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Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Rice University virtually. Um I'm Fay Yarbrough and I'm an associate professor in the Department of History and I'm also an Associate Dean in the School of Humanities. And it's my privilege to welcome you. Um And to moderate this panel entitled The

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Red Book of Houston: An Early 20th Century Black Proclamation. We're joined by four panelists this evening. I will introduce them here very briefly because I know you'd rather hear from them than to hear me introduce them for a long time. Uh Then each Panelist will offer

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um remarks for about 10 minutes and then we'll open things up to your questions. Please feel free to use the Q and A feature to ask your questions. The chat has been disabled for attendees, but we're happy to answer questions via um the Q and A

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feature. So to um introduce our panelists. First, we are going to hear from Nori Guthrie. She is an archivist and uh and special collections li librarian at Rice University's Woodson Research Center. She's too modest to say it herself, but she really spearheaded and guided the data

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collection for the this project. She'll give you an overview of the red book and the associated website and then I'll put links to those in the um chat. Um Next, we'll have Cary Wentz who is a professor of History at Texas Southern University. Uh Wentz is

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the author of several books, including Harlem Speaks Black Culture and the Harlem Renaissance, African American Political Thought 1890 to 1930 in Texas, the Lone Star State. He plans to talk about the History of Fourth Ward in Houston. Um Our third pan Panelist will be uh Bernadette

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Pruitt, who is an associate professor of history from Sam Houston State University. She is the author of the other great migration, the movement of rural African Americans to Houston 1900 to 1941. And we'll discuss African American migration to Houston. Our final Panelist is Karen Kasi Trash,

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who's also a professor of history at Texas Southern University. Um She is the author of African Americans in Central uh in Central Texas History and has written about Lillian Horace Jones. She will talk about African American History and municipal District B. So without further ado here

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are our panelists. Let's begin with Nori Guthrie. Hi, everyone. Let me go ahead and um, share my screen. Ok? I hope everybody can see everything. All right. So I'm going to now kind of go through um the, the story map that we've created based on data

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that we were able to take out of the red book of Houston and for anybody who doesn't know the Red Book of Houston was created in 1915 by members of Houston's black community. And it was kind of a way to um show the changes that they

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had undergone in the last 50 years from um emancipation. So, go ahead and get started. So the red book itself is filled with um lots of addresses, home, addresses, business addresses, teachers, home, addresses, church addresses, schools, et cetera. And that has all been extracted and placed

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here um on the map. And so um we're gonna kind of keep going through all these different bits, but you can click on any of those points and um find more information, sometimes images too. So just to get this started, um we think about um within,

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throughout the book, there are biographies and within those biographies, there are um sometimes the uh participants mention when they moved to Houston and where they came from and this map represents that um you can see that um of course, most people are coming from inside Texas,

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but there are also others coming from um Louisiana and Georgia. And then here in this cluster map, it actually shows where people are coming from in Texas to come down into Houston. And I'm sorry that I'm moving fast, but um just wanna get through, there's a

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lot of, there are a lot of maps to look at. Um So first this is, represents all of the residences. Um blue, um are men, red are women. And that are kind of spread out over this 1913 map that we used. And then from the biographies

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people um, frequently mentioned what club or lodge that they participate. And while I would have loved to include all the particulars of those clubs and lodges, I felt like some of it was a little bit in the weeds since you would have like kop number 56.

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I don't know how much that means to a lot of people, but I thought instead maybe representing this through how many people are affiliated with a club and lodge. So if you click on those um diamonds, it will tell you who um participated in one and

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another thing that was, um, that people wrote about in the biographies, um were uh which church did they attended and here is a spread across um the 1913 map of the churches themselves. And then I decided to kind of make it a little bit more personal.

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And so, um, what we did here is that, um, so for Antioch missionary Baptist church, um we have, you know, the church we have where the pastor lives and then the little dots in red are the people that are attending the church and did this for

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kind of like the top five most popular churches. So for Antioch Re Bethel Baptist, though, they did not actually have a pastor at um listed in the red book at the time, Friendship Baptist Church Trinity. And, you know, you can, so when you see like kind

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of uh this information kind of piled on top of each other, um That means that you're the pastor is and is living like right next to um the church. So, and then moving on to schools, we have the schools that are across the city. Um Some

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of the, there was actually one that I could not map because I could not figure out where it was located. Um But that, that did occur sometimes when uh when going through the data that it was um the directions were not necessarily clear. Um And there

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may not always have been um street addresses. So um but this is like almost all the schools except one. And then for this in, in the kind of school section, there's a listing of all the teachers that teach at them. And so what you see here

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are the for the top, um basically the the schools with the most teachers, the top five and you know, you can click in here and see more information about the person, for example, like what they taught at the school, you can see how close they may

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have lived or not lived school here, Paul Lawrence Dunbar school and then Lucky grade school, moving on to businesses. There is actually a 10 page directory of business addresses and this is how they spread out um across the city. There were some that, um, went further

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than the map. Um, there were also some that were really hard to, um, locate. But, um, we tried our best and this is actually like my favorite map. One thing that I was really surprised by was how many women, um, owned businesses, um, mainly, um, restaurants,

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groceries and furnished rooms as they put it, you can slide this back and forth and get a sense of where they are. Then I wanted to focus on some of the top five, businesses that, um, had the most participation. Uh, so there's, um, barbers and barbershops.

