Blackland Prairies

Blackland Prairies borrows its title from the name given to the fertile ecoregion that stretches from the northeastern edge of Texas to the center of the state, encompassing historically Black and Brown regions of the city of Austin. The ecological qualities of this area—its access to fresh water from the Colorado River and rich clay soil—served as a site for generations of Black Texans to build homes, establish churches and schools, and maintain communities. Since the formation of Austin’s freedom communities in the late 1860s, the efforts of segregationist city planners, urban developers, and profit-motivated investors have made this landscape unrecognizable to the Black communities who called this area home for over 150 years. Blackland Prairies examines this historical transformation through the radical lens of Black presence. By juxtaposing archival materials sourced from local collections with works by Texas-born and based artists, the exhibition demonstrates how Black histories, memories, and everyday life are permanently inscribed in the city.

Blackland Prairies assembles a presentation of archival documents and photographs of Austin’s historically Black communities created by city residents, government officials, and local news media from the 19th century to the present day. These materials are surrounded by visual art that references personal and community histories in Austin and throughout Texas, as well as artworks that reflect on the relationships between Black communities and space on a more expansive scale. Together, the archives and artworks evoke the many tangible and intangible layers of Austin’s histories, complicating reductive narratives about who and what Austin is. Artists Adrian Aguilera, Riley Holloway, Aryel René Jackson, and Ann Johnson mine personal and public archives to transform images into monuments that celebrate the joy, intimacy, and hopes of Black communities. Artists Betelhem Makonnen, Tammie Rubin, Victor Torres, and Daniel Llanes use natural materials to show how the passage of time leaves a lasting mark on the environment and creates a visual record of obscured and overlooked histories. Rather than use pre-existing archival materials, artists Adraint Bereal, Nathaniel Donnett, and Cindy Elizabeth collect and document stories to emphasize how Black archives are enacted in everyday life—among friends, in conversation at a barbershop, and at family gatherings in the park.

While Austin’s rapid transformation continues to minimize Black presence and history, the artists and archival materials of Blackland Prairies illuminate emerging, enduring, and evolving forms of Black life in the city.

Principle support for Blackland Prairies is provided by the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies and the Black Diaspora Archive at The University of Texas at Austin.

This program is supported by Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.