Freedmen's Town - A brief history provided by Gladys Marie House of the

Freedmen's Town Association, Inc. Updated by Emily Nghiem with input from
Darrell Patterson and Lenwood Johnson.

To view news article and timeline, click on image to the left. To download the text of
this Freedmen's Town brief, click here: FTAbrief.doc or FTAbrief.txt.

Immediately west of downtown Houston lies the city's oldest Black community. This
community is commonly known as Fourth Ward, but its original name is Freedmen's
Town, given by freed slaves who settled it.

Initially located where Allen Parkway Village now stands, Freedmen's Town was
established immediately after the Civil War when many farmers gave or sold their
truck farms and property to freed slaves. Freedmen's Town prospered during the turn
of the century. Economic, community, and social development were at a peak until
local government became threatened by the Black area's prosperity. Black businesses,
homes, and churches soon became displaced in order to make way for "progress."
Government buildings, such as City Hall, the Albert Thomas Convention Center, and
the Music Hall and Coliseum have replaced that portion of Freedmen's Town whose
boundaries extended east to Travis Street; west to Taft Street; north to Allen Parkway,
and south to Sutton Street.

Wards were established in Houston in 1841. Although the "ward" system was
officially discontinued in 1906, Houstonians continued to identify the city's various
communities by those political subdivisions. By 1920, Freedmen's Town had grown to
represent one-third of Houston's population.

In the 1920's , Freedmen's Town was Houston's "Harlem." The area was filled with
many restaurants, jazz spots, and night clubs. These establishments were frequently
visited by Houston's white citizens as well. West Dallas was the community's main
commercial strip.

In 1929, a survey conducted by the National Urban League revealed that city services
were not being extended to Houston's Black citizens. In addition, a pattern of
segregation was preventing Freedmen's Town residents from moving to better jobs. In
that same year the official report of the City Planning Commission recommended
strict segregational zoning of Blacks into the Second, Fourth, and Fifth Wards. While
this proposal was not accepted, it was implemented on a de facto basis through deed
and housing restrictions. With the coming of integration, many Freedmen's Town
residents began to move toward Texas Southern University, in the Third Ward, and
other areas of the city, such as Studewood, South Park, Riverside Terrace, Kashmere
Gardens, and Acres Homes.

Freedmen's Town residents began to move toward Texas Southern University, in the
Third Ward, and other areas of the city, such as Studewood, South Park, Riverside
Terrace, Kashmere Gardens, and Acres Homes.

There was much construction in the late 1930's against the wishes of Blacks here,
which continued to severe this historical neighborhood, divided nearly at midpoint by
the addition of the Gulf Freeway. In the early 1940's, more Black land and business
owners were displaced to make way for San Felipe Courts (now APV), the largest
public housing project in Houston. To appease possible civil unrest, Blacks were
assured by political movers and shakers that they would be allowed to partake in the
new housing once construction was complete. However, in order to justify funding
during World War II, the project was designated as part of the war effort to serve
military families. A brick wall was erected instead to separate the Courts from the
remaining Freedmen's Town. Only whites were allowed to be housed in the Courts.

It was not until 1968 that the first Blacks were permitted to reside there. Today, the
Courts are Allen Parkway Village (APV). The Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) allotted $10 million to rehabilitate APV in 1979, the local
government chose to try to sell the project to private interests, and used $1.5 million
of this money elsewhere. A HUD investigation in 1987 disclosed gross
mismanagement of the said monies. This history of misspent public funding continued
with the expenditure of $451,000 to rehabilitate units at APV that were kept boarded
up while the waiting list of homeless families rose from 6,000 to over 8,000; the
decision to demolish instead of to restore well-built housing units at an additional cost
of at least $50 million to taxpayers; and, even more recently, the decision under
former Mayor Bob Lanier's administration to allow approximately $4 million in city
funds, originally granted to build 350 units of low-income housing, to be used toward
only 150 units and to let private developers keep the rest.

While outside nonprofit groups, such as the Houston Renaissance and the Housing
Authority of the City of Houston, have obtained public funds not equally offered to
locally-based nonprofits, such as the Fourth Ward Health and Educational Center for
Youth, the Freedmen's Town Association, and the Fourth Ward Community Coalition,
the battle to preserve and to restore APV has been led by the Resident Council of
Allen Parkway Village (RCAPV), founders of the original Allen Parkway Community
Campus plan used as a model throughout the nation. Unfortunately the Housing
Authority of the City of Houston has pursued other plans for the site, including the
forcible eviction of residents, demolition of most of the buildings they voted to
preserve, and now the contested disposal of historical burial remains recently
uncovered at APV.

