Despite adverse conditions, African Americans in Texas in the late 19th century worked hard to provide their children with an education. Students in this area attended Mt. Moriah, Boxes Creek, Beulah, Washington Chapel, Union Hope and New Mt. Zion . . . — — Map (db m212161) HM
Alonzo Marion Story (1882-1966) was born in New Orleans to parents John and Mary Story. He attended public schools and graduated from Louisiana's Leland College before doing post-graduate work in Texas and Colorado.
Story came to Texas at the . . . — — Map (db m232792) HM
According to local tradition this congregation traces its origin to informal services held in various homes in Palestine as early as 1856. Although referred to as "Antioch Under the Hill" the congregation was formally named Antioch Baptist Church in . . . — — Map (db m219435) HM
As is often the case with early African American cemeteries because of the status of Africans and African Americans in pioneer and plantation society, documentation of the Magnolia Cemetery's origin is scarce. A strong tradition of oral history . . . — — Map (db m246926) HM
Freedmen organized this African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1873. The first sanctuary, a frame building at Mulberry and Birch Streets, was shared with a group of Missionary Baptists. In the late 1870s the Methodists built their own chapel at this . . . — — Map (db m232793) HM
Established in 1912, N.A. Banks Elementary School served African-American children of Palestine's South End community. Initially the school served grades one through four and was named for the principal of Palestine's Lincoln High School. Nathaniel . . . — — Map (db m245920) HM
In 1880, Reverend Richard Henry Boyd helped organize the Pilgrim Hill Baptist Church. Two years later, the church joined Zion Hill District Baptist Association, an organization also established by Reverend Boyd and others. When the church joined the . . . — — Map (db m245816) HM
Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church organized in 1892 to serve residents of the area of Palestine known as South End. Following the Civil War, many African American moved here, working as laborers in shops and railyards. No church existed in the thriving . . . — — Map (db m245923) HM
James B. McKnight moved to Anderson County in 1848. In 1876 and 1879, he bought land at this site from J.H. Mead. Here, he operated a saddlery and farrier business. McKnight died in 1907, and in 1910, the property was sold to the Farmers and . . . — — Map (db m232802) HM
In 1893, the Rev. Richard Henry Boyd (1843-1927), a native of Mississippi, organized the South Union Baptist Church of Palestine with 31 charter members. Boyd, known as the "Cowboy Preacher," had established churches around Texas, including . . . — — Map (db m245921) HM
Born the son of a runaway slave, Smith yearned for a better life. He attended Prairie View A&M College and received a degree in Vocational Agriculture. He became a teacher, educating the children of North Carolina and Texas for 42 years. He also . . . — — Map (db m128939) HM
William Freeman was born a slave in Anderson County on August 1, 1863, to Charlotte Freeman. His mother was a slave and the maid at the Jacob Hunter Plantation near Mound Prairie. After the slaves were freed in 1865, they moved to Palestine. . . . — — Map (db m186069) HM
This congregation traces its history to 1866, when a group of Black workers at the Long Lake Cotton Plantation gathered together informally to organize a church. The following year the owners of the plantation designated a plot of land on which the . . . — — Map (db m246929) HM
Green Bay High School traces its origin to October 11, 1899, when eleven Black men of the community formed a board of trustees and organized a school for the area's Black children. The first school facility was provided by Green Bay Methodist . . . — — Map (db m246930) HM
This congregation was organized in 1857, one year before the city of Pleasanton was founded. The church was established largely through the efforts of early Methodist circuit preachers such as John Wesley DeVilbliss and Augustus C. Fairman, who . . . — — Map (db m56601) HM
Pleasanton School District began educating African American children in 1913 with the creation of the Abraham Lincoln School. By 1955, students from the Lincoln School and white students were participating in football workouts together and . . . — — Map (db m56602) HM
Ideally Situated Close to Commerce Square and the Brazos River, these two lots were near the center of town. Like many San Felipe lots, the property changed hands several times. First developed by the Calvit family, its last owner was Almyra . . . — — Map (db m206287) HM
Downtown San Felipe was the center of the colony, but its farms and ranches fed settlers and generated profits that helped the colony thrive. Farm plots, or labors, measuring 177 acres each spread outward from town - many along waterways, which . . . — — Map (db m206323) HM
San Felipe's First Townsfolk Arrived to find the "town" yet to be built. Many raised their houses, kitchens and stables with their own hands.
