36th Texas Black Invitational Rodeo

 

Saddle up! Dust off those cowboy boots and giddy up to the 36th Texas Black Invitational Rodeo on Saturday, July 26, at 7 p.m. at the Fair Park Coliseum (1438 Coliseum Dr., Dallas, Texas 75210). Doors open at 6 p.m., with the Grand Entry Parade beginning at 6:30 p.m. and the competition at 7 p.m. 

Presented by and benefiting the African American Museum, Dallas, the family-fun rodeo showcases Black cowboys and cowgirls competing for cash prizes in bronc and bull riding, calf and steer roping, barrel racing and a Pony Express relay race. The evening also features on-field kids’ activities, trick lasso performances, live music, concessions, and more.

With proceeds benefiting the African American Museum, Dallas, rodeo tickets are $15 and VIP seats are $43 (plus fees) at fairparktix.com. Tickets are also available at the museum and at the coliseum on the day of the event (although last year’s event sold out early).

Stewpot Alliance Patron Party - Recap & Photos

Alliance president Bea Njuguna and Chef Brian Luscher

Patrons and volunteers of The Stewpot Alliance Soup’s On Luncheon and Art Sale recently gathered for a soiree at The African American Museum in Fair Park to celebrate the success of the 17th annual fundraiser held in January.

Charlene Jin-Lee, Margie Francis and Amy Desler
Photo credit: Simon Luna Photography

Brenda Snitzer, executive director of The Stewpot and Alliance president Bea Njuguna and Soup’s On co-chairs Isabell and Philip Higginbotham and Buddy Jordan thanked the attendees for their valued time, talents and support of the luncheon and art sale. Celebrity chef chair Brian C. Luscher also recognized the vital importance of the services provided by The Stewpot, especially during the current “arctic blast.”

Alliance board members Jonathan Mauerer and Morgan Cline 

While below freezing temperatures are a life-or-death situation for those living on the streets, and The Stewpot team shared that their team was actively working with neighbors to find transportation and shelter in Fair Park out of the frigid air. The Stewpot staff were on the streets handing out cold-weather gear such as coats, hats, gloves and hand warmers to help everyone stay safe.

Buddy and Janet Jordan

Since its founding in 1975 to feed people on the streets downtown, The Stewpot has served more than 8.7 million meals. It has also grown to provide comprehensive services and a community of support for people experiencing poverty and homelessness, including programs that stabilize, house and enrich the lives of Dallas neighbors. These include helping people recover over 112,000 vital ID documents to access services and employment, funding 233 four-year scholarships for college or vocational school since 1991 and helping provide housing for 320 people since its rapid rehousing program began in 2021.

African American Museum, Dallas’ Disco Gala and Auction set for Oct. 21

 

Get your groove on and dance the night away at the African American Museum, Dallas’ Disco Gala and Auction on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. at the Renaissance Dallas Hotel. 

In its 35th year, the event serves as a fundraiser to maintain and expand the Museum and its offerings through programs, workshops, lectures and other educational services that will facilitate awareness and understanding of African American history and culture. The event also helps the Museum offer its award-winning summer camp to thousands of underserved youth.

The event begins with a meet-and-greet reception at 6:30 p.m., followed by a seated dinner at 7:30 p.m. and entertainment provided by The Dennis Edwards’ Temptation Revue. Velena McRae is the event chair. CBS 11 anchor/reporter Steve Pickett will serve as emcee. Dress is cocktail – or divine disco – attire.

Velena McRae, Event Chair

Individual tickets are $200. Sponsorship packages are also available including Curator ($35,000), Archivist ($30,000), Artist ($25,000), Historian ($20,000), Gold ($15,000), Silver ($10,000), Bronze ($7,500), Medalist ($5,000) and Friend ($2,500).

For more information and to purchase tickets, go to aamdallas.org/tickets. For sponsorships, please contact C. Little at 214-565-9026, ext. 326 or clittle@aamdallas.org.

More Event Information HERE!

African American Museum, Dallas' Annual Masquerade Cabaret & Auction Gala Returns This Saturday, October 15th

Benefiting the African American Museum, Dallas, the 34th-annual Masquerade Cabaret & Auction Gala will be held Saturday, Oct.15, 2022, at 7 p.m. at the Renaissance Dallas Hotel. The evening soiree serves as a fundraiser to maintain and expand the Museum and its offerings through programs, workshops, lectures and other educational services that will facilitate awareness and understanding of African American history and culture. The event has helped the Museum offer its award-winning summer camp to thousands of underserved youth in Dallas’ southern sector.

Velena McRae is the event chair, and Mr. and Mrs. Chamoria and Matthew Houston are honorary co-chairs. Dress is cocktail attire.