The struggle for justice by community residents and leadership is only one facet of
Freedmen's Town rich and colorful past, which has left many significant historical
landmarks and features. Handlaid brick streets, constructed by Rev. Jeremiah and his
congregation over half a century ago, still run through the area. Houston's first
cemetery, Founder's Cemetery at Valentine and West Dallas, contains the graves of
military men who fought in the Civil War, as well as the historical remains of John
and Augustus Allen, the founders of Houston. Immediately adjacent to Founder's
Cemetery stands the "Hanging Tree" where several Blacks were hanged. During
World War I, Camp Logan, located just west of Freedmen's Town, was the site of the
worst race war in the city's history -- the "Camp Logan War" in August of 1917.

Behind Founder's Cemetery lies Congregation Beth Israel, the oldest Jewish cemetery
in Houston, which is beautifully maintained to this day. Among other historical
churches in the area, Antioch Missionary Baptist Church built in 1866 continues to be
a major focal point of Freedmen's Town, though it has been relocated from its original
site on "Baptist Hill" where the Music Hall and Coliseum now stand. Rev. John Jack
Yates, the first Black pastor of Antioch, was a dynamic and influential leader known
for his deep commitment to the education of Black youngsters. He often used his
personal finances to send Freedmen's Town children to school. Today, Jack Yates
High School in the Third Ward stands in his honor.

Of the houses that Rev. Yates built, only the one he built for his brother remains at
1314 Andrews. Yates' historical homestead at 1318 Andrews, believed to be the oldest
two-story home built by an African American owner, was moved to Sam Houston
Park (ironically, a park commemorating a slave-owner), while the house at 1204
Wilson was demolished by the City of Houston in 1986. Further plans promoted under
the name of "Founders Park" so threatened the historical preservation of Freedmen's
Town that outraged residents and leadership organized opposition through the
Freedmen's Town Neighborhood Association to defeat the plans of outside private
interests. However, the constant encroachment on Freedmen's Town and Fourth Ward
continues to date with the plans of the Houston Renaissance and private developers
including Perry Homes -- the same company responsible for demolishing a complex
on Castle Court that once housed 150 low-income residences in order to build luxury
accommodations for 3.
Although Freedmen's Town is a nationally registered historical site, and the largest
intact freed slave settlement left in the entire nation, its official designation protects
only 40 of the 80 blocks or more of the remaining Freedmen's Town area. In order to
protect the greater Freedmen's Town community, grassroots efforts are now being
made through the Fourth Ward Health Educational Center for Youth, Inc., to promote
the Youth Master Plan for Fourth Ward, in partnership with other community
organizations. Two of these include the Resident Council of Allen Parkway Village,
which works to educate the public on issues of federal housing and historical
preservation laws, and the Freedmen's Town Association, founded for the purpose of
assuring the active and effective participation of current residents in planning the
preservation, restoration, and development of the area, especially in the area of
business and private home ownership.

The leaders and volunteers of each organization share common objectives of securing
safe and affordable housing, greater economic independence and human development,
and access to health and community services as well as to educational, job, and
leadership training, among their other goals. To honor and to further cumulative
efforts to save Freedmen's Town, help is needed to start a "Habitat for History"
chapter, integrating student internships, fellowships, and educational grants with work
opportunities in the areas of housing reconstruction, legal and historical research, and
campus and museum development.

Please join us in preserving and restoring Freedmen's Town as a national African

American reparations project. For more information, please see also:

 Fourth Ward Youth Resolution:

http://www.houstonprogressive.org/4dyouthresolution.html
 APV Resolution: http://www.houstonprogressiveorg/apvresolution.html
 APV Community Campus Concepts:
http://www.houstonprogressive.org/campus94.html
 Twelve Ways to Invest in the Youth Master Plan:
http://www.houstonprogressive.org/4d-chart.html
 Fourth Ward Petitions and Press Releases: http://www.houstonprogressive.org/4d-
ppp.html

This history re-typed and edited by Emily Nghiem, who welcomes your input,
corrections, and additions.