Austin also enlisted skilled housewrights (house builders), sawyers, teamsters and blacksmiths to . . . — — Map (db m206316) HM
Freedman and soldier Hendrick Arnold (1804-1849) was awarded land following the Texas Revolution for his participation in the Siege of Bexar and the Battle of San Jacinto. He received six surveys in what was then Bexar county, including this . . . — — Map (db m201897) HM
The Hon. Robert A. Kerr, political and civic leader, was born in Louisiana in 1833 and by 1855 had moved to Texas where he served as an election judge for San Patricio, Refugio, Calhoun and Victoria counties. After moving to Bastrop he became the . . . — — Map (db m195976) HM
According to local tradition this site was used by area slaves for gathering purposes. Silvie Story, William Hill, Martha Young, Paulie Johnson, Grant McBride, and Martha J. Hill organized this church in 1864 with the help of the Rev. Joshua Brice. . . . — — Map (db m82620) HM
Born in Tennessee, friend of David Crockett, Jesse Billingsley came to Texas in 1834. Known as a fearless Indian fighter, Billingsley was elected captain of the Mina Volunteers, Company C, of the Republic of Texas Army. At the Battle of San Jacinto, . . . — — Map (db m205479) HM
West End Park in Smithville, located 200 yards west, was one of the last Texas stops on the “Chitlin’ Circuit,” a string of performance venues in the south that served as safe and accepting spaces for African American performers. “Chitlin’ Circuit” . . . — — Map (db m187518) HM
Charles H. Lytle, U.S. Navy, was the first African American serviceman from Beeville killed in WWII. He died on January 4, 1945, when the USS Ommaney Bay sank near the Philippines after being bombed. Lytle (listed as "Major Charles Lytle” in the . . . — — Map (db m205626) HM
In the years following the Civil War and the emancipation of slaves across the country, African Americans began organizing church congregations throughout Texas. Early pastors served as circuit riders traveling to preach for several congregations . . . — — Map (db m180892) HM
This church, organized in 1888, was originally known as Jones Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church. At first, it was part of a circuit, and ministers often traveled by stagecoach or horseback as they rotated Sunday services among churches. Jones Chapel . . . — — Map (db m180905) HM
With few formal schools available, education for many African Americans in the 19th century came through church instruction. In 1876, the first African American school in Bee County began in Stephen Canada's store seven miles north of Beeville. The . . . — — Map (db m180882) HM
Constructed 1925
Named for Mose Lott and Allen Canada, the Two Men Responsible for Building the First School for Black Children in Beeville and Dedicated to the Education of All People — — Map (db m180887) HM
This historic African American burial ground is associated with two congregations organized in the 1880s. Many buried here were members of Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church or Jones Chapel United Methodist Church. Some burials took place prior to . . . — — Map (db m32235) HM
With overcrowded buildings at the African American school in southwestern Bartlett, the Bartlett trustees bought four buildings from Camp Swift in Bastrop to enlarge the facilities. A bond issue passed in 1948, and plans began for a U-shaped . . . — — Map (db m29037) HM
Born a slave in Kentucky, Jeff Hamilton was still a child when Sam Houston rescued him from purchase by a cruel master at a slave auction. Hamilton was Houston's personal servant during his term as governor, 1859-1861, and was at his bedside when he . . . — — Map (db m152118) HM
A Kentucky-born slave who was brought to Texas as a child, Jeff Hamilton became San Houston's personal servant, companion of his young sons, and a trusted member of his household. Hamilton served Houston while he was governor, 1859-1861, and until . . . — — Map (db m151036) HM
Located in an area populated by former slaves following the Civil War, this cemetery dates to the 1870s. The earliest documented grave is that of Jozie Fulbright, who died in 1877, although according to local oral tradition there may be earlier . . . — — Map (db m29308) HM
Officially opened on May 17, 1953, Cora Anderson Negro Hospital offered medical services to the growing African American population of Temple and greater Bell County. The hospital featured 16 patient rooms and a surgical suite. It was located only . . . — — Map (db m131552) HM
Corinth Missionary Baptist Church has its roots in Temple Chapel Baptist Church, which organized around 1881 as one of the area's earliest African-American congregations. African Americans needed a place of worship as they migrated to the new town . . . — — Map (db m207293) HM
