Still We Rise El Paso's Black Experience

A highlight from the year was the opportunity to experience this display at the El Paso Museum of History. Took several pics to revisit what I learned that day reading the displays. Til' the next time, would be wonderful for Still We Rise to become a permanent fixture in our community with an opportunity to grow and continue documenting so many stories. Would love to see a section for the history of our community's Black martial artists.

The entrance...

Douglass Grammar & High School (El Paso)

Someone I'd love to learn more about. Poet, Bernice Love Wiggins.

Shout out to the Douglass Dragons!

Made me think of my grandmother.

UTEP Miners! Shout out to Willie Cager.

40 minutes of hell. Hey Coach Rus.

For all the middle school students that go to Bobby Joe Hill.

Spirit of 66'.

Our military community.

A bigger picture of Still We Rise exhibit. 

Texas.

A lovely day.

The writing below is included on the Still We Rise exhibit print available at the museum's entrance.

"Still We Rise El Paso's Black Experience reflects on past and present African Americans in El Paso. Like many African American communities in the United States, much of their history has remained underrepresented. The arrival of El Paso's black community begun with the arrival of the railroad and soon blossomed after that. In a few decades, their presence was known within the South side neighborhoods and grew to encompass its very own Black Wall Street at the intersections of Alameda and Piedras. A thriving community flourished with churches, restaurants, barbershops, beauty salons, and multiple other businesses that catered to a still segregated Texas. With this empowerment and validity, many key figures gained momentum in the Civil Rights Movement which later made El Paso a leader in integration and equal rights in Texas. It was until the Federal Aid Highway Act that built the current Interstate to where a majority of businesses and residences were demolished. Despite the loss of space, the community continued to thrive through their churches, community centers, outreach groups, and led to many citizens holding big roles within civic and social realms.

The exhibition gathers personal memories, objects and sense of place from local African American leaders and gives an inside look of resistance and resiliency through the 20th century here in El Paso."