The Rebirth in Action exhibition, organized by Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy, expands the notion of a monument to include the living community represented by legacy residents of Houston Freedmen’s Town. In the Freedmen’s Town community, legacy residents provide the cornerstone of a historical lineage to emancipation, and its founding freed Black community. As a container of these histories, each legacy member embodies a facet of Houston Freedmen’s Town. Within this rich context, the exhibition will center equitable collaboration and engagement to create resource-generating opportunities for the legacy residents even as long-standing infrastructure and cultural heritage investments are being made in their community. In conjunction with the feasibility plan, artistic activations by local and national artists—including an exhibition by Theaster Gates and an exhibition highlighting innovative Black artists of Houston—will seek to ignite public imagination around the rich stories embedded within Freedmen’s Town. The Rebirth in Action exhibition will honor and support legacy residents while preserving and archiving their histories—ingrained within the historic brick streets—as a memorial in Freedmen’s Town. Throughout his career, Theaster Gates has commanded and reoriented our understanding of Black labor, materiality, and place. His work offers a poignant lens through which we are asked to consider the true power of Black spaces, which, although historically underappreciated and under-resourced, hold deep resonance as sites of resilience, restitution, and redemption.

The Rebirth in Action exhibition will commence with a series of the town hall and community stakeholder meetings to identify the immediate needs and values of the legacy residents. This effort, which connects deeply to Gates’ artistic investments and explorations throughout his practice, seeks to make explicit connections between material, labor, community, and spirituality. “The Rebirth in Action project is an example of how social innovation in Black communities develops out of precarity and how a museum can work hand-in-hand with community partners to engage in restorative justice and develop deeper community engagement through the lens of art, healing, and community investment,” says CAMH Deputy Director Seba R. Suber. “The historical and spiritual legacy of Houston’s Freedmen’s Town recontextualizes and amplifies the resiliency of Black communities and its descendants.” The project will create new opportunities for local artists and re-artists-in-residence at Freedmen’s Town. It will be curated for projects that highlight, honor, and animate the histories and stories of Freedmen’s Town. Each residency will culminate in a public presentation of a project within Freedmen’s Town. In line with HFTC’s goals, research fellows will generate new research that connects artists and the general public to the legacies of Freedmen’s Town. They will act as research guides for artistic activations and the CAMHLAB artists-in-residence, connecting each artist to the resources they need to create their work.

The Houston Public Library Director, Dr. Rhea Brown Lawson, is “proud to partner with HFTC in the shared goals of protecting, preserving, and amplifying the rich history of African Americans in the region utilizing our shared resources right here in the Freedmen’s Town Heritage District to engage the public.” “Houston Public Works (HPW) is proud to partner with HFTC and CAMH through this project,” says HPW Director Carol Haddock. “By creating a schematic feasibility plan with Concept Engineers, Inc., we can ensure future developments are respectful and complementary to Freedmen’s Town heritage. We will be able to preserve its history while enhancing the area for a more resilient future.