Be Jeweled!

IN THE SUMMER of 1865, less than two months after the end of the Civil War, thousands of former slaves, or “freedpeople,” from the Texas countryside and every state in the former Confederacy made the pilgrimage via the San Felipe Trail to Houston’s Fourth Ward and established Freedman’s Town — a neighborhood for families determined to build and establish a thriving community as the country entered the Reconstruction era. Nearby cypress trees provided wood to construct family homes and handcrafted bricks were used to create the neighborhood’s streets. In June 2021, the Houston City Council voted to make Freedmen’s Town the city’s first official Heritage District, which allows nonprofits to help fund the restoration and care of the community’s historic structures, including those brick streets.

THE FRUITS OF a cross-cultural, multigenerational friendship are on display in Things Fall Apart, an exhibit across two galleries at Redbud Arts Center. The show features recent paintings by New Orleans-born, Houston-based artist Randall Mosman and Copenhagen’s Anders Moseholm; it opens Saturday, Jan. 6, and runs through Jan. 27.