“This belief was often couched in religious terms; many white Christians argued that only by abandoning their spiritual traditions and accepting Christian dogma could the Indians be ‘saved’ from the fires of hell. The forced assimilation of Native Americans was thus justified as being better for the Indians themselves.”
“The Mission of the American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions is to work for the preservation and protection of the culture and traditions of the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation and other indigenous people of the Spanish Colonial Missions in South Texas and Northern Mexico through: education, research, community outreach, economic development projects and legislative initiatives at the federal, state, and local levels.”
“The earliest inhabitants of this area were Native American Indians; the Tonkawa and Comanche tribes the most prevalent when Anglo-American settlement began.”
“The Austin Powwow is a social gathering where many different Native American communities come together for the largest one day powwow in the country. For over 25 years, this unique Austin event had featured literally hundreds of Native American dancers, singers, musicians, artists, and craftsmen. Family, friends, food, art, and culture are enjoyed throughout the day. The songs and dances are disciplined art forms that are not only based on ancient traditions but are also living cultural expressions of creativity and innovation…We never forget our commitment and obligation to Pass Down The Legacy to our children and youth.”
Great Promise for American Indians: “The mission of Great Promise for American Indians is to preserve the traditions, heritage and culture of American Indians, and to support the health and education needs of their youth and families. We do this to honor the past, and to ensure the future.”
“The organization was founded in 1991, after GPAI members returned from the historic White House Conference on American Indians. Since that time, GPAI has worked to connect the American Indian community with the public, educational institutions, museums, government agencies and corporations for a more accurate understanding of both historical and modern American Indian customs, traditions, and lifestyles.”
Indigenous Cultures Institute: “Preserving the cultures of Native Americans indigenous to Texas and northern Mexico and maintaining our covenant with sacred sites.”
“More than 200 Native American groups were populating what is now central and southern Texas and northeastern Mexico when the Spanish invaders first arrived. Some historians erroneously report that these bands “disappeared”. The Indigenous Cultures Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the research and preservation of the culture, arts, traditions, ceremonies, and languages of this population, collectively known as Coahuiltecans.”
“The Institute presents educational programs on the identity and ancestral legacy of these Native Americans who have millions of descendants― currently labeled Mexican American, Latino, or Hispanic―still living in Texas and the U.S. Many of these descendants continue to practice their indigenous ceremonies, pray in their Native languages, and hold true to the values of their ancestors.”
“The Coahuiltecan language is considered extinct because less than 1,000 people now speak this language. The Institute is dedicated to the study and revival of the Coahuiltecan language, through ceremonial songs and lessons that provide easy access to learning.” Visit this page for more information about Coahuiltecan Traditional Ceremonial Songs.
“The Tonkawa Indians were actually a group of independent bands, the Tonkawas proper, the Mayeyes, and a number of smaller groups that may have included the Cava, Cantona, Emet, Sana, Toho, and Tohaha Indians. The remnants of these tribes united in the early eighteenth century in the region of Central Texas.”
“Traditionally, the Tonkawas have been regarded as an old Texas tribe, but new evidence suggests that the Tonkawas migrated from the high plains as late as the seventeenth century.”
“The Tonkawas were initially enemies with the Apaches, probably because the latter pushed them from the buffalo plains. When the Comanches and Wichitas migrated southward and began to pressure the Apaches, the Tonkawas allied themselves with the new arrivals.”
“The earliest residents of the Round Rock area were the two hundred tribes that were the ancestors of the Tonkawa Indians…They often made their temporary villages along the banks of rivers and streams, including Brushy Creek and the San Gabriel River.”
“Their wanderings followed the path of the buffalo, their main source of food, all over central Texas.”
“The tribe’s decline began in the eighteenth century when many of them contracted smallpox while living on a Spanish mission in 1779. The epidemic killed as much as half the tribe…After this devastating lost and frequent warfare with the Spanish and the newly arrived Comanches and Witchitas, the number of Tonkawas dwindled rapidly. While confederating distinct groups into a single tribe in the late eighteenth century may have slowed their disappearance, in 1847 the official estimate of the Tonkawa population was only fifty warriors.”
“If Texas would give the Indians a defined territory, a reserve, the government could restrict them to it and the military could take control of them if they were found elsewhere.”
“In 1854, in response to a petition from the citizens of Williamson and three other countries, the governor of Texas, E. M. Pease ordered Texans to promptly “turn out and punish” the Tonkawas “without waiting for a call from the executive.” In February of that year, the Texas legislature created three Indian reserves and the Department of Indian Affairs began to resettle Native Americans on them.”
“On October 23, 1862, a small army of Shawnees, Delawares, Kickapoos, Caddos, Comanches, and Kiowas attacked the Tonkawa settlement near the Whasita River, killing 137 women, men, and children, more than half the tribe. The massacre was, in part, politically motivated…The few remaining Tonkawas live on a small reservation in Oklahoma.”
“The Tonkawa lived in central Texas near modern Austin. Their historical territory was along the Balcones Escarpment between Austin and San Antonio.”
“The Tonkawa also seem to have been hosts for many other tribes. At the springs in San Marcos and New Braunfels a dozen or more tribes from all over Texas were found by Spanish travelers. These were trade camps where the Caddo, Jumano and Coahuiltecan tribes would come to camp with the Tonkawa for several months in the summer.”
“The Tonkawa belong to the Tonkawan linguistic family, that was once composed of a number of small sub-tribes that lived in a region that extended west from south central Texas and western Oklahoma to eastern New Mexico.”
“From about 1800, the Tonkawa were allied with the Lipan Apache and were friendly to the Texans and other southern divisions. By 1837, they had for the most part drifted toward the southwestern frontier of Texas and were among the tribes identified in Mexican territory.”
