“History of Negro from Jungles to Now to Be Shown”: The Texas 1936 Centennial and the Time Journeys of Fair Park, Dallas

On June 6, 1936, the Texas Centennial Exposition opened at Fair Park in Dallas. Over six million people attended the event that ran until November 29, 1936. Forged in a decade when World Fairs and Expositions showcased promises of progress and modernity, typically housed in and among Art Deco-styled towers and pavilions, the Texas Centennial sought to establish the time journey of Texas’ past and future as one of Empire and white supremacy. Counter to this vision, however, was the Hall of Negro Life. Containing among its exhibits Afro-Futurist art by Aaron Douglas, it challenged the dominant narrative of the Centennial and offered a radically different time journey of America and Texas. While most of the structures from the Centennial fell into disrepair in the decades following the Exposition, the Hall of Negro Life was demolished in 1937 soon after the Centennial’s close. On-site exhibits and other representations of Fair Park, substantially renovated since the mid-1980s, today nostalgically depict the 1936 Centennial, adding a further time journey on this almost three-hundred-acre cultural landscape in South Dallas.