Velena McRae, Event Chair

Mr. and Mrs. Chamoria and Matthew Houston, Honorary Co-Chairs

“I am honored to have been appointed the Chairman of the African American Museum's Annual Gala, which supports one of Dallas’ treasured gems,” said McRae. “I deeply sense the great obligations of this position and regard it as a duty and privilege to help raise awareness and support a long-standing cultural institution in our community.”

Serving as the Museum's largest annual fundraiser, the Masquerade Cabaret & Auction Gala has helped the Museum offer its Science of Art Summer Camp STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics). In addition, proceeds underwrite the African American Heritage Series (lectures, symposia, workshops, and conferences), educational workshops, musical performances such as the Scott Joplin Chamber Orchestra of Houston concert, and the daily operations of the Museum. Blockbuster exhibitions – such as Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: Paradox of Liberty, the Kinsey African American Art and History Collection, and the Smithsonian’s Men of Change – are also funded through the gala.

The event begins with a meet-and-greet reception at 7 p.m., followed by a seated dinner at 7:30 p.m. and entertainment provided by The Reuben Lael Band. The Museum will also present its highest honor – The Heritage Award – to Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated®. This award is given occasionally to individuals or organizations that have made a significant contribution to the founding and development of the African American Museum, Dallas. 

Individual tickets are $200. Sponsorship packages are also available including Curator ($35,000), Archivist ($30,000), Artist ($25,000), Historian ($20,000), Gold ($15,000), Silver ($10,000), Bronze ($7,500), Medalist ($5,000) and Friend ($2,500). 

For more information and to purchase tickets or sponsorships, visit Tickets - African American Museum Of Dallas (aamdallas.org)

32nd Texas Black Invitational Rodeo

Grab your cowboy hat, boots and buckles, and ride on over to the 32^nd Texas Black Invitational Rodeo on Saturday, July 31, at 7 p.m. at the Fair Park Coliseum (the Grand Entry Parade begins at 6 p.m.). Presented by the African American Museum, Dallas, the rodeo offers up an exciting family-fun night as approximately 300 African American cowboys and cowgirls compete for cash prizes in bronc and bull riding, calf and steer roping, barrel racing, a Pony Express relay race and more. The Coliseum is located in Fair Park at 1438 Coliseum Dr., Dallas, Texas 75210.

“The Texas Black Invitational Rodeo was cancelled last year due to the pandemic, so the African American Museum is especially excited to bring it back in 2021,” said Dr. Harry Robinson, Jr., president and CEO of the African American Museum, Dallas. “This event is hugely popular, and we can’t wait to see our daring group of cowboys and cowgirls compete in the newly renovated Fair Park Coliseum.”

Kicking off with the Grand Entry Parade at 6 p.m., this fast-paced sporting event also provides guests with a glimpse of the historical contributions that African Americans made in the settling of the western United States. The event also includes on-field kids activities, trick lasso performances, concessions, music and more.

“My family has been part of this rodeo since day one,” said cowboy Ke’Elronn Hatley who participates every year in the calf-roping events. “And as much my brothers and I love competing, we’re probably just as proud knowing we’re helping to tell the stories of the Black cowboy and keep that history alive.”

Members from the Dallas Chapter and the North Dallas Chapter of the National Panhellenic Council will serve as grand marshals.

The title sponsor is Montgomery Law, PLLC/CarWreckCowboy.com. Bronco sponsors are the Law Office of Vonda Bailey, PLLC and Musume/Akai, Crockett 39 Properties, LLC. Cowboy sponsors are Judge Sandra Jackson 302nd Family District Court and AAA Data Communications, Inc.

Media partners are Fox 4 and More 27 and Majic 94.5 and 97.9 The Beat.

Doors open at 6 p.m., and the rodeo kicks off at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 and VIP box seats are $25 (plus applicable fees) at fairparktix.com. Tickets will also be available at the door.

African American Museum, Dallas to present Smithsonian's Men of Change: Power. Triumph. Truth. June 26-Sept. 12, 2021

The African American Museum, Dallas will host the Smithsonian Institution’s stunning traveling exhibition, Men of Change: Power. Triumph. Truth. from June 26-Sept. 12, 2021. The exhibition presents the narrative of a nation through the profiles of significant African American men who are icons in the country’s historical and cultural landscape. Created by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), Men of Change is made possible through the support of Ford Motor Company Fund, the philanthropic arm of Ford.

Admission to the Museum and Men of Change is free. The Museum is located at 3536 Grand Ave. in Dallas’ historic Fair Park.

