On November 21, 2020, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston’s Nancy and Rich Kinder Building opened, and I was very lucky to be able see its grand opening. The building hosts a variety of modern and contemporary artworks, from mixed media sculptures to lithograph prints and surrealist paintings. However, I was most surprised to find art made during the period of the Great Migration. Though the pieces themselves did not directly touch on the subject like Lawrence’s Migration Series, they brought to light the struggles that black people faced at the time. I was lucky enough to get pictures of three of these pieces, but not three others. I’m sure there are many more pieces that I missed, as I couldn’t comb through the whole building in one day--I hope that you can see the ones I didn’t!

 

I am presenting these pieces in chronological order (date of creation), ending with a piece from 2016 to show that the branches of this tree of injustice stretches out to affect the descendants of the Great Migration. The strong, knotted oak of their history stays firm, and refuses to die--but with it, lives on that same flame of hope present in the Great Migration.