The whole............white stiff.......................white cultures tend to be more closed.............while latino and blacks more open..........and public...............it reflects in art...........murals...........for public display............u will see whites reading books at a restuarant.........like my cracker behind..........etc..............we tend to stay indoors more...........more solitary time...........etc.......more closed, more private.............

Wilson and Woodruff, like a number of other noted African American artists of their day, traveled to Mexico about 50 years ago to learn from the masters of murals. Their journeys represent another example of a cultural exchange that gets lost in today's age of ethnic tension.

"It's through their works you can see the many similarities in cultures between blacks and browns," said Jamesina Henderson, the executive director of the California African American Museum. "Even today, we have more that brings us together than pulls us apart."

The museum sought to demonstrate some of the similarities Saturday when it opened its first bilingual exhibit featuring the works of eight African American artists and their Mexican mentors--the great muralists Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros.

Henderson said the exhibit, which is on a stop during a nationwide tour, has particular meaning at the museum's Exposition Park home in the middle of a largely Latino and African American community. For years, the museum has emphasized the contribution of blacks to the arts.

"Now is the time, this is the time to do more," Henderson said.

"In the Spirit of Resistance: African-American Modernists and the Mexican Muralist School" is on view through Aug. 17. It was organized by The American Federation of Arts and funded by the Philip Morris Co.