New LAG exhibition documents African American life in Texas from 1949-1961

Behold the People: R.C. Hickman’s Photographs of Black Dallas

On loan from Humanities Texas

On display at the

Pecan Campus Library Rainbow Room

March 31-May 12

South Texas College (STC) invites the public to view “Behold the People: R. C. Hickman’s Photographs of Black Dallas, 1949–1961,” an exhibition by the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin, on display now through May 12, 2016. The exhibition is currently on display at the Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery – Rainbow Room.

Hickman was a Dallas photographer whose thousands of images produced from 1949 to 1961 document aspects of life in an African American community in Texas. His photographs depict a community largely invisible to white Americans—thoroughly a part of mainstream America by virtue of accomplishment and lifestyle but excluded from it because of race.

In addition, Hickman worked as a commercial portrait photographer, a photojournalist for several black newspapers in Dallas, a freelance photographer for national black publications such as Jet, Sepia and Ebony and a photographer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). His images reveal his awareness of a community within which individuals survive, grow and understand themselves.

“Behold the People: R. C. Hickman’s Photographs of Black Dallas, 1949–1961” is presented in partnership with Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Humanities Texas develops and supports diverse programs across the state, including lectures, oral history projects, teacher institutes, traveling exhibitions and documentary films.

For viewing hour information or to arrange group visits, contact STC Art Gallery Associate Gina Otvos at 956.872.3488 or gotvos@southtexascollege.edu. More information regarding Humanities Texas can be found online at humanitiestexas.org or by calling 512.440.1991.