Soon after the establishment of Temple as a railroad town in 1882, the Rev. L.J. Mackey organized the Saint Love All Baptist Church. The early mission of the church was to serve African American railroad workers in the new town. It was located on . . . — — Map (db m207288) HM
Temple incorporated in 1882, the same year the Missouri Kansas and Texas (MKT) Railway built a line through the area. This land was most likely owned by the rail company but few records exist about the burial ground's early history. Many stories . . . — — Map (db m207139) HM
George Connor, a missionary elder of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E) church assigned to the Temple area, organized this congregation in 1883. A frame sanctuary was built at this site two years later, with Dock Lacy and Green McGrew as church . . . — — Map (db m207296) HM
Located in far eastern Bexar County, Saint Hedwig was settled in 1855 by immigrants from Upper Silesia in Prussian Poland. Without land grants, funding or transportation provided by an empresario, establishing a community proved to be difficult for . . . — — Map (db m234990) HM
All great nations have creation myths, the Republic of Texas was no different. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Emily D. West was a free woman of mixed race. In 1835, she signed a one-year contract in New York City agreeing to work as a housekeeper . . . — — Map (db m232623) HM WM
Hendrick Arnold, a free man of mixed race, emigrated from Mississippi in 1826, settling with his parents in Austin's Colony on the Brazos River. He played a key role in the Texas Revolution as a guide and spy for the Texian Army.
By 1835, . . . — — Map (db m232678) HM WM
In 1877 Bishop R.W. Elliott of the Missionary District of West Texas envisioned a church for the nearly four million recently freed black citizens of Texas. His campaign for Sunday schools and other religious services for African Americans was cut . . . — — Map (db m207911) HM
The Waters of San Pedro Creek nourished Native Americans for thousands of years before a permanent Spanish settlement was established here in the early 1700s. Canary Islanders who arrived in 1731 and Adaesans who came from East Texas in 1772 . . . — — Map (db m214598) HM
In the aftermath of the Civil War, the resolution of issues associated with education of newly freed slaves influenced the nature of Southern education well into the 20th century. The federal government established the Bureau of Refugees, . . . — — Map (db m118163) HM
Following the Civil War and the Emancipation of American slaves, the Federal Government established the Freedman's Bureau to oversee programs aimed at educating and assisting blacks with their newly-granted citizenship. One of the most visible of . . . — — Map (db m118166) HM
St. Philip's Industrial School, founded March 1, 1898, was born of strong support from the RT. Rev. James Steptoe Johnston, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas, and the parishioners of St. Philip's Church. The church congregation, seeking . . . — — Map (db m213466) HM
This congregation was organized in 1879 by the Rev. Charles Augustis and 11 other ex-slaves who, although "Freed", felt the linkage of slavery and were moved to establish a fellowship in which they could feel wanted as equal participants. Known as . . . — — Map (db m213468) HM
Garlington Jerome (G.J.) Sutton was born on San Antonio's east side. He attended Wiley College in Marshall before earning his bachelor of science degree from Wilberforce University and then a mortuary science degree from Cincinnati College. In 1938, . . . — — Map (db m245212) HM
African American educator, actress, and community activist Myra Hemmings was born in Gonzales, Texas to Henry and Susan (Dement) Davis. The family moved to San Antonio, where Myra graduated from Riverside High School in 1909. She attended Howard . . . — — Map (db m163398) HM
National Cemetery
San Antonio National Cemetery was established in 1867 on land the city gave to the federal government. The 2-acre parcel occupied a hill about a mile east of the city plaza. By December 1868, the cemetery was enclosed by . . . — — Map (db m163670) HM
Organized in 1866, St. Paul United Methodist Church was the first established for African Americans in San Antonio. Its origins were in Paine Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church South, which many of the founding members attended prior to . . . — — Map (db m163381) HM
This two-story structure was the second building at this site to house the activities of the Beacon Light Hall Association, a fraternal organization chartered in 1909 by the Prince Hall Free Masons.
