Freedmens Town Bike Tour

The Freedmen’s Town Bike Tour is more than a ride—it’s a living journey through a story too often left untold. This tour honors the birth of Houston’s first African American community, formed when formerly enslaved Africans finally learned they were FREE—two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had already been signed.

In 1865, after word reached Galveston Island and the plantations along the Brazos River that President Abraham Lincoln had declared their freedom, thousands of newly freed men and women began walking toward hope. Many made their way to Houston, only to discover that the city would allow them to live in just one place—along the banks of Buffalo Bayou. City leaders believed the land was worthless, muddy, and prone to flooding. What they underestimated was the power, resilience, and vision of a free people.

Nearly 1,000 freedmen settled there and built what we now affectionately call Freedmen’s Town—a community born out of struggle but sustained by faith, hard work, and unity. By 1906, Freedmen’s Town was home to nearly one-third of Houston’s population and had grown into a thriving cultural hub filled with churches, businesses, live jazz clubs, restaurants, and theaters. What was once deemed unlivable became a place of life, legacy, and leadership.

This slow-paced, approximately seven-mile bike tour invites riders to travel through history—rolling past historic homes and churches, and riding atop the original brick streets that still echo the footsteps of those who came before us.

We will begin gathering at 3:30 PM at the Yates Museum parking lot
📍 1314 Andrews St., Houston, TX 77019
The tour will begin promptly at 4:00 PM.

Come ride with us.
Come remember.
Come reconnect with the roots that helped shape Houston.

See you then. 🚴🏾‍♂️✨

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Host or Publisher Pervis Hall