“The Tonkawa were removed from Fort Griffin, Texas in October 1884…This was the Tonkawa Trail of Tears.”
“The history of the Tonkawa prior to the eighteenth century is fragmental and speculative. Clearly they had lived in what is presently the geographical confines of Texas during the fifteenth century, and some evidence suggest that they roamed the Edwards Plateau before they were eventually pushed by the Comanches and Lipan Apaches into central and south central Texas, an area between the middle Brazos and the Colorado Rivers” (4).
“The Lipan Apache seemed to have great influence over the Tonkawa, so much so that it was once an ancient custom for the Lipan Apache to choose every other chief of the Tonkawa. The Tonkawa greatly opposed this tradition and often ignored it, which caused the two to war upon each other” (11).
“From that time [1807] until 1820, the Tonkawa were seen periodically ranging along the middle and lower sections of the Guadalupe, Colorado, and Brazos Rivers” (20).
“When Stephen F. Austin arrived in Texas in 1822, he found the Tonkawa along the west bank of the Brazos River, near present-day Washington County” (21).
“The Lipan became a type of guardian for the Tonkawa, which would prove beneficial in the years when trouble arose between the Texans and various groups of Indians, for the Lipan were the only semi-permanent allies the Tonkawa ever had” (23).
“In 1845, the Tonkawa numbered approximately 700 and still roamed throughout central and southcentral Texas between the Neches and Guadalupe Rivers and often near San Antonio. They were surrounded by the tribes who had traditionally been their neighbors; the Comanche, Caddo, Lipan, Wichita, Waco, Anadarko, Ioni, and Tawakoni” (48).
“During this time, there was a sharp decline of Tonkawa, from an estimated 650 including 130 warriors, in 1849, to 240 with only 60 warriors in 1852” (60).
“When the Texas Indians moved to the reservations in 1885, they began the task of making new homes for themselves on new lands. The Brazos Reserve consisted of the Tonkawa plus various remnants of the eastern and central Texas tribes including the Anadarko, Ioni, Waco, and Tawaconi” (70).
“The government was unable to settle successfully the Texas Indians upon an agrarian reservation mostly because of the antagonism of white Texans who insisted upon carrying out their hatred toward the Indians” (90).
“In August, 1859, when the Tonkawa were removed to Indian Territory, there were one hundred and nine males and one hundred and thirty-six females totally two hundred and forty-five Tonkawa who settled at the Wichita Agency” (97).
“By the 1600s, the Lipan Apache lived on the grassy plains of North Texas. At that time, the tribe split into two large groups (bands)—the Forest Lipan and the Plains Lipan. The Forest Lipan settled in northeastern Texas from the Red River to the upper Brazos River. The Plains Lipan chose land along the upper Colorado and Concho Rivers” (from Our Sacred History: Who We Are)
“By 1700, the Comanche Indians had entered Texas. They were a fierce enemy in the century and a half to follow with constant war with the Lipan…The Comanche drove other bands deep into central and southern Texas.”
“In 1836, Texans fought to cut their ties to Mexico; the Lipan supported the Texans. Their friendship continued after Texas won its independence from Mexico.”
“Current registration of the tribe is 3,400 and about 8,000 unregistered family members are included.”
“The century-long war with the Comanches in the 1700s caused the Lipan divisions to splinter into a number of different bands. The Lipan tribe traditionally continued from 10 to 14 bands, each of which was composed of a number of rancherias, or groups of extended families” (from The Lipan Apache Bands).
“As the Apaches fled before the Comanche onslaught, many groups moved westward into New Mexico and Arizona. Others, mainly the Lipans and Mescaleros, fled southward into Central Texas as well as into northern Mexico. There, they collided with the Spanish, who were advancing northward.”
“As Anglo-Americans began moving into Central Texas, the Apaches cultivated a friendship with them, each side hoping that the other would defend them against the hostile tribes in the area. The Lipans often raided into Mexico and sold their stolen horses and goods to the Anglos.”
“This project maps sites of conflict between Native Americans and Euro-Americans in Texas from the creation of the First Mexican Republic to the outbreak of the U.S.-Mexico War (1821-1846).”
“No attempt has been made to compile information on acts of violence between the many peoples of Texas during this period, much less digitally map them. Such data is particularly valuable in allowing researchers to learn more about the mobility patterns of the nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes of Texas, and how these patterns changed over time. It will also give us a more complete picture of the wide-ranging nature of inter-ethnic conflict in Texas.”
“The SCNT came to what was known as new Spain. Spain gave the Nation a land grant that extended from Nacogdoches in the east to the Rio Grande in the west north to the Canadian border east to the east boundary of new Spain then south to the red river back to Nacogdoches.”
“We were allies to Mexico when they won their independence from France in 1811, and signed a treaty with the provisional government of the republic of Texas in 1835, Sam Houston and Chief Bowles were signatories to the treaty. Mirabeau Lamar declared war against the Nation in 1839 and on the 14, 15 and 16th of July 1839 the battle of the Neches was fought. The republic of Texas army prevailed by murdering our defenseless Chief Bowles. We lived in clans until 1987, the first moon of light that is the time when our Adawehi’s had foretold that we should bring the “SCNT” back together and operate as one formal government. We have a constitution, laws, courts, law enforcement, passport, and all forms of government except a military. We are in alliance with the United States for military security of our homeland and to that end, we serve in the U.S. military. We have had some of our citizens killed in combat defending the U.S. and have had 34 men and women to serve in desert storm, Afghanistan and Iraq wars.”
“As of this date, we have been operating as a centralized government recognized by the USA, but not regulated by the Department of Interior. We have worked within the United States Federal Courts System, Department of Justice, Congress and Senate. The SCNT has also obtained comity by the Texas Local and District Courts.”