Free Masonry was organized in England as a . . . — — Map (db m245204) HM
The Cameo Theater, located at 1123 East Commerce, originally served as one of several segregated film facilities for Black people in San Antonio. The theater was built in 1940, but the Leon, the Ritz, and the Keyhole theaters preceded the Cameo. The . . . — — Map (db m245210) HM
The houses preserved as the Ellis Alley Enclave are what remain of one of the first settlements of African Americans in San Antonio after Emancipation.
Originally part of a Spanish land grant, much of the area was acquired by Dr. Anthony . . . — — Map (db m245205) HM
230 N. Center Street, commonly referred to as "The Spire" today, was built in 1884 and was the first home of St. Paul Colored Methodist Church, as it was called during the Reconstruction era after the Civil War. It is the oldest African American . . . — — Map (db m245209) HM
In 1941, the War Department announced the creation of the 99th Pursuit Squadron, the first all-African American combat unit in the Army Air Forces. This unit trained at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Fifty African-American Kelly workers (49 men and . . . — — Map (db m59349) HM
Opening at this site in 1898 as "St. Philip's Saturday evening sewing class for black girls", this college was found by the Rt. Rev. James Steptoe Johnston (1843-1924), Episcopal Bishop of western Texas, who considered education a tool toward . . . — — Map (db m82879) HM
This Multi-Layered Urban Cultral Site, which was uncovered by archaeologists during construction, is a testament to the confluence of ethnic groups who have directly shaped the unique culture of San Antonio. The sediment encapsulated under these . . . — — Map (db m214344) HM
After The Emancipation Proclamation reached Texas in 1865, a congregation of approximately one hundred formerly enslaved people and free African-Americans came together in San Antonio in 1867 under the spiritual discipline of the African . . . — — Map (db m214337) HM
Samuel McCulloch, Jr. (1810-1893), wounded at the Battle of Goliad October 9, 1835, was one of the first casualties of the Texas Revolution. This site is part of land he received in 1850 as a bounty for his service. The oldest marked grave is that . . . — — Map (db m179924) HM
24th Infantry: Service, Racial Unrest
The 24th Infantry Regiment, an all-Black unit formed after the Civil War (1861-1865), served with distinction at home and abroad in the decades that followed. After U.S. entry into World War I . . . — — Map (db m235209) HM
During San Antonio's segregated era these grounds became designated at the burial place for citizens of African descent. Many important historical figures are interred at this location, including Lafayette Walker a leader during Reconstruction . . . — — Map (db m163614) HM
Born a slave in Virginia, Peyton Roberts became a freedman in Caldwell County, Texas, at the close of the Civil War. He soon moved west to this area and the settlement that developed around his farm became known as Peyton Colony. In 1874, under the . . . — — Map (db m194059) HM
In 1865, a group of freed persons, led by Peyton Roberts, established a community they named Peyton Colony. Roberts was born into slavery in Virginia. In the 1820s, he came to Texas with his owner, Jeremiah Roberts, settling in the Bastrop and . . . — — Map (db m194063) HM
Only a log kitchen now marks the homesite of John Lomax, one of the foremost collectors of American folksongs. Here, on part of the Chisholm Trail, young Lomax heard cowboys crooning and yodeling to restless herds; negro servants taught him jig . . . — — Map (db m238741) HM
Black composer Scott Joplin, often called the "King of Ragtime Music", was born in Texarkana, Texas, five years before the townsite was platted in 1873. His family lived in this vicinity, and he attended nearby Orr School on Laurel Street. His . . . — — Map (db m96570) HM
Angleton's First Missionary Baptist Church organized in 1898, when it primarily served African American field hands and tenant farmers from the surrounding agricultural area. In 1905, under the direction of the Rev. Hamp Evans, congregants built . . . — — Map (db m173322) HM
