The home style commonly referred to as a row house was first popularized in West Africa and was then brought via the slave trade to the US. Beginning in 1993, seven African-American artists and activists founded Project Row Houses; in order to counter the stereotype of these homes being spaces of poverty and destitution, they populated 39 of these houses with art programs and community activities to offer rich spaces for artistic production and direct action. The site of PRH matters; five city blocks worth of homes in one of Houston’s oldest African-American neighborhoods, the Third Ward, provides neighbors, businesses, and artists with a common space as well as programming to further their artistic, entrepreneurial, and activist goals. Though it is based in Houston, PRH serves as a model for community engagement throughout the world.