BLACKBALL | Baseball, Barbecue & Blues - Opening Reception
February 19, 2026 @ 5:30PM — 8:30PM Central Time (US & Canada) Add to Calendar
Freedmen's Town Visitor Center: 1204 Victor St Houston, TX 77019 Get Directions
Opening February 19, 2026, BLACKBALL | Baseball, Barbecue & Blues explores the untold story of Black baseball in Houston’s Freedmen’s Town—from sandlots and barnstorming to the Negro Leagues and the integration of Major League Baseball. Rooted in Freedmen’s Town’s “Blackball” legacy, the exhibition traces how baseball thrived alongside food, music, faith, and fellowship, animating streets and fields as sites of freedom, joy, and self-expression. Through community picnics, economic exchange, and the rhythms of everyday life, Black baseball emerges as both a cultural practice and a collective celebration. By centering Black leisure and lived experience, BLACKBALL presents Freedmen’s Town as both a vital local community and a foundational site whose influence extended from Houston to national and global stages through Negro League and Major League Baseball. The exhibition positions Freedmen’s Town not as a footnote, but as a cornerstone of Black baseball history and cultural legacy.
Fort Worth, Texas–native Seba Raquel Suber is a transformative thought leader and accomplished creative business professional with more than two decades of experience across the nonprofit, government, and corporate sectors.
Her work spans business strategy, community engagement, Black studies, social justice, and the arts. She previously served as Deputy Director at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and has held senior leadership roles at Project Row Houses and St. Stephen’s Episcopal School.
As a curator, arts and cultural consultant, and strategist, Suber provides guidance to museums and cultural institutions, specializing in arts programming, event production, and community-centered engagement. She has taught Museum Studies and Fundraising at Johns Hopkins University and Museum Studies at Texas Southern University, where she worked alongside Dr. Alvia Wardlaw, Director and Curator.
Suber is currently pursuing graduate studies in Arts Leadership and Nonprofit Management at Southern Methodist University. Her practice is grounded in an anthropological, community-centered approach with a focus on Black expression, historical preservation, and cultural memory. She is deeply committed to advancing social change through education, creative practice, and institutional collaboration.
She is married to artist and professor Anthony Suber and is the mother of two daughters, Channing and Ellington Rose.
DEDICATIONS
BLACKBALL | Baseball, Barbeque & Blues, is hosted by Houston Freedmen's Town Conservancy and supported by City of Houston, Houston Public Library and Houston Public Library Foundation, Houston Endowment, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Houston Arts Alliance, Southern Polymath Creative Consulting LLC, The Astros Foundation, and Center for Negro League Baseball Research.
Exhibition Architecture by Sharon L. Fletcher, Executive Director (includes concept and scope)
Curated by Seba R. Suber, Southern Polymath Creative Consulting
In partnership with Dr. Layton Revel with Center for Negro League Baseball Research
Historical Soundscapes by Jason “Flash Gordon Parks” Woods, Ethnomusicologist