“The Sovereign Cherokee Nation Tejas should, therefore, not be confused with D.L. (Pappy) Hicks, an amorphous group, located in Troup, Texas, Exhibit S, The Oklahoma Cherokee Nation, a Federal Corporation, (Not A Sovereign Nation), or any other group of our Cherokee Indian cousins. The people of the SCNT are also known as the Black Dutch, the Black Irish, the East Texas Cherokee, the Lost Cherokee, and the Tejas-Cherokee amongst other names. It is a separate, distinct, and independent “Native Sovereign Nation.” This significant difference is virtue of whether or not the other tribes of our Cherokee cousins are considered “federally recognized” and administered by the Department of Interior and its sub Bureau, the Bureau of Indian Affairs which places them within the “Ward Trust” relationship of the United States government. Our other Cherokee cousins may also be considered sovereign, but in a “limited” way due to this Ward Trust relationship versus being “acknowledged” as a “domestic dependent nation.””
“December 26, B. W. Edwards wrote to Captains Aylett C. Buckner and Jesse Thompson, Col. James Ross, and other prominent citizens of Austin’s colony. A portion of his letter to the first named follows: “We have not acted blindly or precipitately in this matter. We have for some time looked forward to this issue, and were prepared for it. The Indians on our north have long since intended the same thing, and have only been waiting for us to say the word. They were determined to have a part of the country, which, they say, was promised to them by the government, and which they will never yield. They have immigrated of late in great numbers to the northern part of this province. Under those considerations, and for our own security and protection, we have just completed a treaty with them, designating a line to the north of this, running westwardly to the Rio G-rande, securing all individual rights within their territory. “The treaty was signed by Dr. John D. Hunter and Richard Fields as the representatives of the United Nations of Indians, comprising twenty-three tribes” (143).
“When Mirabeau B. Lamar succeeded Houston to the Presidency of Texas in December 1838, he found the young Republic in a precarious situation. To the south lay a menacing Mexico; to the west were the savage Plains Indians; and on the northeast the Indian tribes which the United States had removed from the Southern states overflowed into Texas and kept the border in a state of alarm. The entire defense problem was complicated by the Cherokees and their allied tribes who occupied an area in East Texas which was bordered on the east by the Angelina River, on the west by the Neches River, on the south by the San Antonio road, and on the north by the Sabine River. The intentions of the Cherokees toward the Texas Republic were a question mark in the mid-1830’s and remain a question mark to the present time. From the fall of 1835, however, Texans were haunted by the fear that the Cherokees and their allied tribes would join a league of Mexicans, Plains Indians, and United States Indians against the Republic. That fear persisted through the revolution, was intensified by the Cordova Rebellion of 1888, and finally culminated in the expulsion of the Cherokees in 1839” (18).
“Welcome to the Homepage for the Central Texas Cherokee Township (CTCT), a community of Cherokees dedicated to Cherokee history, language, culture, heritage, tradition and fellowship. We endeavor to bring news from the nation to our members as well as meetings, fellowship and friendship. We offer occasional gatherings, information exchanges and a chance to meet fellow citizens of the nation. You are welcome to join if you are Cherokee, a family member of a Cherokee or interested in Native American culture and heritage.”
Texas Handbook: Cherokee Indians
“Cherokees were first reported in Texas in 1807, when a small band, probably an offshoot of the Arkansas settlements, established a village on the Red River. In the summer of that year, a delegation of Cherokees, Pascagoulas, Chickasaws, and Shawnees sought permission from Spanish officials in Nacogdoches, the easternmost town in Texas, to settle members of their tribes in that province. The request was approved by Spanish authorities, who intended to use the immigrant Indians as a buffer against American expansion. For several years a small number of Cherokees drifted in and out of Texas.”
“In early 1820, Chief Bowl, also known as Duwali, led some sixty Cherokee families into Texas. They settled first on the Three Forks of the Trinity River (at the site of present Dallas), but pressure from prairie tribes forced them to move eastward into a virtually uninhabited region north of Nacogdoches now in Rusk County. They carved out farms on land that belonged to their friends, the Caddoes, a once powerful Indian confederacy that had been greatly reduced by warfare and epidemic diseases. By 1822 the Texas Cherokee population had grown to nearly three hundred.”
“Some Cherokees continued to live a fugitive existence in Texas, while others took up residence in Mexico. A few even continued the fight against the Texans but with little success. When Houston was elected to a second presidential term in 1841, he inaugurated an Indian policy calculated to forestall future hostilities with immigrant tribes. As a result of his peace policy, treaties were concluded with the remaining Texas Cherokees in 1843 and 1844.”
“The Cherokee homeland is not in Texas, but in the Southeast, in what are now Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee. Following the Revolutionary War, the American government and the government of the state of Georgia sought to remove the Cherokee and other Indians from the United States. As early as 1782, some Cherokee began to look for a new homeland outside of U.S. jurisdiction. They applied to the Spanish governor of the Louisiana Territory for permission to resettle west of the Mississippi River.”
“n 1822, the Cherokee under the leadership of Richard Fields met with the provincial governor in San Antonio and signed a treaty. Under the treaty, the Cherokee were granted the right to reside in Texas. Richard Fields moved the Cherokee settlement from a location near present-day Dallas to a forested area in east Texas north of the Spanish fort of Nacogdoches. The Cherokee moved because of continuing conflicts with the Plains tribes which resulted in the deaths of nearly one-third of their warriors.”
“Texas joined the United States on the condition that Texas was for Texans: Indians were not welcome in the new state. The United States federal government was to assume responsibility for the Indians, while the new state of Texas reserved all rights to “public” lands (those lands which had been Indian lands). Indians were to be removed to Oklahoma. “
Wheatville: “The namesake of Wheatsville Grocery is the early Black community of Wheatville, founded after the Civil War just northwest of the city limits, bounded by today’s streets of 24th, 26th, Leon, and San Gabriel. The area was first settled in 1869 by James Wheat, a freed slave”
Koch and Fowler city plans: “Koch and Fowler also proposed that the district have the city’s weakest zoning restrictions, allowing the development of ‘a number of slightly objectionable industrious uses.’”
