A brief background on historic
East Austin African American Cultural Heritage District: after the Civil War, freed slaves, also known as freedmen, established communities around Austin. The oldest freedom town west of the Mississippi is located in Austin and named
Clarksville after freed slave Charles Clark who settled there in 1871. However, in 1928, they city of Austin rolled out a Master Plan to move all African American residents to the east side of Austin. The city denied basic services to all African Americans living outside of East Austin in an attempt to force migration to the east side.
Our tour started on 11th Street, just east of Hwy 35 and Franklin BBQ, in the parking lot next to the
Texas Music Museum (open weekdays), behind Ebenezer Baptist Church. This area is called Robertson Hill, from the Robertsons who moved into the
French Legation in the 1850s. Across the street, closer to Franklin BBQ, is a small yellow house, which will become the visitor center for the
African American Cultural & Heritage Facility. The land was purchased by Mr. Dedrick, a freed slave, who built the yellow house still on the property in 1879 or 1880.
Ebenezer Baptist Church was started in 1874 by a freed woman singing spirituals from her porch. Originally named 3rd Baptist Church (Colored), it's first building was in stone in 1885, then stucco in 1915 and the imposing gothic brick structure there today was built in the 1950s.
We walk west up 11th street to a small square dedicated to
Dr. Charles E. Urdy, a community activitist for the revitalization of East Austin. The square has a beautiful mural by
Professor John Yancey.
As we continue up 11th street, we pass the St. Joseph Masonic Lodge. Masonic Lodges were also segregated when this one was built in 1949.
Across from the lodge, we see the
Victory Grill, opened on VJ day, Victory over Japan Day, in 1945. Johnny Holmes started the music venue at a time when Austin was still segregated. Victory Grill hosted many African American musicians as a stop on the
Chitlin' Circuit, including Ike & Tina Turner. Today, it is only open for special events.
On this tour, we passed several churches, both African American and Mexican American. Interestingly, East Austin was settled by several different communities, from freed slaves to Swedes, Mexicans to Jews. After the 1928 Master Plan, East Austin split at 7th street, with the Mexican American community living south of 7th and the African American community living north of 7th street. Almost all of the churches we passed (
African Methodist Episcopal,
Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic,
Wesley United Methodist), were originally located in downtown Austin but were subsequently relocated to East Austin.
We continue west on 11th street and pass
Hillside Farmacy, now a sandwich shop, originally Hillside Drugs, a drugstore from 1929-1980s.
At Angelina, we turn left (north) and walk to the
George Washington Carver Library. Just north of the current library is the original library, now the George Washington Carver Museum. Underneath the brick structure is the wooden frame building that was originally the Central Library (segregated) located downtown. When the new library (whites only) was built downtown, the old building was moved here, bricked over, and became the first branch library in Austin. The Austin Public Library wasn't desegragated until 1951.
We turn left at Hackberry and walk down to San Bernard Street. As the Austin Master Plan in 1928 rolled out, there was also emigration of current residents from East Austin. The nicest houses were on San Bernard Street, which become the place to live among African Americans of means. San Bernard is still a comparitively wide street today. It also boasts the first Austin church designed by an African American architect,
John S. Chase.
And so ended our official tour. However, I wanted to check out a few other places that Harrison mentioned. He talked about the Doris Miller Auditorium, a log cabin and the first ever public project housing in the United States,
Rosewood Courts. While I didn't make it all the way across Pleasant Valley to Rosewood Courts, the
Doris Miller Auditorium was only about a mile away. The Auditorium is named for the navy messman who shot down two Japanese planes during Pearl Harbor (played by Cuba Gooding Jr in the movie Pearl Harbor). The park contains a
log cabin built in 1863 by a freedman, Henry Madison and relocated to Rosewood Park during the 1960s.
Harrison Eppright is a certified Austin Tour Guide. He works at the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau. He leads walking tours of East Austin, the Driskill and downtown.
http://austintourguides.org/members/151/harrison-eppright/
