By Sierra Uselton
SMU Meadows collaborated with three other local organizations to trace the roots of Jewish and Mexican immigrants in Dallas and spread the word of their culture and history to the Dallas community through the Pike Park Exhibit.
Walking into the exhibit is taking a journey back in time. Detailed photographs exposing emotion and hardship of the immigrants line the walls of the exhibit with descriptive panels below to explain the significance of the photo. Every inch of the exhibit contains a bit of culture, from photos to text to paintings of immigrants and even guest speakers on occasion. Everywhere you look there is something to learn about the Jewish and Mexican immigrants who made Dallas home.
Pike Park has been known over the years as “Little Jerusalem” and “Little Mexico” because it has been a gathering place for immigrant families since 1914. “Uptown’s Pike Park: Little Jerusalem to Little Mexico, 100 Years of Settlement” is presenting vintage photos, narrative panels, guest speakers and graphic illustrations for the public to see firsthand how these immigrants shaped Dallas.
Janis Bergman-Carton, an SMU Meadows associate professor of art history, contributed to the Pike Park Exhibit and said that her favorite contribution was a lost video documentary she tracked down from the 1970s that identified the exemplary urban projects brought by local communities.
“The [Pike Park] project was so well received that the U.S. government selected it to represent best practices in the U.S. at an international conference on the topic in Vancouver, Canada,”Bergman-Carton said.
Bergman-Carton also brought SMU graduate student Lucy McGuigan on board to work on the exhibit. McGuigan not only did curatorial work for the exhibit, but also wrote text for the panels and edited vintage photographs and graphic illustrations.
The contributions made by Bergman-Carton and McGuigan to the Pike Park Exhibit made it possible for people from all over the world to see how Mexican and Jewish immigrants made an impact on one of the most well-known cities in the world: Dallas.
Dallas resident Vanessa Nguyen said she took her three sons to the exhibit because she wanted them to see how the Mexican and Jewish immigrants shaped the place they call home.
“The photographs, art and visual pieces really make history come to life,” Nguyen said.
SMU freshman Camryn La Sala from New York went to the exhibit as well.
“I think it’s important for other students to learn about the Jewish and Mexican roots in Dallas, especially since an SMU student and professor helped make this exhibit happen,”La Sala said.
The Pike Park Exhibit is presented by the Dallas Mexican American Historical League, the Dallas Jewish Historical Society and the Latino Cultural Center and will be at the Latino Cultural Center on Live Oak Street from Sept. 12 to Oct. 18.