1935: Federal policy formalizes boundaries: redlining
“The segregation of non-whites was far from voluntary, as I will show, and for more than 60 years, until about the 2000 census, the patterns of race and housing that had been locked in during the early period of the 20th century remained largely unchanged” (9).
“Stressing how these private means of discrimination helped produce a racially segregated city gives a much richer account of how market and public forces worked in tandem” (10).
“Perhaps the absence of such a trend in other cities is due to the fact that in places like Austin and Texas, the boundaries of whiteness remained unsettled because of the larger number of Hispanics” (11).
“Urban renewal changes the historic and social fabric of the neighborhood. Along with such changes, gentrification often occurs” (12)
Definition of gentrification: “This is when the increasing value of property exceeds the capacity of local residents to pay the higher taxes, resulting in changes of ownership. As longtime residents leave, individuals of different socio-economic levels replace older residents” (12-13).
“In the beginning of the twentieth century, the 1928 master plan called for all African Americans to move out of West Austin and into East Austin…The City of Austin decided not to provide Clarksville and Wheatville with sewer lines or paved roads, further forcing African Americans to move to East Austin” (13).
“The 1928 plan reported the greatest concentrations of blacks living in East Austin, and officials created a ‘negro district’ with all city services provided. In addition to the master plan, the city practiced redlining, a means by which some Southern cities segregated African Americans into particular neighborhoods” (13).
Discussion of East Austin businesses: “The area of Eleventh Street contained some of the oldest African American-owned businesses in the city and during the 1940s developed into a major thoroughfare with many businesses to support the community” (14).
“Many people and businesses contributed to the culture of the African American community in East Austin, and residents of the area created a sense of unity and self-reliance” (15).
DiverseArts Culture Works is a non-profit multidisciplinary cultural arts organization dedicated to the long-term development of the Austin African American Cultural Heritage District. Our mission is to produce a wide range of cultural, educational, and artistic programming within the District, including cultural preservation and documentary work that assures that the African American cultural legacy of Central East Austin is documented and honored into the future, all while bridging cultural gaps between Austin communities by disseminating this history to a broad-based audience.”
Sections devoted to “Culture, Arts, and Music,” “Historic Sites and Architecture,” “Entrepreneurship and Businesses,” “Gentrification and Redevelopment,” “Neighborhoods and Streets,” “Politics and Civic Engagement,” “Schools and Education,” and “Religion and Faith.”
“In the early 1910s, Austin’s east side was home to the Austin Black Senators of the Texas Negro League…It’s safe to say that Downs-Mabson played a substantial role in African-American athletics and baseball in central Texas.”
“Though Willie Wells grew up across from a church, baseball was his religion.”
Black Senators: “Austin’s only legitimate professional team in the Twenties and Thirties…What is known is that the Senators fielded a ballclub as early as 1920 in the Texas Negro League, which was composed of mainstays from Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, and a revolving cast of teams from Fort Worth, Galveston, Shreveport, Wichita Falls, Little Rock, and Oklahoma City.”
Willie Wells: “He was a demon on the diamond, like Ty Cobb, unafraid to play rough and dirty when the situation called for it. That’s how he earned the nickname of ‘El Diablo’ when he starred in the Mexican Leagues in the Forties…Wells eventually achieved a rare Triple Crown: induction in the Mexican, Cuban, and American baseball halls of fame.”
“’The taxes were too high-sky high,’ said Spearman, who three years ago moved to Manor, Texas, a small town about 15 miles east of Austin. ‘Houses around us were getting remodeled and sold for double, triple of what they paid for back in the day.”
“Many longtime residents told Tang the new businesses aren’t catering to them-an anecdote indicating a larger shift.”
“Tang found that black residents left Austin for suburbs to the north and east of the city. Places such as Manor, Elgin and Round Rock. But these aren’t suburbs as we often think of them.”
“According to tour organizer Rocío Villalobos, East Austin History and Tours was inspired by Jane’s Walk, a citizen-led movement in the U.S. an Canada that enlists residents to share their knowledge of their neighborhoods by organizing walks.”
“In launching the Austin tour, ‘the goal was to help people become more connected to each other and to the community by learning about the history of the community and the complex changes it’s undergone,’ Villalobos said.”
“Indeed, between 2000 and 2010, Austin was a statistical outlier—it was the only major city in the United States to experience a double-digit rate of general population growth coincident with African-American population decline” (1).
“By contrast, Austin experienced a decline in African Americans at -5.4%, with general population growth of 20.4%” (1).
“Similar to Austin, these three cities [Fort Worth, El Paso, and San Antonio] experienced double-digit general population growth. Yet, unlike Austin, all three of these cities also experienced simultaneous double-digit positive growth in African Americans” (4).
“Austin’s outlier status is further underscored by the fact that between 2000 and 2010, African Americans were the only racial group in Austin to see a decline. Whereas, Whites, Latinos, and Asian Americans all saw positive population growth during this decade” (5).
“That is, African Americans did not choose to leave Austin so much as they were compelled to leave by several structural forces—historical, economic, and governmental—that continued to create inequalities in their lives” (6).
“According to the City of Austin’s demographer, the -5.4% decline in the city’s African-American population between 2000 and 2010 was comprised mostly of those under the age of 18” (9).
“From 2000 to 2010 African Americans were the only racial group in Austin to experience an absolute numerical decline during a decade of otherwise remarkable growth in the city’s general population” (1).
