Freedmen's Town Bike Tour

Schedule

Sat Nov 27 2021 at 10:00 am to 11:30 am

Location

1307 Taft St | Houston, TX

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Freedmens Town Bike Tour is a tour where you get to hear, see and experience the richness of Houston's first African American community.
About this Event

In 1865, after learning that they had been freed by Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation slaves serving in and around Galveston Island as well as the plantations along the Brazos River began to make their way to Houston. Upon arrival the only place that they were allowed to live was alongside Buffalo Bayou, because city leadership at the time believed that the land was unlivable based on the fact that it stayed muddy and flooded all the time.

Approximately 1000 freedmen settled in the area which we continue to affectionately refer to as Freedmens Town as they did when they occupied it. Receiving no help from the city, the freedmen built the community from the ground up erecting homes, businesses, schools as well as a hospital. They after several years of petitioning the city to help pave their streets, they decided to pave them themselves with bricks they made by hand (to fund this project freedmen families raised anywhere from $125 to $625 per family in 1912).

By 1906, Freedmen's Town housed one-third of Houston's population and was becoming and very prosperous. Fourth Ward was rapidly becoming known as Houston's version of Harlem, featuring live jazz clubs, restaurants, and theatres. In 1929, the City of Houston Planning implemented a plan to force many of the descendants of the freedmen out of the community using deed and housing restrictions on a de facto basis. This continued well into the 1930’s, when so-called development (aka gentrification) swept through the historic neighborhood with the discriminative arm of eminent domain. Many families lost their property and were displaced to make way for San Felipe Courts; the largest public housing project in Houston that excluded blacks. When race restrictions were removed, the community was renamed Allen Parkway Village. In the 1950’s, the city continued to gentrify the community with the construction of the Gulf Freeway cutting right through the community, displacing even more families to make way for the Allen Business Center, hotels and the Pierce elevated (Hwy I-45). In the 1980’s, the assault on this rich black community continued as the city sought to demolish Allen Parkway Village, but thanks be unto the Most High and the likes of Gladys House and Lenwood Johnson who fought to save the community it did not happen. In 1985, Gladys House worked to have Freedmen’s Town added to the National Register of Historic Places list, meaning federal funds could not be used to demolish it.

Not to be denied the city returned with that old discriminative arm of eminent domain, claiming even more homes and displacing countless other descendants. Surprisingly, the homes that couldn’t be taken by eminent domain mysteriously caught on fire and burned to the ground; if my granny were here, she’d say “Ain’t that something!”

As much as many have tried to erase the history of this area by referring to it as Midtown or even Fourth Ward, this rich community continues to tells its own story from the brick streets and the hallows of every historic remnant that remains; many of which you will get to see as a part of this bike tour through Freedmen’s Town.


Event Photos
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Where is it happening?

1307 Taft St, 1307 Taft Street, Houston, United States

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

Tickets

USD 7.00 to USD 19.00

Pervis Hall

Host or Publisher Pervis Hall

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