John Sweeny, Sr. (d. 1855) moved his family from Tennessee to Brazoria County, Texas, about 1833. With the help of slaves, he cleared his land and established a large plantation. This log cabin, originally located about 9 miles southwest of this . . . — — Map (db m49709) HM
In 1947, the various African American communities of the recently organized Brazosport Independent School District were consolidated at Velasco. Children from Freeport, Jones Creek, Clute and Evergreen gathered together in one building. For . . . — — Map (db m244238) HM
John Greenville McNeel came to Texas in 1822 with his parents and brothers. Each of the men received land grants from the Mexican government as members of Stephen F. Austin's "Old Three Hundred" colony. Located near this site was the Ellerslie . . . — — Map (db m9453) HM
Born near Austinville, Virginia, as was her brother Stephen Fuller Austin (1793-1836), Emily moved with her father Moses Austin (1761-1821) and mother Maria Brown Austin (1768-1824) to Missouri in 1798. The family operated lead mines there and . . . — — Map (db m90628) HM
Charlie Brown, born a slave in the late 1820s, came to the Brazoria County area from Virginia before the Civil War. Despite being illiterate and using an X for his mark beside his name on legal transactions, Brown acquired a vast amount of land . . . — — Map (db m172982) HM
A grant from the Rosenwald Foundation of Chicago led to the establishment of a local school for African American students. The foundation represented a collaboration between Julius Rosenwald, President of Sears, Roebuck, and Company, and the . . . — — Map (db m83276) HM
Over the years, around a hundred enslaved men, women, and children lived here on the Patton plantation. Eighteen slave cabins once stood near this spot, forming a small community separate from the "big house" across the creek. The slaves . . . — — Map (db m173817) HM
In the 1840s, the Patton family slaves built this factory to produce sugar and molasses from sugarcane. Today, you can still see the outline of its foundation. Only the wealthiest planters could afford the massive investment of a sugar mill . . . — — Map (db m180369) HM
On March 30, 1885, the City of Bryan purchased seven lots in this area as a site for a public school to provide separate but equal and impartial instruction for black children of the community, as prescribed by the Texas State Constitution of 1876. . . . — — Map (db m187778) HM
During World War II, construction of Bryan Army Air Field (Bryan AAF) began in August 1942. The U.S. Army Air Forces site grew out of a war department initiative to train pilots and instructors. The site was the only instrument instructor school for . . . — — Map (db m233745) HM
Methodism among African American Texans predates the civil war with the first church being established in 1848. the earliest known African American minister in Brazos county was reverend Emmanuel Hammitt who served under Reverend W.S. South after . . . — — Map (db m239014) HM
Formal education for African Americans in Brazos County began as a result of the Public School Act of 1871. Classes were held in many small community and church-related schools, and by 1923 there were 127 African American students in the A&M . . . — — Map (db m170204) HM
Following Emancipation in 1865, formerly enslaved African Americans established independent communities known as Freedom Colonies or Freedmen's Towns. Between 1865 and 1920, more than 500 of these settlements were established in Texas. These safe . . . — — Map (db m220060) HM
St. Frederick Baptist Church has served the African American community of Marble Falls for more than 120 years. It was founded in the home of Dicey Yett Johnson in 1893 with a small group of worshipers that became the St. Frederick congregation. . . . — — Map (db m139968) HM
According to local tradition, materials salvaged from Ross Institute, a former school for Lockhart's caucasian children, were used in 1923 to build this school for African American students. The Rosenwald Foundation of Chicago, which funded many . . . — — Map (db m180765) HM
This community began in the early 1870s when a group of freedmen and their families, led by the Rev. John Henry Winn, relocated here from Webberville (approx. 20 mi. N). The original fourteen families purchased about 2,000 acres of land to establish . . . — — Map (db m149374) HM