Men of Change highlights revolutionary men – including Muhammad Ali, James Baldwin, Ta-Nehisi Coates, W.E.B. Du Bois and Kendrick Lamar – whose journeys have altered the history and culture of the country through politics, sports, science, entertainment, business and religion. Each biography is paired with original artwork by a noted artist that accentuates the subjects’ individual legacies. The exhibition weaves a collective tapestry of what it is to be an African American man, past and present, and the legacy that only strengthens across generations.

Participating artists include Nina Chanel Abney, Derrick Adams, Robert Pruitt, Tariku Shiferaw and Devan Shimoyama.

A diverse group of artists, advisors, academics, curators and museum professionals determined the men chosen as Men of Change. From Carter G. Woodson to Ryan Coogler, these men have changed entire fields, fought for justice, revolutionized art, and touched millions of lives directly and indirectly.

These men serve as metaphors, representing the many more men and the broader community that shaped them into important change agents. Men of Change: Power. Triumph. Truth. also incorporates the names and language of others – men and women – that signify the power of the African American journey in the American story.

The African American Museum is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. The museum is closed Mondays and Sundays. 

For more information, go to aamdallas.org

Perot Museum and African American Museum announce winner of Staircase Project celebrating Black STEM leaders

Calling it a “bold and inspiring tribute to African American leaders who made momentous contributions to science,” the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, in partnership with the African American Museum, Dallas, today announced that local architect and emerging artist Daniel M. Gunn is the winner of the Staircase Project design competition. In addition to a $5,000 prize, Gunn’s larger-than-life image, titled “GIANT STEPS – Celebrating Extraordinary Achievements of African-American Leaders in STEM,” has been installed on the Perot Museum’s multi-story, outdoor staircase facing Field Street. The Staircase Project is presented by Kroger.

Perot Museum of Nature and Science

“Far too often the important contributions made by African Americans to the advancement of STEM have been untold, unheard and unseen. This magnificent design from Daniel M. Gunn shines a much-needed light on these hidden figures,” said Dr. Linda Silver, Eugene McDermott Chief Executive Officer. ”Giant steps often begin by first taking small steps, so we encourage everyone to climb these stairs and find inspiration for the future through learning about the past.” 

Last fall, the Perot Museum and African American Museum conducted a call for entries to create a vibrantly colored, eye-catching design that celebrates African-American leaders in science – from history and modern day – who have made significant contributions to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Entries were judged by a diverse, blue-ribbon panel comprised of regional leaders representing the arts, education and STEM business communities. 

The creative design – which has been reproduced and professionally installed using weatherproof, vinyl materials – will remain in place through Memorial Day.

Daniel M. Gunn (designer)

Gunn is a 36-year-old architect employed at Oglesby Greene Architects in downtown Dallas. Born in Alabama, he has lived in New Jersey as well as Louisiana, where he graduated with an architecture degree from Louisiana Tech University in 2008. He picked up a pencil at age five and has been drawing and painting ever since. He states that “When I’m not busy designing buildings by day, I’m honing my skills with the paintbrush on canvas by night.”

His design features Dr. Charles Drew, known as the father of the blood bank; telecommunications inventor Shirley Ann Jackson, the first African-American woman to earn an MIT doctorate; Dr. Mae Jemison, physician, engineer and the first African-American woman in space; and Dallas’ Otis Frank Boykin, an engineer, entrepreneur and inventor with approximately 26 patents. Also included are famed agricultural inventor and “Wizard of Tuskegee” George Washington Carver, and NASA’s Katherine Johnson and Mary Winston Jackson (NASA scientists profiled in the movie Hidden Figures).

Dr. Linda Silver, Eugene McDermott CEO of the Perot Museum

Perot Museum teams up with African American Museum to seek designer for outdoor staircase

In partnership with the African American Museum, Dallas, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science has announced a call for entries for a staircase commission to create a vibrantly colored and eye-catching site-specific creative design that celebrates African-American leaders in science – from history and modern day – who have made significant contributions to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). The Staircase Project is presented by Kroger. 

To spotlight the artistic talent in the Dallas/Fort Worth region, the Perot Museum will commission an African-American creative designer who resides in North Texas to design the image.

The winning designer will be awarded a prize of $5,000. The deadline to enter is Oct. 30, 2020, and the winner will be notified of his/her selection by no later than Dec. 1, 2020. There is no submission fee. For rules, details and submission instructions, click here.

The creative design will be reproduced on weatherproof, vinyl materials and professionally installed on the Perot Museum’s large, multi-story outdoor staircase facing Field Street, a main thoroughfare into Downtown Dallas. For images and videos of past staircase installations along with design templates, GO HERE.