Long before Houston’s gleaming towers lined the skyline, the land near Buffalo Bayou held a different kind of story, one rooted in labor, loss and the fight for freedom.
The Heritage Society is giving that story new life through two powerful Juneteenth tours that explore the Black experience in Houston from slavery to emancipation.
Beginning June 7, 2025 and continuing every Saturday and on Juneteenth, visitors can step into a deeply moving educational journey. The Heritage Society’s Juneteenth Tea Cake Tour and the From Plantation to Emancipation Tour take participants through three preserved homes, each with a unique connection to Houston’s African American history.
These tours don’t just present facts; they immerse people in lived experiences, honoring the strength of those who endured and overcame bondage.
The homes included in the tour, now recognized as UNESCO Sites of Memory, offer a layered perspective on Black history:
- The 1847 Kellum-Noble House, once part of a working plantation, reflects the harsh realities of the enslaved.
- The 1866 Fourth Ward Cottage, built during Reconstruction, shows the resilience of freed families as they rebuilt lives from the ground up.
- The 1870 Yates House, tied to one of Houston’s most influential Black leaders, embodies hope and progress after freedom.
Martha Whiting-Goddard, who wrote the script for the From Plantation to Emancipation tour, brings generations of lived history to her work. As a descendant of Reverend Jack Yates, a pioneering minister and civic leader, she’s helping ensure that her family’s and community’s legacy is not forgotten.
“This land was once a plantation,” she says of Sam Houston Park, where the 1847 Kellum-Noble House still stands. Her family donated the 1870 Yates House to the Heritage Society in 1994. That house and the 1866 Fourth Ward Cottage are now designated UNESCO Sites of Memory.
Whiting-Goddard’s script maps the journey from bondage to liberation. She threads together historical research and family oral histories to form a narrative that restores dignity to Black ancestors whose stories were marginalized or erased.
“This isn’t just Jack Yates’ story. It’s a collective story,” she says.
History, Embodied
The words come alive through the voice and performance of actress Kijana Wiseman, who plays dual roles during the tour, first as an enslaved mother facing unimaginable heartbreak, and later as Harriet Yates, freed and filled with hope.
Wiseman brings decades of global and cultural study to her role, having spent years in West Africa studying traditional theater and storytelling methods.
“Our culture remembers through movement, sound, breath,” she says. “Those traditions survived the slave trade and I tap into them to honor the people we’re representing.”
“It’s an emotional experience,” Wiseman says. “You start with the trauma, children being sold, families torn apart and end with the joy of what freedom allowed them to build.”
Wiseman’s performance draws on her deep ties to African culture. A scholar of African theater, she lived and studied in Liberia for six years, immersing herself in tribal languages and nonverbal communication forms that survived slavery’s violence.
“I’ve seen our roots,” she says. “Eye gestures, hand motions, breath, those expressions survived the Middle Passage. I bring that with me every time I perform.”
She also warns of the consequences of the erasure of Black history.
“If we let others define our history, we remain rudderless,” Wiseman said. “It’s our anchoring in the past that helps us chart our course forward.”
Each home in the Tea Cake Tour reflects a chapter in Houston’s Black history from enslavement at the Kellum-Noble House to resilience in Freedmen’s Town.
“Young people need to know this history,” Whiting-Goddard says. “Because it shows what’s possible, even when everything is stacked against you.”
The Yates House stands out as a landmark of triumph. “The first two-story private residence in Houston was built by Jack Yates and his family,” Wiseman notes. “And it’s still standing. That alone speaks volumes.”
These programs offer a counterforce in an era when Black history is being pushed out of classrooms. They serve not only to educate but also to inspire.
“We want young people to know what their ancestors survived,” Whiting-Goddard says. “And to understand what they created out of nothing.”
With Black history under threat in schools and public discourse, these stories become acts of resistance. Wiseman sees every performance as preservation. “I don’t see it as acting. It’s remembering. I carry them with me.”
For more information, visit Heritagesociety.org.
