PowerPoint Presentation

Texas Freedom Colonies: research, Preservation, & innovation

Andrea Roberts, Lareatha H. Clay, & Kim McKnightTexas APA Conference Galveston, TexasOctober 9, 2015

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OverviewIntroduction of PanelistsWhat are Freedom Colonies?A Freedom Colony StoryFreedom Colonies & Planning PracticeQ & A

Freedom Colony Descendants at GW Carver School, Dixie Community, Jasper County, Texas

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Andrea R. Roberts, MGA

Founder, Texas Freedom Colonies ProjectPhD Candidate, University of Texas at Austin

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The Phenomena: Texas Freedom colonies

Founded 1866-1910Freedmens Towns, Black SettlementsSchools, Cemeteries, Churches Decline - Depression, Great MigrationVisibility, Vulnerability, AccessibilityMemory, Oral TraditionAdverse Possession

Repurposed Huff Creek School Now a Memorial Chapel Huff Creek Settlement, Jasper County, Texas

From 1% 1870 to 25% of all land owned owned by blacks in 1890.anchor sites vulnerableSquatters, adverse possession, left by slave master to children they had parented.Visibility : pop. and place, not on maps used to make decisions, orient travelersVulnerability: current protections not available based on current criteria that emphasizes integrity and hard to define significance (architectural). No discursive visibility in planning except as reactive episodes to individual threats, but no discussions on addressing these as planning units, places or phenomenaAccessibility: descendants access to resources, place access to researchers. Who are all the stakeholders and constituents?Decline Urban Sprawl, Annexation Dissipating Settlement PatternsPhysical Assets DeteriorateHrd to understand scope: types vary, how many still exist, requires massive mapping operation, heres why4

The Phenomena: Texas Freedom coloniesMajority Unincorporated Majority in EastAll Transects Database Development530+ Places Statewide

Not just places where concentrations of Black people live, current description of black places that prevails in planning. Extremely relevant but this focus reveals gaps, as population or residency doesnt reveal all stakeholders available to support communities. HERE YOU WILL SEE cogs wit largest number of FCs. Cogs of course include several counties. I have documented them by county but for regional planning purposes I have started to present them by cog. It is also interesting to note that few of these areas ae strong central local government programs, they are strong in Austin, Houston and dallas but not in more rural counties where approval takes city or county sponsorship. To be eligible for federal preservation funding 5

POST-FIELD STUDY MAP

PRE-FIELD STUDY MAPTHE STUDY SCOPE: FREEDOM COLONIES IN DETCOG

30+ settlements, started with 19 assumed settlements, diverse structures, origination stories

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The study: deep east TX freedom colonies

Everybody has a story, hard to access and undocumented history story selected as a easy way to gather subjugated knowledgeWant to see if regional approach could increase visibility. Participant observation: homecoming, reunion, foodways festival. These stories are places to identify planning practice, not just folklore or nostalgia, but actual approaches to planning and sustainability that may be lostMajority of work done by descendants that engage formal planning and others that dont. Gaps: research, planning, preservation, concepts, priorities, needs Document stories, memory Record stories, assess how they are operationalizedIdentify planning and preservation successes and challenges from descendants perspectiveCompare formal and descendant planning, preservation rubrics, priorities Lived Experience: visiting, living for extended period with black descendants who were rural poor, middle class semi rural, and upper middle class or wealthy. Some in woods, some on small semi rural homestead, one on large ranch. 7

THE LESSONS: FUTURE OF PLANNING IN FREEDOM COLONIES

Legal and illegal resource extractionFindings: about how stories are used, how they are operationalized, what the big issues areDocumentary arts, used to facilitate engagement in Kentucky, Appalachia.Rural innovation can inform more urban efforts to preserve assets like cemeteries.Th ethnographic methods helped me access people and places formal planning has difficulty accessing, part observation, letting them develop prioritiesForests, Assets = people, memory knowledgePlaceNeed to look at resident and non resident, diasporaPlace preservation: integrated socio cultural, heritage preservation and current issues common to planning in area, poverty, resource extraction, theft, land loss, lack of estate planning, etc.8

