This month, we are featuring Houston County’s (see the map above) freedom colonies: Glover, Pine Springs, Germany, Mt. Zion, Cedar Branch, Wheeler Springs, Hall’s Bluff, Center Hill, Allen Chapel, Dixon-Hopewell, Given’s Hill, Hopewell, Shady Grove, Lake Creek, Thankful, Fodice, Smith Grove, and Vistula. Use the For Descendants survey to share your stories, memories, photos, and historical information related to settlement origins, families, cemeteries, churches, lodges or events. All others enter data in the Share Your Story Survey. Your results will surface on the map as a red point which indicates that your contribution is under review. Blue points are verified.

This month, we are featuring Houston County’s (see the map above) freedom colonies: Glover, Pine Springs, Germany, Mt. Zion, Cedar Branch, Wheeler Springs, Hall’s Bluff, Center Hill, Allen Chapel, Dixon-Hopewell, Given’s Hill, Hopewell, Shady Grove, Lake Creek, Thankful, Fodice, Smith Grove, and Vistula. Use the For Descendants survey to share your stories, memories, photos, and historical information related to settlement origins, families, cemeteries, churches, lodges or events. All others enter data in the Share Your Story Survey. Your results will surface on the map as a red point which indicates that your contribution is under review. Blue points are verified.

Case Study: The Washington Farm

Antoinette Anderson, an Atlas contributor, shared her story about the origin of the family land her ancestors found refuge in the early 20th century. Her family’s story is one of 120 years of resilience in the face of discrimination including their most recent fight to protect their land.

Tobias Washington established a freedom colony (name unknown) in Crockett, TX, in 1902 when he found his way to freedom. Tobias settled in 28 ¼Acres of land and built a farm with his wife, Rosie and their 7 children. The Washington Farm thrived and they raised peanuts, vegetables, cotton, cows, hogs, and horses.  Oral history, passed down through Tobias’ descendants described how their ancestors stood guard with shotguns to protect the family and their farm from White supremacists’ attacks.

After Tobias Washington died in 1915, Rosie Washington became the farm’s owner and operator. She singlehandedly kept the thriving enterprise alive until her death in 1958. Granny Rosie, as her descendants remember her, was the heart and soul of the farm and an example of Black feminist resilience. She helped found the church in the area and was the community banker who would provide loans to other Black community members.

Granny Rosie’s descendants are engaged in a long-standing battle to protect their ancestral land. They’re seeking justice and reparations from an oil company they maintain has encroached on their property for over half a century. In 1954, an oil pipeline company obtained access to the farm through a recorded easement, but doubts surround whether Granny Rosie or any family member (or heir) granted such access, as the document is blank and lacks their signatures. Despite this, the oil company notified the Washington family heirs in 2015 of their intention to exercise their easement right and install pipeline infrastructure on the farm. The family’s goal is to attain a more secure form of ownership, moving away from the vulnerability of Heirs’ Property. However, finding a lawyer with the necessary expertise in heir property remains a significant challenge for them echoing the wider plight of many freedom colony descendants. That’s why The TXFC Project makes available news, links to legal assistance, and research that can support freedom colony farm and land owners’ efforts to retain ownership and control of their property.

Black Land: Policy News & Events

Read the Union of Concerned Scientists’ latest policy brief on Heirs’ Property which explains how the Farm Bill can help resolve Black land loss issues.

Displaced On Repeat:

Black Americans & Climate-Forced Migration

By: Jacqueline Patterson

Read about the unique vulnerabilities Black farmers face as a consequence of climate change. “Global warming does not discriminate, but the system that prepares farmers for it does,” writes Patterson. 

2023 Law & Society Conference, 

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Black land retention researcher and doctoral candidate, Valentina Aduen, presented her research about Heirs’ Property and land loss narratives in the media. She attended Thomas Mitchell’s presentation about his most recent book Heirs’ Property and the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act: Challenges, Solutions, and Historic Reform. A must read for everyone interested on Heirs’ Property in the U.S.

Gaining Ground:

The Fight for Black Land

 “Gaining Ground,” explores the legacy of Black  farming in America, and land use and loss. The film covers landowners’ efforts to reclaim their agricultural rights and create paths to generational wealth. The film is currently showing at festivals across the US!

The TXFC Project featured in Essence Magazine

Dr. Roberts was quoted in the article, “It’s a Family Affair” by Siraad Dirshe. The journalist wrote about the significance of reunions and homecomings in Black families. Pick up the July/August 2023 issue to read the article.

The TXFC Project on Our Body Politic Podcast

“It’s really a day where we’re showing ourselves to ourselves, &we’re somewhat free of the white gaze.”

