--- Houston Freedmen's Town and the Plantlets ---

 


Each plantlet is from the original plant taken from a razed line of row houses near West Dallas & Taft.

My goal is to give these "plantlets" to as many folks as possible.  It may not seem like much, yet this was
the last thing remaining, shortly before the ground was scraped clean for new construction. 

It is a small way to remember part of a unique community that continues to erode with "progress" and a reminder of the current Freedmen's Town preservation struggle.  Plantlets are a different way to bring awareness to this information, action and heritage.

If you are interested in caring for a Freedman's Town Plantlet, please email the address below. 


FREEDMEN'S TOWN

Houston has the last African American "freedman town" community in the United States that continues to be occupied by descendants of the original emancipated founders.

After 1865, freedman's town emerged post-civil war when freed African Americans settled in the area known as Houston's fourth ward after emancipation, leaving the plantations where they had been enslaved and were drawn to the opportunity for their community and employment offered in Houston.

For more thorough info, please visit: the handbook of texas on line or read about the current preservation struggle, please see the links (at right)... 


 

 

 


The Fight for the Fourth
(From the Houston Chronicle)


Historic Houston Neighborhood Falls to Renewal
(From the New York Times)


Freedmen's Town Threatened
(From houstonprogressive.org)
 

Rice Students Archaeological Dig of Freedman's Town Relics
(From the Houston Chronicle)
 

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