A decision by the Texas State University (TXST) to cancel an appearance of the Black History 101 Mobile Museum at one of its campuses, scheduled for 2026 Black History Month, has prompted a First Amendment challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, according to a report by the University Star, TXST’s student-run paper.
In a letter sent to TXST president Kelly Damphousse, the ACLU of Texas noted a 2023 Senate bill banning DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) at Texas public universities, as well as “the current climate of our state,” and “certain topics covered as part of the museum,” as reasons for rescinding the invitation to the museum’s founder, Khalid El-Hakim.
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“On October 13, 2025, a director of campus activities at Texas State University invited Dr. el-Hakim to bring the mobile museum to campus in February of 2026, for Black History Month,” the ACLU wrote, as quoted by the University Star. “Dr. el-Hakim accepted the invitation and spent the next two weeks coordinating details with Texas State. But on October 28, that same campus official, after consulting with ‘supervisors and the leadership team,’ canceled the event,” informing the museum educator of the decision in an email.
In response, Jayme Blaschke, assistant director for the Office of Media Relations at Texas State, said that the cancelation notice sent to El-Hakim did not cite the statewide DEI ban; however, he did not explain the reasoning behind the decision.
“Texas State University is planning a range of events and activities to celebrate Black History Month in 2026. The planning process was a collaborative effort among various university entities to create a schedule for the San Marcos and Round Rock campuses,” Blaschke wrote in an email reviewed by the University Star. “The decision not to include the Black History 101 Mobile Museum in the programming list was made at the departmental level as part of that department’s planning process.”
Blaschke subsequently told Austin’s American-Statesman that the university will consider extending another invitation to the Black History 101 Mobile Museum to visit the campus for future Black History Month programming, but declined to provide further details.
Launched on the road 30 years ago, Black History 101 Mobile Museum is a traveling exhibition of thousands of Black cultural artifacts amassed by el-Hakim, spanning centuries of US history, from the transatlantic slave trade, through the Civil Rights era, and into the present. According to the museum’s website, the collection offers “physical encounters” with objects ranging from original Ku Klux Klan hoods and Black Panther press materials, to hip-hop memorabilia, and protest signs from the successive struggles for civil rights. The museum has visited more than 1,000 institutions across 43 states, with the mission of establishing a “safe space for open and honest discussions surrounding race and social justice.”
“Cancelling this event based on viewpoint not only violates the First Amendment but also stifles free speech on campus to the detriment of Texas State’s students, faculty, staff, and visitors,” the ACLU wrote in its letter.
The Texas state government has exerted a growing influence over local arts and education has in recent years. In April, following the seizure of photographs by Sally Mann in a group exhibition at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth deemed “pornographic,” state authorities introduced a bill including civil penalties up to $500,000 against any museum showing “certain obscene or harmful material.” The Texas Penal Code defines “obscene” as any kind of performance or material that depicts sexual acts without literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
