort Worth in 1946 as Negro Achievements by clothing merchant Horace J. Blackwell. After Blackwell’s death in 1949, publisher George Levitan purchased the publication and renamed it Sepia in 1950, continuing its publication until 1983.

Organized thematically, the exhibition explores portraiture, fashion, global politics and the many individuals who helped shape American culture and society.

“Sepia was more than a magazine — it was a powerful platform that documented Black life with depth, nuance and pride,” said Lisa Brown Ross, president and CEO of the African American Museum, Dallas. “Reopening with this exhibition allows us to share that legacy in a renewed space that enhances how these stories are experienced and preserved.”

The exhibition, presented by Exhibits USA, a program of Mid-America Arts Alliance, also offers suggested book lists for adult and younger readers. Local sponsors of the Sepia exhibition include Texas Commission on the Arts and The City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture.

Admission is free. The African American Museum is located at 3536 Grand Ave., Dallas, TX 75210. Upon reopening, regular hours are Tuesdays through Fridays from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Free self-parking is available in nearby lots.

For more information, go to aamdallas.org.

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