“Moreover, no other fast-growing major city experienced a decline in African Americans during that same period” (1).
“What caused this population decline? How are those who have resettled outside of Austin faring? This report explores these questions and, through the voices of displaced African American families, focuses on two primary forces that have led to the decline in Austin’s African American population: unaffordable housing and dissatisfaction with the city’s public schools” (1).
“However, despite the city’s huge growth in general population, its African American population declined by 5.4 percent, from 64,259 African American residents to 60,760” (1-2).
“These respondents relocated outside of Austin’s city limits to nearby cities, specifically Round Rock, Pflugerville, Del Valle, Bastrop, Elgin, and Manor, yet all of them maintain close ties to family, friends, businesses, and places of worship located within the city of Austin” (2).
“One infers from this that residents who live east are experiencing the ‘suburbanization of poverty’ phenomenon” (5).
“While the lack of affordable housing affects a large cross section of Austin’s working and middle classes, it has had a disproportionate impact on African Americans of greater East Austin, an area which has undergone a high rate of gentrification” (8).
“Between 2011 and 2014 the median home price in East Austin’s zip code 78702 tripled from $125,000 to $375,000” (9).
“According to some researchers, the Austin metropolitan area is now the most economically segregated in the nation” (9).
“Clarksville is the oldest surviving freedomtown in the United States west of the Mississippi river. Traces of this post-Civil War settlement, founded by former slaves, have all but disappeared from the neighborhood.”
“For nearly 40 years, the CCDC has been working to preserve Clarksville’s history, to maintain the neighborhood’s traditional sense of community through a variety of events, and to keep Clarksville ethnically and economically diverse through its affordable housing program.”
“During slavery days, the area now known as Clarksville was the location of the slave quarters for at least some of the slaves who worked for Governor Elisha Pease at Woodlawn, his plantation. The plantation encompassed much of what is now known as Old Enfield and Old West Austin.” From The Origins of Clarksville
“In 1871, Charles Clark, a former slave, purchased two acres of land from Nathan Sheller, a Confederate general…This area formed the nucleus of what would become the community of Clarksville, which according to tradition, Clark envisioned as a place where former slaves could reunite with their families and friends, direct their own lives and freely practice their religion. Clarksville was one of the first freedmen’s towns established west of the Mississippi.”
“Despite all of the obstacles and pressures they faced, the hardy residents of Clarksville refused to move. They cherished their neighborhood and were determined to remain there despite the hardships they had to endure.” From Clarksville Under Threat
“The Haskell House, which is located at 1703 Waterston Avenue, stands as a visible reminder of Clarksville’s historic and cultural roots and of the struggles of the former slaves who created Clarksville as an oasis of freedom, community and dignity.”
Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church is located at 1725 West 11th Street in the heard of Clarksville. The church was established not long after Clarksville was settled and was immediately the cornerstone of the community.”
Notable Black Austinites in Texas Handbook
Lee Lewis Campbell: “Campbell was ordained to the Baptist ministry at Cameron, Milam County. In 1892 he became pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Austin, a position he held for thirty-five years. In Austin he founded St. John’s Institute and Orphanage. He was president of the General Baptist State Convention and vice president of the National General Baptist Convention.”
Maud Anna Berry Fuller: “She attended Guadalupe College and Tillotson College (now Huston-Tillotson College) and taught in several public schools in Seguin and other Texas cities for twenty-five years. As a member of Ebenezer Baptist Church at Austin, she was active in many organizations of the National Baptist Convention of America. For forty years she was president of the Women’s Auxiliary of that church convention. Previously she was the corresponding secretary.”
Mary Elizabeth Branch: In 1930 the American Missionary Association appointed her president of Tillotson College in Austin, Texas. A troubled institution, Tillotson had been forced by declining enrollments and poor administration to reorganize as a junior college for women in 1929. As president, Branch sought to make Tillotson a successful and respected four-year college once more…Throughout her tenure she also worked to improve the college’s relationship with the community by participating in civic affairs and establishing contacts with faculty at the University of Texas and Samuel Huston College, as well as with public school teachers and administrators. She also worked towards a merger with Samuel Huston College, although the two institutions did not join until after her tenure.”
Blackland
From East End Cultural Heritage District: “The Blackland neighborhood is located on the East side of Austin, North of Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, South of Manor Road, East of I-35, and West of Chestnut Street.”
“In 1981, when UT was pushing for its 6th expansion Eastward, activists lobbied for affordable housing and preservation of the Blackland community. The University agreed to negotiate and the neighborhood maintained its current boundaries.”
“Because of legal, cultural, and geographical segregation, the Blackland neighborhood became its own microcosm, an area separated from the rest of the city.”
“As property values lowered just East of the University, speculators bought the devalued property in order to sell it at a profit to the University at its next annexation. Though the lower property prices provided Blackland residents with cheaper rent, living conditions in the area also declined drastically.”
EASTside Magazine: “Blackland Community Development Corporation, or BCDC, sits between four borders: MLK Boulevard, Comal Street, Manor Road, and Chestnut Avenue. Founded in 1983, the non-profit set out to challenge the University of Texas at Austin’s plans to develop east of I-35, to end eastward annexations, and to further develop Austin’s affordable housing options. More than thirty years later, the non-profit’s core mission remains the same.”
“Blackland had 15 units under its management when it was founded. Today, they have nearly 50 units on 32 lots. Miles says the non-profit’s expansion has been realized through a variety of outlets, including donations and small fundraising efforts. He says Blackland also purchased and repurposed homes with the help of volunteers and through city housing funds.”
Blackland Community Development Corporation: “Blackland’s situation was worsened by ever-pending eastward annexations by the University of Texas at Austin that were endorsed by the 1928 Austin Master Plan, that called for relocation of people of color from West Austin to East Austin and simultaneously called for the University of Texas to grow eastward.”
