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Behold the People: R. C. Hickman's Photographs of Black Dallas, 1949–1961
Melba Theater, 1955. The Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin R. C. Hickman Photographic Archive (VN 85-43-000279a)
"There was only one theater in downtown Dallas we were allowed to attend and that was the Majestic. Even there, we were only allowed into six or seven seats in the uppermost part of the balcony we called the 'buzzard roost.'" – R. C. Hickman
R. C. 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.
Mr. Hickman worked as a commercial portrait photographer, as a photojournalist for several black newspapers in Dallas, as a freelance photographer for national black publications such as Jet, Sepia and Ebony and as a photographer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). His images reveal his awareness of the broad community context within which individuals survive, grow and understand themselves.
Exhibit
"Behold the People: R. C. Hickman’s Photographs of Black Dallas, 1949-1961" is an exhibit by the Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin, presented in partnership with Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. R. C. Hickman's photographs include images of nationally popular entertainers and Dallas nightclubs, schools and universities, funerals, and notable Dallas citizens.
View the R. C. Hickman Photographic Archive online
Exhibit Format
52 framed black and white photographs with identification labels. 1 framed color portrait of R. C. Hickman, 2 text panels and 1 title banner
Wall space required: approximately 120 linear feet