Please contact her at emailus@ev1.net or leave a message at 713-867-5998 or at either

workplace:

To help with educational development:

Jean White or Emily Nghiem Darrell J. Patterson, Founding Director
Educere 4th Ward Health & Educational Ctr. for Youth
9039 Katy Freeway #302 1415 Taft Street
Houston, Texas 77024 Houston, Texas 77019
Tel: 713-465-0522 Tel/Fax: 713-521-1315
Fax: 713-465-8851 E-mail: fourthwardyouth@ev1.net

To assist with legal research and defense, please contact:

Gladys Marie House, President Lenwood Johnson, President

Freedmen's Town Association Resident Council for Allen Parkway Village

1318 Robin Street 2901 Fulton, #230

Houston, Texas 77019 Houston, Texas 77009

Tel: 713-739-9414 Tel: 713-228-2109

Fax: 713-739-9413 Fax: 713-229-8580

E-mail: free1605@aol.com E-mail: apv1@ev1.net

History of the Gregory School and Freedman's Town

Built in 1926, The Gregory School today stands as a monument honoring the memories and sacrifices of
a past generation of African-Americans that lived and thrived during a period in history where
segregation, civil rights oppression and educational disadvantages were the norm.

Watch Video - 4:28

The two-story, 20,000-square-foot former elementary school named after Edgar M. Gregory, a Union

officer and Assistant Commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau for the Texas
area, has been vacant since 1980 and is located in Freedman’s Town Historical District, in Houston’s
Fourth Ward. This area is considered to be the city’s oldest established African-American community.
The first 1,000 freed slaves settled and developed this small community after the Civil War to exist
independent of the Anglo community that did not accept them.

They selected the area because land was cheap, and because Anglos did not want to live along the
swampy southern edge of Buffalo Bayou which was succeptible to flooding.

Freedman’s Town grew rapidly, many African-Americans of the time became self-sustaining
businessmen, their establishments flourished, and they provided whatever the community needed to
thrive.

These Houstonians created their own utilities and services and even paved the streets with bricks they
hand-made.

The heart of the town was the community’s church where the Freedmen’s Bureau and the American
Mission Association opened schools within the church to provide adults with literacy and basic math
skills.

By 1870 the Texas Legislature created public schools for African-Americans and the Gregory Institute
was opened.

By 1872 most students and teachers left the closed Freedmen’s Bureau schools
to attend the Gregory Institute.

By 1876 The Gregory Institute became a part of the Houston Independent School District and the
Gregory School became the first public education institution for African-American children.

The State Historical Commission designated the Gregory School building as a State Archaeological
Landmark. This designation is the highest historical landmark classification that can be placed on any
building.

History of the Gregory School and

Freedman's Town
Built in 1926, The Gregory School today stands as a monument honoring the memories and
sacrifices of a past generation of African-Americans that lived and thrived during a period in
history where segregation, civil rights oppression and educational disadvantages were the norm.

Watch Video - 4:28

The two-story, 20,000-square-foot former elementary school named after Edgar M. Gregory, a

Union officer and Assistant Commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau for

the Texas area, has been vacant since 1980 and is located in Freedman’s Town Historical
District, in Houston’s Fourth Ward. This area is considered to be the city’s oldest established
African-American community.

The first 1,000 freed slaves settled and developed this small community after the Civil War to
exist independent of the Anglo community that did not accept them.

They selected the area because land was cheap, and because Anglos did not want to live along
the swampy southern edge of Buffalo Bayou which was succeptible to flooding.

Freedman’s Town grew rapidly, many African-Americans of the time became self-sustaining
businessmen, their establishments flourished, and they provided whatever the community needed
to thrive.

These Houstonians created their own utilities and services and even paved the streets with bricks
they hand-made.

The heart of the town was the community’s church where the Freedmen’s Bureau and the
American Mission Association opened schools within the church to provide adults with literacy
and basic math skills.

By 1870 the Texas Legislature created public schools for African-Americans and the Gregory
Institute was opened.

By 1872 most students and teachers left the closed Freedmen’s Bureau
schools to attend the Gregory Institute.

By 1876 The Gregory Institute became a part of the Houston Independent School District and the
Gregory School became the first public education institution for African-American children.
The State Historical Commission designated the Gregory School building as a State
Archaeological Landmark. This designation is the highest historical landmark classification that
can be placed on any building.