"Biz" Mackey played and coached semi-pro baseball and professional baseball for nearly 34 years from 1916-1950. The 18 year old Luling native began playing baseball in 1916 for the Prairie League's Luling Oilers, and started his pro career two years . . . — — Map (db m204722) HM
Julius Rosenwald created the Rosenwald Fund in 1917 to endow new African American schools. Luling's Rosenwald school opened in 1925 to replace the Luling Colored School which began operation in 1874. The Rosenwald School employed four teachers for . . . — — Map (db m204666) HM
This graveyard, known as Fleming Memorial Cemetery or Fleming Colored Cemetery, has served the area's African American community for more than 100 years. John M. Fleming originally buried his deceased slaves here and eventually deeded it to . . . — — Map (db m180709) HM
On March 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed an Act calling for all able-bodied men to join the National Forces. William Barnes joined the Union Army the following February. He was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia and six months later was . . . — — Map (db m182612) HM
Early education for African American students in Port Lavaca dates from the late nineteenth century and a one-room school run by James Choice. The Rev. A.K. Black, a Baptist pastor, later led the school, which included grades 1 to 5 and was located . . . — — Map (db m182150) HM
Organized at Indianola (14 Mi. SE) in 1870, this church is one of the oldest Black fellowships in Calhoun County. The first pastor was the Rev. Joseph Whitlock, an elder in the White Baptist congregation of the city. Several members of this church . . . — — Map (db m182140) HM
When desegregation began in Calhoun County in 1955, many African American students made educational and cultural adjustments. The summer before the 1955-56 school year, long-time educator Naomi B. Chase took a group of students from the all Black . . . — — Map (db m182154) HM
During the Civil War, African American soldiers of the United States Colored Troops (U.S.C.T.) fought in the last battle of the war at Palmito Ranch on May 11, 1865. During reconstruction, Buffalo Soldiers were stationed at Fort Brown and many sites . . . — — Map (db m223357) HM
Back in 1865, the weary soldiers fighting over this rough terrain probably gave little thought to the price of cotton. But their commanders did.
Throughout the war, wagonloads of the South's "white gold” streamed into the Rio Grande Valley . . . — — Map (db m164600) HM
Enon Primitive Baptist Church was organized near Old Havana on June 7, 1845. Like many new churches of its day, this one met in members' homes, schools, and brush arbors. In 1861, Anderson Miles deeded four acres of land on this site to church . . . — — Map (db m218694) HM
The tenth of 13 children born to tenant farmers Susan and George Coleman, famed aviatrix Bessie Coleman was a native of Atlanta, Texas. The family moved to Waxahachie when Bessie was two years old. She followed her brothers to Chicago in 1915 and . . . — — Map (db m13782) HM
Dating from before the Civil War, this is Texas oldest
courthouse in active service. Plans to build the courthouse
were adopted in September 1859, with contracts finalized in
December. Enslaved workmen under J.T. Veal dug clay, and
hand-formed . . . — — Map (db m218614) HM
The Texas Legislature formed Chambers County in 1858, and Wallisville became the county's first seat of government. The 1869 Texas Constitution called for the creation of free public schools for white and black children to be partially funded by the . . . — — Map (db m239907) HM
According to oral tradition, the Methodist Episcopal Church of Old River was already located on this site when Mrs. Emily Brown, a midwife and mother of seven who had been born a slave in 1845, inherited the land from her employer. Emily deeded an . . . — — Map (db m190790) HM
Nestled in the thick woods and low-lying marshlands of East Texas lies the predominantly African American community of Double Bayou, named after twin waterways in the area. The community was originally settled by rancher John Jackson around 1847. . . . — — Map (db m213820) HM
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