A portrait of poet Maya Angelou from Sepia magazine.
Sepia Magazine Photographic Archive at the African American Museum of Dallas.
On the walls of the African American Museum in Fair Park hangs a "who’s who" of Black history.
Luminaries including Malcolm X, Josephine Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, Huey P. Newton and Michael Jackson share space with allies including Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy. Together, they offer an unparalleled snapshot of life in the 20th century.
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Part of the expansive show “People Who Make the World Go ’Round: The Legacy of Sepia Magazine,” the source material of these photographs is uniquely homegrown. Founded in 1946 by Fort Worth-based clothing merchant Horace J. Blackwell, Sepia’s archives were later gifted to the museum by the A. H. Belo Corporation in 1990.
Evolving over the years to become a southern counterpart to titles such as Ebony and Jet, the publication originally named Negro Achievements was purchased by a plumbing merchant, George Levitan, after Blackwell’s death. After changing the title in 1954, Levitan evolved Sepia to mine some of the same territory as Life, with a photojournalistic appeal. Until the magazine closed in 1983, it covered the Civil Rights Movement, education, entertainment, entrepreneurship and fashion.
Selected by Spellman College professor Dr. Cheryl Finley for the Mid-America Arts Alliance’s Exhibits USA Program, approximately 80 images flow throughout the institution’s environs, divided into the categories “Styling the People,” “Global Politics,” “Celebrity Portraiture,” “Black Feminism” and “Breaking Barriers.” Museum president and CEO Lisa Brown Ross feels each photograph from Sepia has a timeless appeal that will resonate just as much in our current cultural moment as they did in the era they were first published.
“This exhibition is so important, particularly now in this season of change and the deniability of the goodness and the brilliance of us,” she explains. “This is not just African American history — this is American history. When you walk in and see the exhibition, you’re seeing yourself. Every one of these photographs has a story.”
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“People Who Make the World Go ’Round: The Legacy of Sepia Magazine,” is on view through August 11 at the African American Museum, Dallas. 3536 Grand Ave., Dallas. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Friday; and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free. aamdallas.org
Kendall Morgan is a Dallas-based journalist who has written about arts, culture, design, food and fashion for publications including Bon Appetit, Dallas Observer, D Home, Nylon, Paper City and Patron magazine.