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Recommendations for Main House Redesign at Varner-Hogg Plantation
As a community heritage site, Varner-Hogg Plantation (VHP) has been an integral part of transmitting the narratives of enslaved people. Our work on the Main House can expand the exhibited narratives further with a holistic, social history approach. The Houston Action Research Team (HART) designed a six-room exhibit for the Main House of the VHP. Synthesizing anti-racist museum curation practices, history, archaeological research, and existing displays at Varner-Hogg, the exhibition was developed to center the culture of enslaved Texans and their modern-day legacies. Furthermore, the proposed Main House redesign features a focus on cultural independence as a form of resistance. The 6 rooms of the exhibit are 1). an orientation space, 2). a day-to-day life room, 3). a food room, 4). a religion room, 5). an oral tradition room, and 6). an interactive reflective space. The reflection space guides visitors through the process of incorporating the narratives of enslaved life they just learned into larger narratives about Brazoria County, Texas, and the United States, particularly the connections of enslavement and convict leasing to the modern day. The entire exhibition is meant to serve as a collaborative tool to help visitors in the production and synthesis of knowledge. The reflection room is the apotheosis of that collaborative mindset. Drawing upon case studies of other museums, the exhibit prioritizes interactive opportunities, the centrality of enslaved life beyond their captor, and visitor reflection. It is our hope that this exhibit will shift understandings of plantations away from one-dimensional romanticization and act as an educational space for local schools. The aim of this project is to further the VHP’s function as a community resource and to preserve the Texas History of enslavement for generations to follow.
(Rice University
,
2021
)
Carmona, Melissa; Galvan, Jesus; Gonzalez, Virginia; Josephs, Lindsay; Center for Civic Leadership; Anthropology
The Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site is a state historical site under the leadership of the Texas Historical Commission. During its 63 years as a historic site, the staff of Varner-Hogg has aimed to effectively present the histories of all of the people who once lived there, with effective changes occurring in the last ten years and continuing today. These efforts are driven by the staff’s desire to update the original narratives at Varner-Hogg that primarily focused on the experiences of White landowners, as opposed to the enslaved persons who lived and worked on the plantation. This semester, we were tasked with providing research-based recommendations for redesigning the public history interpretation offered at the site's Main House and enhancing the depth of the visitor experience. We examined over 75 academic sources pertaining to four key areas of research: anti-racist heritage site curriculum design; community outreach strategies; presentation of slavery-related topics at other heritage site; and oral histories and individual narratives from the site's plantation period. We subsequently used the research that we gathered to compile the best practices for relaying complex historical information to diverse public audiences within the narrative of seeing the Main House through the eyes of the enslaved who worked there. Finally, we have included a list of projects that we believe would be beneficial for future study and consideration.
Public Pre-K Enrollment and Participation in the Houston Region
(Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research
,
2024
)
Thrash, Courtney; Varghese, Lebena; Cashiola, Lizzy
This series of briefs looks at enrollment and attendance patterns in public pre-K in the Houston region before, during, and after the passage of HB3 and the COVID-19 pandemic. It also looks at the benefits of pre-K participation.
Neighborhood Opportunity Mapping
(Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research
,
2024
)
Sherman, Stephen Averill; Rhodes, Anna; Njeh, Joy; Banerjee, Debolina; Kim, Andrew
In December 2023, the Houston Housing Authority (HHA) received a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to fund a household mobility program that would expand the number of affordable housing options for people who rely on housing choice vouchers. Specifically, the grant aims to move voucher families to “opportunity neighborhoods” or “opportunity areas,” which have high-performing schools, low crime rates, access to jobs, and other characteristics that promote the broader goal of upward mobility for low-income residents. Kinder Institute for Urban Research staff assisted in data collection and analysis, measuring key indicators on poverty, education, crime, jobs, and transportation to identify high-opportunity areas within HHA’s jurisdiction.