Admission to African American Museum free for State Fair of Texas attendees
DALLAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) - The State Fair of Texas is open till October 22, so you've got plenty of time to not only see Big Tex, play games on the Midway, and eat fried food – but to fit some important history and art into your visit as well.
Away from the rides and crowds, you'll find a Fair Park institution, the African American Museum.
"A lot of people come in because they're curious," said Dr. Harry Robinson, the museum's president and CEO.
The museum started on the campus of the now-closed Bishop College but has been in the Fair Park facility since 1993.
"And when we were able to move into the building, it was a day of excitement for the entire community," Dr. Robinson said. "The Black community was particularly proud, that they had a place of their own to go to get a complete history of the African American experience in Dallas."
Dr. Robinson helped found the museum nearly 50 years ago and has been in charge ever since.
"Our museum has the largest collection of African American folk art of any other African American museum in the country," he said. "We're the only African American museum with a decorative arts collection."
Admission to the museum is free for fairgoers.
"We're hoping that they will come here and get a piece of history that was left out of the textbook, left out of discussion," said Dr. Robinson. "We hope they will have a different perspective on the African American experience."
He calls the museum a place for both education and liberation.
"People come in here, and we hope when they leave, they'll be different," he said.
The museum will be open every day of the fair from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. except on Saturday, Oct. 7 because of a private event for the Texas-OU football game.