African American Museum

Started in 1974 originally as a part of Bishop College, but has operated independently since 1979. The new $6,500,000 building is funded through private donations and through a Dallas city bond election in 1985 that provided $1.2 million for the creation of the new museum. The new structure, built in the shape of a cross, is made of ivory stone. It has a rotunda with a towering 60-ft. gray dome. The window shape represents an abstraction of the Dogon statue that is from Mali, West Africa. The shape also represents the entrance to a group of Ethiopian Orthodox churches that were excavated out of the rock in the 12th Century. The rich heritage of black art and history is housed in four vaulted galleries, augmented by a research library.