“The Blackland CDC now manages approximately 20 percent of the residential units scattered throughout the neighborhood and that assures inclusion of low-income households in the area into the foreseeable future. The nonprofit’s presence informs prospective buyers and realtors that the neighborhood will remain inclusive — that community characteristic attracts some new homebuyers and self-eliminates others.”
Texas Housers: “That’s why Bo McCarver, the board president of Blackland Community Development Corporation (BCDC), talks about “eternal vigilance.” Without the presence of longtime residents committed to affordable housing and racial and ethnic diversity, McCarver says, Blackland would look very different today. “It doesn’t just happen,” he says of the continued presence of low income, minority residents in an area beset by gentrification. “You have to have the hearts and minds of the neighborhood.”
“Even if you lose a fight, you still fought,” McCarver says, adding that developers are less likely to confront a community that has demonstrated its organization and willingness to stand up to gentrification.”
“Gentrification might be an inevitable trend. But because BCDC’s leases are 99 years long, McCarver notes, for the foreseeable future, “Everybody in this neighborhood is going to be living close to low income people.” After all, despite the radical changes to Austin’s demographics, Blackland’s residents are still mostly African-American and mostly renters.”
“A goal of this oral history project was to document and honor many of the individuals who played a significant role in the decades-long struggle leading to the creation of the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center (ESB-MACC), while also exploring the growth and obstacles experienced throughout the process.”
“Many Latinos in Texas can trace their history back to the 1690s. They’re descendants of Spanish, Mexican and indigenous people who were here when the land was subject to the Spanish crown, then later a part of the sovereign state of Mexico, the Republic of Texas and, finally, the United States.”
“They don’t consider themselves either Mexican or Anglo-Texan. They’re Tejanos, and they always have been. Now, a six-mile path through Austin aims to preserve some of that history.”
“‘East Austin used to be German and Polish and all of that, but then when the city council, circa 1937, they came up with a new plan to remove all of the Mexicanos from downtown Austin,’ Castañeda says.”
“What’s notable is what’s no longer there: El Jardin Alegre (the Happy Garden), a site listed in Preservation Austin’s Tejano Walking Trail guide, published in April 2010. The guide describes an idyllic garden with 40 plots, ‘where neighbors grow food together and build community.’ Its disappearance is emblematic of rapidly changing—and historically layered—East Austin.”
“The 4.9-mile Tejano Walking Trail covers an incredible span of history, from the post-Civil War expansion of the railroad to the 2009 dedication of a Cesar Chavez statue at a library on his namesake street. The guide features 24 sites along the walking trail, plus an additional seven on the 5.6-mile Trail of Tejano Music Legends.”
“The trails direct users through the heart of the East Cesar Chavez and Holly neighborhoods—a historically Hispanic area adjacent to downtown subjected to gentrification for more than a decade.”
Preservation Austin: Tejano Walking and Music Legends Trails
“A labor of love by 30+ volunteers, the Tejano Healthy Walking Trail was designed and created by the East Cesar Chavez Neighborhood Planning Team and funded by the City of Austin’s Neighborhood Enhancement Fund.”
“It features historical and cultural gems in the East Cesar Chavez and adjacent Holly neighborhood. The Trail Guide describes 22 sites along the 4.9 mile route which is mostly on sidewalks and streets shaded by our heritage trees.”
“Hispanic, Spanish, Spanish American, Mexican, Mexican American, Mexicano, Latino, Chicano, Tejano—all have been valid terms for Texans who traced their roots to the Iberian Peninsula or Mexico” (3).
“The state’s name—pronounced Tay-has in Spanish—derives from the old Spanish spelling of a Caddo word for friend” (3).
“Although the vastness of North America ultimately proved an insurmountable challenge for a Spanish empire spread thin, Spaniards sought to colonize ‘on the cheap’ by relying on missionaries to assimilate Indians into Hispanic society” (4).
“An extensive network of trails and unimproved roads, often built on pre-existing Indian routes, connected all the Spanish settlements and many Indian communities. El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro in the El Paso area and El Camino Real de los Tejas (which spanned Texas, extending from Mexico City to Robeline, Louisiana) today form part of the national historic trails system” (4).
“When Texas exercised control of the land between Nueces River and Rio Grande as a result of the U.S.-Mexico War in 1846-48, Mexican residents of the region had to choose between American citizenship and abandoning their homes. These new Tejanos were subjected to discrimination and violence. By the 1850s, Tejanos were chased out of some counties altogether” (6).
“Regarded as cheap labor, Hispanics were subjected to many of the Jim Crow practices that discriminated against African Americans. Tejanos and immigrants from Mexico often went to Mexican schools, were prevented from eating in main dining rooms of restaurants, and were systematically excluded from jury service” (6).
“For Tejanos, the battle for educational, legal, social, and economic equality began with the Texas Revolution, when leaders such as Jose Antonio Navarro fought to remind Anglos they were Texans, too” (41).
“Some Tejanos can trace their roots back 10-plus generations to the earliest Spanish and indigenous people who settled the land we call Texas. Others are direct descendants of the Tejanos who first declared independence for Texas during Mexico’s struggle to shed Spanish rule, decades before the Battle of the Alamo” (65).
“Still more hail from the generation of Tejanos who became citizens of three independent nations in a quarter century—first Mexicans, then Texans, then Americans. Their citizenship changed not because they immigrated to another country—the borders of these nations enveloped them” (65).
Goals: “Preserve historic structures and affordable homes. This Trail recognizes native families’ contributions to build Austin into the Live Music Capital of the World…The neighborhood is in transition from being a low-income, minority community into a desirable location for young professionals and new urbanists.”