THE LESSONS: FUTURE OF PLANNING IN FREEDOM COLONIES

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Lareatha H. Clay

Shankleville Historical Society Board Member & Consultant

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Story of Shankleville

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Continuing the Story: Homecoming

Continuing the Story: Family Reunions

Continuing the Story: Scholarships

Continuing the Story: Partnerships

Continuing the Story: Public Events

Continuing the Story: Documentation

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Kim McKnight

Preservation Planner & Cultural Resource Specialist, City of Austin

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RESEARCHUnderstanding Social HistoryMaintaining Inventory Of ResourcesResearch PartnershipsArcheologyPLANNINGSystem For Managing Historic ResourcesCoordination With Grounds Maintenance & Facility ServicesMaintaining Architectural Archives CITY Cultural Management Program

What is historic, and worth saving, varies with the beholder, but some definition is urgent. Simply put, historic means old and worth the trouble. It applies to a buildings and sites that are part of a communitys tangible past. And to a degree that may surprise cynics, old buildings can offer opportunities for a communitys future. Restoration attaches people to their community, provides a sense of place, connects them to their neighbors, and encourages public participation.Old buildings have intrinsic value. Buildings of a certain era, namely pre-World War II, tend to be built with higher-quality materials such as rare hardwoods (especially heart pine) and wood from old-growth forests that no longer exist.Prewar buildings were also built by different standards. A century-old building might be a better long-term bet than its brand-new counterpart.Old buildings are reminders of a citys culture and complexity. By seeing historic buildings -- whether related to something famous or recognizably dramatic -- tourists and longtime residents are able to witness the aesthetic and cultural history of an area. Just as banks prefer to build stately, old-fashioned facades, even when located in commercial malls, a city needs old buildings to maintain a sense of permanency and heritage. Preservation promotes respect for those that came before us, and those that will come after. Preservation encourages citizen activity to become active in their own government and fulfill their right and responsibility to create their communitys future.Preserving a building is the ultimate in recycling. It keeps construction materials out of the landfill. 20% of the solid waste stream is construction waste.Construction waste is highly toxic.Preservation saves the embodied energy of the materials used to construct the building. Much energy was required to excavate, manufacture, transport, and assemble the bricks, glass, steel, wood, and so on used in that building.Many traditional building practices in historic buildings are green: covered porches reduce heat gain during the summer, and thick walls, an attic, and cellar help keep interior temperatures.Restoration brings more jobs and dollars to the local economy. Restoration of a building is more labor intensive than is new construction, and also demands more skilled labor, thus resulting in higher wages. More materials and services are purchased locally, further increasing the economic impact.

Regret goes only one way.The preservation of historic buildings is a one-way street. There is no chance to renovate or to save a historic site once its gone. And we can never be certain what will be valued in the future. This reality brings to light the importance of locating and saving buildings of historic significance -- because once a piece of history is destroyed, it is lost forever.19

STEWARDSHIPGrant opportunitiesPartnershipsDesignations InterpretationOutreach & PromotionEducationPermittingTrainingInter- & Intra-departmental Coordination