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And so if you notice again that the red dot is on top of the purple diamonds and that means that most likely this person is actually, um, running this place out of their home or like right next door, clothes, cleaner and Pressers Express and dry. And

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if you're scratching your head, like, what is that? Now, I think we would call it logistics and if you're also scratching your head about what that is, um, it's, uh, basically moving things from one place to another. And, um, I found it really interesting that there's,

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um, kind of below the third ward here. There's a whole bunch, um, that are right here. I'm not exactly sure what the reasoning is on that. But, um, I, there's, there's lots of things that kind of pop up when you map, you have the groceries and

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then um, restaurants, um, you know, many of these um, restaurants are run by women and many are run out of their homes and then moving on to some personal stories um in the red book. So, um, some people that kind of stood out, um, when I

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first looked at the book, the person who caught my eye was a woman named um, Annie Hagen, who was a midwife, a nurse, also a businesswoman And she owned um, two properties here. She is with um some of her, some of her kids and um, her

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husband and the property that she had next door. Um, she used for her midwifery and nursing business. Um, but later in the c directory, uh it's, it shows that it's a place for furnished rooms. Um But one, another reason why she released it out to me

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is that most of the women in the book define themselves through their husbands. And she was the only one who really didn't do that and wrote about herself in the same way that men did, um, connecting herself to her occupation as well as direct family. Another

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one was, um Edward Pearson Senior. He was a teacher and publisher. Um, this picture I find to be really fascinating. It's one of the only ones that from the red book that seems to be taking place in a home and you can see a photograph up

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in the corner. Um, he, his parents were both, um enslaved. And um he grew up in uh Louisiana. He attended um Bishop College um where he also learned uh pri banking in 1906. He moved to Houston. Um He eventually taught the colored High school was the

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manager of the Western Star publishing co and managing editor of the Western Star. Um as it's described in the book as a, a newspaper for Texas Negro Baptist. Um One last thing, um I kind of want to leave everyone with is that kind of thinking about,

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you know, this red book is this thing from the past. But how does it kind of map on to our present? And um if you see here, you can actually zoom out and see other examples of this on the map. But um this is how kind

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of later on the um highway interstate system kind of broke apart these communities. Um I think fourth word really shows that here with these kind of black dots are places that um were, you know, no longer exists because the uh interstate is in the way and

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it kind of separated the community off from each other and then also from downtown and then to personalize this. Oh, that's not the right picture that's supposed to be there. There we go. All right. Um Just to kind of think about this. Um There's uh Reverend

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Me Robinson who was a pastor from Beaumont. And so where he lived now looks like this and Sam Seron, who lived on Man Street, he lived across the street from Principal Nat Q Henderson of the BK Brew school. If um Sam Seron was alive today and

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was able to look across the street, he would now see this. And then also there's just kind of the change that has happened in these neighborhoods. Uh John Brown Brown Bell who is uh one of the writers of the book. Um this is him in front

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of his property at 2121 German Street that is now Canal Street. And um so it does not necessarily look like it right now. Um Behind me when I took this photograph was a high rise apartment building. Um This little thing right here is actually a, an

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outdoor movie theater that has been set up and there's just kind of this um a lot of gentrification that's happened in this area which is um around uh navigation boulevard. So if you're looking at this and you're like, man, I can make better maps or I

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want to do something with this data. Well, you can actually go and download it yourself. It is all here available for whoever wants to do anything with it. And um I look forward, I'm gonna stop now and I look forward to taking questions at the end.

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Thank you. Thanks so much, Nori. Um So next, we'll have Doctor Cary Winz. Doctor Wins. I think you're muted. There we go. I'm sorry. Uh my, my assignment was to talk about the Fourth ward, the history of the Fourth Ward. We also can't see you, sir.

