The Hooks Brothers Studio, a Black-owned photography business in Memphis that operated from 1907 to 1984, documented African American life across the 20th century. After a fire destroyed the studio in 1979, its archive of up to 75,000 images was hidden for decades before private buyers donated it to the National Civil Rights Museum and the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (now renamed the Memphis Art Museum). The museum will open a major exhibition titled "Making Beauty: Hooks Brothers Studio, 1907-1984" as the centerpiece of its new flagship building, which opens in December 2026.
The exhibition matters because it brings a long-hidden, comprehensive visual record of Black joy, achievement, and everyday life in the Jim Crow South into public view for the first time. The Hooks brothers' work—featuring both prominent figures like Booker T. Washington and countless ordinary citizens—offers an essential counter-narrative to depictions of Black suffering. Additionally, the Memphis Art Museum's commitment to free admission for all Shelby County residents signals a significant step toward equitable access to cultural heritage.