“Educate speculators and newcomers about the historic assets in hopes they might choose to upgrade historic structures rather than destroy them. Many have stood for over 100 years and define the neighborhood character.”
“Contains more than 1,200 entries, including 300 new entries, detailing the critical influence of Tejanos on the Lone Star State.”
“The Handbook of Tejano History intended to capitalize on the growth and interest by generating new entries and producing an authoritative, encyclopedic resource on Tejano history that will remain a standard source of information for decades.”
“But the GLO should also be recognized as an essential resource for researchers in the fields of Tejano genealogy and history. After all, the nineteenth-century empresarios’ celebrated accomplishments were themselves built upon an earlier set of colonizing efforts — expeditions and fundaciones (mission and town foundations) carried out by adventurous men and women from northern New Spain who planted the seeds of Tejano culture in Nacogdoches, La Bahía, and Béxar.”
“The GLO’s holdings on Tejano genealogy and history are especially rich for south Texas, but they extend throughout the state. Although completed pre-1821 titles for the central and east Texas regions are rare, the GLO boasts dozens of Spanish land grants from the Béxar, Bahía (Goliad), and Nacogdoches areas.”
“The story of Stephen F. Austin and the other Anglo empresarios would not be complete without an understanding of their Tejano friends, mentors and collaborators such as land commissioner José Antonio Navarro, surveyor José María Carbajal, political chief José Antonio Saucedo, and commissioner José Francisco Madero.”
“As capital pours into the city through the new residents and new companies and new developers, many of Austin’s neighborhoods—especially historically African-American and Latino neighborhoods—face the risk of cultural and historical erasure.”
“The East Cesar Chavez neighborhood—the downtown-adjacent area of East Austin between I-35 and Chicon from west to east, and Town Lake to East 7th Street from south to north—is a historically Mexican-American district dating back to the early twentieth century. The native population of the neighborhood is comprised of mixed income residents, including retirees who have lived in the community for decades.”
“Primarily a European district in the nineteenth century, Mexican-Americans moved to the area in the 1920s and 30s as a result of Downtown Austin’s expansion. When I-35 was built in the 1950s, taking the place of East Avenue, the community became isolated on a cultural and socioeconomic level. Most of the white population promptly moved westward.”
“History is a tool of power and dominion written, as the adage asserts, by the victors. In the event that nothing is preserved in the aggressive development of the neighborhood, what the Tejano Trails project offers is a different point of view—a reminder that a thriving neighborhood built on the principles of affordability and community, not privilege and capital, once existed.”
“The historical preservation of East Austin, even if only through signage, functions as a way to maintain the narrative of the community, not only as a remembrance of the past, but also as a method of interrogating the present.”
“‘The thing that really bothers me is that there is no time to document what was there,’ Garcia said in an interview with Remezcla. ‘There’s no interest in respecting what was there and what is being destroyed.’”
“Last August, Garcia founded the Instagram account ATX Barrio Archive to share the remnants of Austin’s past with today’s communities…On the Instagram platform, Garcia shares photographs of 1980s Chicano murals since erased, lively dance floors in currently closed Tejano night clubs, and intersectional demonstrations in protest of the Ku Klux Klan. Other posts include vinyl recordings of boleros and Tejano oldies—some dating back to the early 1960s—recorded on Austin-based Mexican-American labels.”
“’I’m trying to bridge that gap between what is normally available to people in privileged positions and trying to bring it back to the barrios where I believe it belongs, and where it has the most use – because the people in these neighborhoods, the people who have seen so much change, are really the keepers of this history,’ Garcia said.”
“Preserving, documenting and celebrating the cultural heritage of POC barrios/hoods of Austin, TX. Past and present. For the people—Not for $$$”
“In 1962, Bertha Means (left) and Ada Anderson (right) organized the Mothers Action Committee in a successful yearlong picket to integrate the Austin Ice Palace, a skating rink located at Airport Boulevard and Manor Road. While located near the Black community in East Austin, the owners of Austin Ice Palace refused to admit Black families and students from the University of Texas. Supporters from UT, the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and the University Baptist Church joined the Mothers Action Committee in picketing the Austin Ice Palace, which removed its racial barriers by July 1963” (May 12).
“Tomas Galindo Sr. stands outside El Fenix, a tortilla factory and Mexican pottery gift shop he founded in 1940 with his wife Josefa. Located at 1200 East 6th Street, El Fenix sold tortillas to local grocery stores and restaurants. In the 1970s, Tomas Galindo Jr. and his wife Ernestine bought the family tortilla factory, changing the name to El Galindo Tortilla Inc.” (May 11).
“Spencer Nobles Jr., co-owner of the Rosewood Barbecue Center in East Austin, trims some brisket for lunchtime customers. Beginning in 1957, Spencer and Ora Lee Nobles opened their barbecue restaurant in the thriving Rosewood neighborhood. From 1978 to 1997, their restaurant was located at 1807 Rosewood Ave, across from the Rosewood Avenue Baptist Church and currently the site of the Spencer & Ora Lee Nobles Hope Center” (April 19).
“The Milicia Familyca. 1945. The Milicias owned and operated a beer joint, Milicia’s Garden, formerly located at East 5th St and Pleasant Valley Rd, ”Where Good Fellows Get Together” (April 5).
“Steve Guzman, left, and Adam Padilla prepare for the transition as First Street from MoPac Boulevard to U.S. 183 becomes Cesar Chavez StreetOn September 16th, the Austin City Council renamed the street in honor of the union organizer and civil rights activist who died in April. Tom Lankes, Austin American Statesman, December 1, 1993” (March 31).
“’It was a pretty, pretty quiet neighborhood,’ said Bobby Velasquez, who moved into a house on Rainey in the 1970s. Over the next few decades, downtown and real estate interests converged on Rainey: The city built a new convention center down the road, and City Council members changed zoning rules so businesses could open on the street.”