City Cultural Management Program

What is historic, and worth saving, varies with the beholder, but some definition is urgent. Simply put, historic means old and worth the trouble. It applies to a buildings and sites that are part of a communitys tangible past. And to a degree that may surprise cynics, old buildings can offer opportunities for a communitys future. Restoration attaches people to their community, provides a sense of place, connects them to their neighbors, and encourages public participation.Old buildings have intrinsic value. Buildings of a certain era, namely pre-World War II, tend to be built with higher-quality materials such as rare hardwoods (especially heart pine) and wood from old-growth forests that no longer exist.Prewar buildings were also built by different standards. A century-old building might be a better long-term bet than its brand-new counterpart.Old buildings are reminders of a citys culture and complexity. By seeing historic buildings -- whether related to something famous or recognizably dramatic -- tourists and longtime residents are able to witness the aesthetic and cultural history of an area. Just as banks prefer to build stately, old-fashioned facades, even when located in commercial malls, a city needs old buildings to maintain a sense of permanency and heritage. Preservation promotes respect for those that came before us, and those that will come after. Preservation encourages citizen activity to become active in their own government and fulfill their right and responsibility to create their communitys future.Preserving a building is the ultimate in recycling. It keeps construction materials out of the landfill. 20% of the solid waste stream is construction waste.Construction waste is highly toxic.Preservation saves the embodied energy of the materials used to construct the building. Much energy was required to excavate, manufacture, transport, and assemble the bricks, glass, steel, wood, and so on used in that building.Many traditional building practices in historic buildings are green: covered porches reduce heat gain during the summer, and thick walls, an attic, and cellar help keep interior temperatures.Restoration brings more jobs and dollars to the local economy. Restoration of a building is more labor intensive than is new construction, and also demands more skilled labor, thus resulting in higher wages. More materials and services are purchased locally, further increasing the economic impact.

Regret goes only one way.The preservation of historic buildings is a one-way street. There is no chance to renovate or to save a historic site once its gone. And we can never be certain what will be valued in the future. This reality brings to light the importance of locating and saving buildings of historic significance -- because once a piece of history is destroyed, it is lost forever.20

Eastwoods Park (Wheelers Grove), late 19th century

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Eastwoods Park, 1932

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Eastwoods Park, 1932

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Eastwoods Park, 1932

Eastwoods Park, 1932

Haskell House (1875) Peter & Bettie Tucker, builders, Acquired (1977)

26Freeman community: Bettie and Peter Tucker; Hezekiah Tucker came to Texas as a buffalo soldier, a member of one of four Af. Amer regiments commissioned to protect Texas and fight in Spanish-American War.

Henry G. Madison Log Cabin, Rosewood Park (1973)

Henry Green Madison(1843 - May 31, 1912) was a civic leader inAustin, Texas, and the city's first the firstAfrican-Americancity councilman. Madison came to Austin as a freedman in the early 1860s, and by 1863 had opened a shoemaking business[1] and built a small log cabin at what is now 807 E. 11th Street.[2] An active Unionist, in 1867 Madison was president of the Austin chapter of the Union League. He was an active participant in Reconstruction, and served as an assistant at the Texas Constitutional Convention of 186869. In 1870 he served as a captain of an all-black unit in the Sixth Regiment of the Texas State Guard. Reconstructionist Governor Edmund J. Davis appointed Madison as an Austin city alderman in 1871. That same year he volunteered to serve as a registrar of voters in Travis County, a dangerous job for a black man in Reconstruction-era Texas, due to the continued opposition of black civil rights in the former Confederate State.[1] Madison held his Alderman office until November 28, 1872.

Madison went on to serve as a policeman in the city of Austin, and later worked as a porter in the Texas House of Representatives. In 1886, Madison built a frame house which completely enclosed the original cabin on 11th Street. The cabin remained hidden until 1968, when a deconstruction crew discovered it while tearing down the outer house. The cabin was donated to the city of Austin, and was disassembled and later re-assembled at its current location in Rosewood Neighborhood Park.[3] Madison died in Austin on May 31, 1912, and is buried in Austin's historic Oakwood Cemetery.27