—Dr. Roberts 

Dr. Andrea Roberts and scholars like fellow Texan, Annette Gordon Reed shared Juneteenth recollections & the significance of the day becoming a national holiday.

Three Texas Freedom Colonies Illuminate Life After Emancipation

By: Michael Hurd, Texas Highways Magazine

Shankleville, County Line, and Tamina descendants share their heritage conservation strategies. Dr. Roberts provides historical context for freedom colony creation.

Dr. Roberts Guest Speaker at Mellon Foundation’s June Town Hall

Pictured: Program Officer, Justin Garrett Moore and Dr. Roberts after her presentation on the significance of Juneteenth and commemorative events in freedom colonies. Learn more about the Mellon Foundation here.

Aya Symposium Held in Dallas

Thanks to all who attended the annual Symposium. Sessions shared innovative approaches to leveraging technology to tell your freedom colony’s story. The TXFC Project and UVA were happy to support lead organizers from Shankleville freedom colony. Check out the symposium YouTube Channel for past session videos. View images from the 2023 sessions below.

National Park Service Conducting Houston-area Emancipation Trail Study

Listen to this podcast interview with Naomi Carrier of The Texas Center for African American Living History to learn more, here.

Bastrop County African American Culture Center

Offering a resource center, landmark signs, and tour buses to remember the legacy of its freedom colonies, The Bastrop County African American Cultural Center (BCAACC) is currently open by appointment only. To learn more and support their efforts, visit their website.

Harris Co. Pct. 4 Commissioner Visits Riceville Community

Harris Co. Pct. 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones and her team recently sat down with Alvies Carter, Fay Dunwood, and Mae Joyce Williams, lifelong residents of the Riceville Community and members of the Riceville Mt. Olive Baptist Church located in Southwest Houston to discuss the future of the area.

Independence Heights Wins AACH Grant

Congratulations to one of Houston’s many freedom colonies, Independence Heights! They were awarded the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund grant! The funding will support organizational capacity-building for the Independence Heights Conservancy.

Weaver Cemetery Wins Drawing!

On Friday, June 2nd, Sidekick LLC founder, Michael Martin met Ollie Ross and Charles Day at the historic Weaver Cemetery in Millican, TX. During the one day visit they completed an extensive GPR survey covering an impressive 5,100 sqft of the cemetery grounds.

During the survey, they made an important discovery— eight likely unmarked graves, with three classified as high confidence and five as moderate confidence.

Thank you to Michael Martin, founder of Sidekick LLC, who provided one free day of site surveying, data analysis, and map creation (valued at $1,500-$1,800 in Texas). See our African American Cemeteries page to learn about researcher,  Jennifer Blanks’ work and resources.

Participant Researcher Highlight: Gloria Smith

Gloria has been an Adopt-A-County captain and now accesses participant researcher benefits to support travel and community building.  We helped support her this July as she organized a Dabney Hill board meeting.

As of Fall 2022, Dr. Roberts, is an associate professor of urban + environmental planning at the University of Virginia (UVA) in the School of Architecture.  She’s also Co-Director of The Center for Cultural Landscapes (CCL), an interdisciplinary center that produces research on and creates new models of innovative cultural landscape stewardship and critical perspectives on placemaking. The TXFC Project now falls under the auspices of the CCL.

Other CCL Events

Technical Lands: A Critical Primer Book Talk

September 18, 2023. 5PM (ET)

Caitlin Blanchfield & Editors Jeffrey S. Nesbit+ Charles Waldheim, Moderated by Bradley Cantrell.

Wild by Design: The Rise of Ecological Restoration Book Talk

Friday October 13, 2023, 3PM(ET)

Laura J. Martin, moderated by Bradley Cantrell + Elizabeth Meyer.

Dr. Andrea Roberts was invited out to basketball legend, Ralph Sampson’s Blakey Family Farm in Central Virginia in July to discuss ways to tell their story. Sampson, a Virginia native, faced a difficult five-year legal battle to hold on to the Blakey Family Farm when it was threatened by a partition action aimed at forcing a sale. Sampson’s family sought help from the Black Family Land Trust, which provided guidance throughout the legal process.

The passing of the Uniform Partition of Heirs’ Property Act in Virginia in 2020 helped them prevent involuntary land loss. The Act grants co-owning family members the first option to buy out those who want to sell and it considers cultural, sentimental, and historical significance of the property before ruling on its sale. Despite facing challenges, the Blakey Farm remains intact, and the family formed an LLC to preserve it for future generations.