“Then, in 2005, some residents got what they were looking for: The City Council voted to rezone the street so the single-story homes that defined the area could open as businesses. ‘Most people think I’m crazy. But am I? Come on. So many people left for peanuts,’ he said in a voicemail from April. ‘Why should I leave? Just to appease the white people? No.’”
“In December, the Austin Code Department sent Contreras a letter saying his home was ‘unsafe.’ According to a copy of that letter, unless he replaces his roof and makes other repairs, the city could fine him – or even remove him from his home. That’s left Contreras feeling unmoored. ‘This is my house,’ he said in a voicemail left in January. ‘After a while, I guess, with age you just want to live out your life in a place you call home.’”
“To support and expand the presence of a Native Texas genre of music known as Tejano and its artistic contribution throughout the community of Austin and Central Texas.”
“The East Cesar Chavez neighborhood is diverse and dynamic, with a colorful history stretching back to the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. As one of Austin’s first neighborhoods, a unique character developed over many years, incorporating social and cultural influences from African American, Hispanic and European-American residents. This character can still be found throughout the streets of East Cesar Chavez and is manifested through historic heritage, cultural landmarks and current social customs.”
“As the neighborhood evolves, it is crucial to protect, preserve and promote existing neighborhood character as a means for responsible change. Neighborhood Character can be maintained on many levels, consisting of both the intangible and the tangible. Intangible, or non-physical manifestations of character, can be found through memory, oral histories, social traditions and many artistic expressions. These things are often passed down through social and familial connections. Tangible expressions of neighborhood character are often manifested in cultural expressions of space such as architecture, parks, streets and general land-use.”
“The study examined the status of 622 “long-time homeowners” and found that 34% of these homeowners who owned their home in 2002 no longer owned their home in 2012. Thus, in the span of 10 years, more than 1/3 of long-time homeowners no longer live in their neighborhood” (1).
“In terms of turnover of actual units owned by “long-time homeowners” (defined as persons who owned their homes in 1992, 2002 and in 2012), 57 units experienced a change in ownership in the Chestnut/Rosewood study area and 157 units experienced a change ownership in the ECCN/Holly Neighborhood. In other words, a total of 214 housing units experienced a change in ownership” (2).
Extensive list of material related to Asian Pacific Americans at Austin History Center. Though the contents are not particularly dynamic, could be interesting to provide link to this subject guide and let people know that there are extensive archival materials related to this community at the Austin History Center
Vietnam to Austin: Restoring Community: website contains digital exhibit with info about physical exhibit, broad history of Vietnam and Vietnam War, and individual profiles of Vietnamese people living in Austin
“’Vietnam to Austin: Restoring Community’ was a historical exhibit presented by the Austin History Center in partnership with the Vietnamese American Heritage Foundation from February 21 to July 17, 2009. This exhibit was the first Asian American exhibit at the Austin History Center.”
“Focusing on the history, transition, and contributions of local Vietnamese Americans in Austin, Vietnam to Austin included historic photos, documents, periodicals, and archives. Each display weaver personal stories of endurance and triumph that will illustrate their incredible journeys and the ways they have embraced Austin as their new home.” (Introduction page)
“Vietnamese refugees found Austin welcoming, with willing Americans helping them navigate a place where the language and their lack of resources created enormous barriers to a normal life.” (Vietnam to Austin page)
“There were about 2000 Vietnamese refugees in Austin by 1980.”
“According to the 1875 Census there were 20 Chinese people living in Austin.”
“Beginning in the 1870s the Chinese population in Travis County grew rather slowly until there was a large jump from94 to 332 in the 1960s to the 1970s.”
Link shows contemporary Asian Pacific American Demographics: “The total population of the Austin Round Rock metropolitan statistical area is 2,115,827 and of this total 134,807 are Asian and/or Asian American. Asians in Austin are the fastest growing demographic group, doubling roughly every 12 years. Asian Americans comprise 8% of the City of Austin’s population and this ranking puts Austin 9th in the country.”
“Local demographic and health data is usually gathered and reported in a way that reinforces the ‘model minority myth’—the stereotype that Asians are all wealthy, highly educated, hard-working and problem-free—and makes the needs in some parts of Austin’s diverse and fast-growing Asian American community virtually invisible.”
“What I’m noticing is that the challenges of the Asian community in Austin are the same challenges as other communities: transportation, access affordable housing, services for senior citizens and so forth,’ Sanchez said. ‘What is different is the cultural aspect,’ such as providing those services in a language that Asian Americans can understand.”
“As of the 2010 Census, about 61 percent of Travis County’s Asian American population was foreign-born.”
Lots of charts and maps showing demographic info about Austin; one map shows current sources of refugees into Austin in 2014
“Austin’s Asian community is the fastest growing Asian community of any of the nation’s largest 30 cities—which speaks to the overall newness of the community in central Texas” (23).
“The City of Austin’s Asian share of total population will soon surpass the City’s African American share of total population and Asians will become the City’s third largest demographic group behind Latinos and non-Hispanic Whites” (24).
KLRU’s Austin Revealed Series: Pioneers from the East (Transcontinental Railroad formative moment in Asian migration to Texas—multiple families cite this moment as their family’s entrance into Texas)
“In this collection, students will learn about Asian American history in Austin. Austin is home to many Asian Americans along with their rich history, culture, and traditions that are preserved and passed on to future generations by their families and communities. This exhibit showcases some of the history that is lesser known but nevertheless important to document and remember. All of the images can be found at the Austin History Center, which houses an Asian American Archival Collection of manuscript collections, photographs, clippings, books, periodicals and other items.”
“This exhibit was developed by the City of Austin’s Asian American Resource Center and the Austin History Center.”
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