Kincheonville & Longview Park

In 1865, Thomas Kincheon formed the community of Kincheonville. The residents were mostly black, but there were some Hispanics and Anglos living there as well. This farming community was located between what is now Paisano Trail, Davis Lane, Brodie Lane, and Longview Road. Kincheons son, Thomas Kincheon II, successfully promoted a couple subdivisions of the community in the 1950s, before finally moving his family into East Austin in the 1960s. Austin, TX Tornado, May 1922 Posted July 20th, 2008 by Linda Horton DEATH TOLL IN TORNADO AT AUSTIN IS 12. By Associated Press. AUSTIN, May 5.----The death toll from yesterday's tornado which swept through Oak Hill and the territory to the south of here, was increased to twelve today with the finding of the body of Andrew McGrory of Port Arthur in the brush west of the campus of St. Edwards College and the body of an 8 year old negro girl named Harper near St. Elmo four miles south of Austin. McGrory was a student of St. Edwards College and it is believed the wind lifted him from the ground in the college yard and hurled him to the bushes, 300 yards distant. Ben Roberts, negro, who died early this morning, was the tenth victim. He was injured at Pennfield, just south of Austin. With the exception of McGrory, Roberts, and an infant of Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Padgett, all the deaths occurred at Oak Hill and Manchaca, eight miles south. At the former place the Bargsley home was the hardest hit, six persons there meeting death when the tornado struck the house. These were: Mrs. John Bargsley, Sr., Miss Ada Bargsley, Mrs. J. S. Thompson, Sr., Mrs. J. S. Thompson, Jr., John S. Thompson, Jr., and Marla Kincheon, negro servant. Two negroes, S. S. Seales and Laura Russell, were killed at Mancheca. The Padgetts lived on Post Road, south of Austin. About fifty persons are known to have been injured in various localities touched by the twister, but in most cases the injuries are of a minor character. 28

Planning & Engagement: Oakwood (1839), Plummers (c. 1898), & Evergreen (1926) cemeteries

Oakwood CemeteryEdwin Waller City Plat of 183940 acres23,000 burialsUpland South Folk Cemetery

City Cemetery (Oakwood Cemetery), 1839French Legation, 1840Texas State Cemetery, 1851

Earliest recorded burial in 1841Oldest grave marker, 18421876, Temple Beth Israel two sections

Oakwood Cemetery The oldest burial at Oakwood Cemetery is reputedly that of one of the enslaved persons owned by Hamilton White. While traveling from Bastrop back to Austin in the fall of 1839, he was attacked and killed near Montopolis. His body was interred to the south of Oakwood's west entrance.

FONTAINE, JACOB (18081898). Jacob (Jake) Fontaine, Baptist preacher, political and civic leader, and newspaper publisher in Austin, was born into slavery in Arkansas in 1808. His several owners included the Tuttle and Isaacs families, but his best known and most influential master was Rev. Edward Fontaine, a great-grandson of Patrick Henry, who moved to Austin, Texas, in 1839 as the personal secretary of Texas president Mirabeau B. Lamar. In 1867 Fontaine helped to found the St. John Regular Missionary Baptist Association, originally known as the Travis County Association, and was elected its first moderator. He also founded five churches in addition to the First (Colored) Baptist Church: Mount Zion (Williamson Creek), 1873; Good Hope (Round Rock), 1874; Sweet Home (Clarksville), 1877; New Hope (Wheatsville), 1887; and St. Stephen's (Waters Park), 1887. He and his minister son Israel Jacob Fontaine II later founded a local chapter of the Colored Brothers of the Eastern Star.

Although most of the graves there remain unmarked, a large African American section was designated from the early days of the cemetery on the southern end of the northwest quadrant. The practice of segregation continued in the Oakwood Annex after 1916, where there was a separate section designated for Hispanics. I

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Planning & Engagement: lessons learnedLearn How to Read the LandscapeWhere Early Freedom Colonies Are/Were LocatedChurch & Cemetery Indicate a PlaceEngage ChurchesCounty Historical CommissionsBe Prepared Capture Oral HistoriesEnsure They Become Part of the Record

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Contacts Andrea Roberts roberta318@mail.comLareatha H. Clay lhclay@prm-od.comKim McKnight texaskmck@gmail.com

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