An African American Enterprise in 19th-Century Texas

Extended through April 25, 2010

REBECCA COLE GALLERY

The Wilson Potters: An African-American Enterprise in 19th-Century Texas features works from the Bayou Bend Collection from Texas pottery companies, including H. Wilson & Co.

The exhibition focuses on the establishment of a pottery industry in mid-19th-century Texas. The southern tradition of making pottery with an alkaline or ash glaze had its beginnings in South Carolina in the early 1800s. The pottery was produced across the deep South, from North Carolina to Arkansas and central Texas, with a workforce that included enslaved African-Americans.

H. Wilson & Co., which was located in Capote, outside Seguin, was founded by Hyrum, James, and Wallace Wilson and a group of other African Americans, all of whom had been slaves of the Reverend John M. Wilson. H. Wilson & Co. was active from 1869 to 1884 and was the centerpiece of an African-American community.

The exhibition is jointly organized by Michael K. Brown, curator of the Bayou Bend Collection, and Alvia Wardlaw, curator at the MFAH.