Soul Alma Museum
Preserving Legacy. Honoring Voices. Inspiring Tomorrow.
Soul Alma Museum was founded by Alma Alonzo Chavarria and Eugenio Chavarria with a heartfelt mission: to preserve the personal and powerful story of Alma’s family home while honoring the broader fight for justice during segregation and the Civil Rights era. This virtual museum stands as a living tribute to truth, education, and remembrance—ensuring the voices of those who once struggled for dignity are never forgotten, and the lessons of history are not lost on future generations.
A lifelong lover of the arts and a proud West Side San Antonio native, Alma was inspired by childhood memories of community loss during the 1968 World’s Fair development. She said she’s dreamed of owning a historic home ever since watching news reports as a child of residents losing their homes to make way for the event. San Antonio, and a Congressional Certificate of Recognition, affirming its cultural and historical importance.
Alma Chavarria, seated on the porch of her family's historic home on Cactus Street, where she envisions a future filled with movement, memory, and meaning.
“I’m passionate for the arts [and] for children to have a place to come, to have a place to be safe,” she said. With daughters who studied dance in Europe, Alma now envisions transforming the historic space—formerly the Abernathy grocery store—into both a museum and a community-centered dance studio where neighborhood children can learn, thrive, and feel secure.
Soul Alma Museum has been honored with a Historic Structure Designation by the Office of Historic Preservation of the City of San Antonio, and a Congressional Certificate of Recognition, affirming its cultural and historical importance.
Though artifacts are still being collected and the project continues to grow, Alma’s faith and commitment to preserving legacy remain unwavering. “God will provide, as He always does,” she says.
Alma Chavarria walks past the former Abernathy grocery store and her family’s historic home—spaces she hopes to transform into a vibrant museum and dance studio where past strength shapes future hope.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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Soul Alma Museum was recently featured in the San Antonio Report for its role in preserving a historic family home and transforming it into a community-rooted space for healing, art, and remembrance.