Members of the historic community of Freedmen’s Town (located in Fourth Ward) recently celebrated a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Houston’s Freedmen’s Town Visitors Center, an initiative that aims to attract more tourists, attention and recognition to the area.
But beyond the community’s iconic hand-laid brick roads, many in the greater Houston area know little about a community that has been called the “child of Juneteenth” for a good reason.
“We’ve all heard the story of Juneteenth. We have the Emancipation Proclamation and then we have actual freedom coming in Texas years later. We have a federal holiday, Juneteenth. What happened to the people who were freed? Where did they go? What life did they build? What did they do next with their freedom? Freedmen’s Town is quite literally the child of Juneteenth. It’s what happened the days following that emancipation in Texas,” said Zion Escobar, former executive director of the Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy.
Here are nine things you may not have known about Houston’s Freedmen’s Town.
Houston’s Oldest Black Settlement
When formerly enslaved African Americans received their freedom, they settled into a place now known as Freedmen’s Town in 1865. They built homes and schools and laid the brick road to create the oldest Black settlement in Houston along Buffalo Bayou in Houston’s Fourth Ward.
Home to History-Makers
Countless individuals central to the history of Houston, Texas and the nation were residents of Freedmen’s Town, including Rev. John “Jack” Yates (neighborhood founding father and namesake of Jack Yates High School), his son Rutherford B.H. Yates, Rev. Ned P. Pullum (pastor of Freedmen’s Town’s Bethel Baptist Church), J. Vance Lewis (famous lawyer and another Freedmen’s Town founding father) and many others.
African American History & Research Center at the Gregory Lincoln School
“The Gregory School was the first institution for African American kids after slavery,” said Miguell Ceasar, manager of the center, formerly known as the African American Library at the Gregory School (1300 Victory St). “The Gregory Institute started in 1870, but the building we’re in today was rebuilt in 1926 and repurposed in 2009 as an archive and research center for African Americans in Houston and surrounding areas.”
Member of National Registry of Historic Places
Freedmen’s Town joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Yet, gentrification around the city created dramatic changes with less than 30 historic structures out of hundreds remaining, according to the Texas Historical Commission website. The city had plans to dig up the brick road to replace water, sewage and drainage lines, but efforts from the Coalition in 2015 helped preserve the brick road, shared Dorris Ellis, president and founder of Freedmen’s Town Preservation Coalition.
Fighting Legacy
“Freedmen’s Town is even more important today because of individuals like Lenwood Johnson and Gladys House-El who fought the city and big developers from destroying what is present today in Fourth Ward Freedmen’s Town—Allen Parkway Village, Victory Place Apartments, and the restoration of the historical homes that line Andrews, Gilette and Ruthven St.,” said area activist Perata Bradley.
Freedmen’s Town Farmers Market
This community offers all who venture its way a vibrant farmers market every Saturday from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. (1108 Victor St., Houston, TX 77019). “I’m glad to be able to contribute to the legacy with my weekly farmers market. Our goal is to help eliminate the food desert in Freedmen’s Town while providing our neighbors with fresh, healthy foods every Saturday,” said the market’s founder Sade Perkins.
Plant Tradition
Several beautiful plants in Freedmen’s Town are over 150 years old. How, you ask? When people got married, it was a neighborhood tradition to break off a piece of particular flowers and give them to the new family to plant at their new home.
Church turned Park
In 1890-91, Rev. Jack Yates and a group of worshippers left Antioch Baptist Church and founded Bethel Baptist Church. “Antioch since its earliest conception has always been and will always be a church of the people, of the community and of the city,” said current senior pastor Lou McElroy. McElroy added the church has a long history of being about family, service and community. “Antioch is only 30 years younger than this city. So, Antioch and Houston grew up together,” he added. The original church house was destroyed during a storm in 1900. Pastors James R. Burdett and W.H. Dudley oversaw the construction and expansion of the modern structure. However, in 2005, the interior was destroyed by fire, though the outer structure remained intact. It has been turned into a park.
Former Church, Modern Art
“In 2014, I built my very first labyrinth in Freedmen’s Town with a team of Houston-area high school students at the intersection of Ruthven @ Valentine,” shared locally-based, internationally renowned artist Reginal Adams. “Mt. Caramel Missionary Baptist Church once stood on the grounds of the current labyrinth project. This project was the impetus of my labyrinth career and helped me see how we could transform a vacant lot or ordinary place into a sacred space.”