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Ok, there we go. Um I face the camera. The, the fourth ward of is not a, a as we conceive the fourth war today. This is not what it initially was. The fourth war today is kind of a, a AAA an area uh primarily viewed as

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uh really west of downtown and a little bit southwest of the uh uh northern part of downtown. Uh The wards were created uh early in Houston's history as uh basically city council districts. And, and initially, there were four wards. Uh The uh wards were divided geographically

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by the uh uh but across uh main street running north and south and Congress street running uh east and west, the fourth ward was on the south of Congress and the west of Main Street. So it, it, it covered what is now really the theater district

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downtown, the library downtown. Uh and then the residential area that would be along West Dallas and uh West Gray wasn't quite there yet when it was when it was set up. But uh ultimately West Gray as well. And uh it uh is distinctive from the other

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wards, at least it was in its early history because it contained uh a lot of downtown properties where a number of uh blacks, uh African Americans had businesses uh barbershops, but also law offices and so forth uh down uh you know, uh south of Congress Street.

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And so it stretched from the downtown area into the more residential area uh towards what, what we uh now consider the fourth ward. Uh It was also in the 19th century, the location of the principal, many of the principal institutions. Uh there was uh the uh

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Negro High School, the Negro Library, they uh that was uh uh funded uh externally uh the uh the first Negro Hospital. Uh And again, I'm, I'm using the terms that, that they used at that time. And so it, it had the institutions, it had the professionals

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and it had uh the first uh schools, particularly the first high school. And uh it had the uh first hospital. And if you know much about the history of African Americans in Houston, you know that this would all shift over time uh into the third ward,

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the hospital, riverside hospital, uh the uh first uh high school, which was where, what Ryan middle school is now. And ultimately the uh which housed uh the first juni about a colored junior college uh in the 19 twenties. That is the uh birthplace of Texas Southern

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University, which is in the third ward as well. But for the 19th century, the late 19th century, in the very early 20th century, the uh fourth ward was sort of the uh it, you can't call it e exactly the upper class because some of the uh

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wealthy blacks lived in the third ward as well, but it was the uh sort of the, the, the business center, uh and the most prominent uh area of the uh of, of the African American community. The fourth ward was and uh many of the most uh

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uh prominent African Americans uh lived in the fourth ward. Now, over time, this would begin to change. Uh I talked about the third ward. Uh also uh at the original four wards uh were uh again, they, they were sit what we would call today, city council

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districts. They were political districts. That's how they were set up as the city grew, uh particularly north of the bio, they added two additional wards. Uh the fifth ward to the northeast and the uh sixth ward uh to the northwest. Uh both uh again uh one

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to the east of Main Street, one to the west of Main Street, but basically on the other, the other side of Buffalo Baa uh the uh fourth ward uh though uh had a, had a mystique to it that uh the others did not. Um It was,

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as I said, uh the pla a, a center of education, a center of medicine and a center of business. Uh And uh it, if you look at, if you were to, if you could go into a time machine and go back to Houston, uh at this

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time, uh you in the 19th century you would find that uh the Fourth Ward was uh it was the place to be uh end of the 20th century, even though the black population became more uh dispersed. The Fourth Ward uh evolved and uh it was uh

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it evolved into the more entertainment district. Uh I'm sure most of you, you have heard of the Harlem Renaissance, uh the Harlem Renaissance, the great uh cultural literary uh theatrical musical uh movement that uh uh it is sort of uh not 100% accurately uh uh linked

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to the beginnings of black culture. Black culture began far beyond that. But the, the Harlem Renaissance, the, the, the, the one thing, the problem with the name Harlem Renaissance while it was uh uh centered in Harlem, perhaps it existed all over the country. And in Houston,

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if you, you, you know, you didn't go to Harlem for entertainment, but you went for the music, you went for the nightlife, you went to the Fourth Ward and uh like uh Harlem itself in New York City. Uh while it was patronized mostly by blacks, it

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was not patronized exclusively about by blacks. The uh sort of with it. Uh white folk also went to listen to live jazz music and uh drink illicit alcohol. Uh It's during prohibition uh in the Fourth Ward at that time, the Fourth Ward uh as we have

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already seen uh would suffer in po the post-war area uh era actually began suffering before world war two. The first uh institutional uh attack on the fourth ward was the creation of San Felipe uh village which was a federally funded housing project in the late thirties.

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Uh It was an all white housing project. It lays it, it, it covers it. Uh well, it, it was the uh fourth ward equivalent of Cooney homes and it was called San Felipe Courts. And uh while Cooney Holmes was for African Americans, the other two major

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housing projects, uh one in the fourth ward and one in the Fifth World War for whites. And so that was a, that took, that took housing stock, it was taken by the government and uh the federal government and it uh sort of the beginning of the

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end of the fourth ward. Uh as far as uh it's uh real cachet. Uh The second uh one we've already heard mentioned the building of the freeway system. Uh And, and, and I find it uh ironic that they're planning now to tear that down. Uh And

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interesting that the tearing of that down is now being protested by minority communities on the other side of downtown Houston. Uh But uh tho those two features, first of all, the, the housing project took homes away from African Americans. The uh freeway, cut it off from

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the downtown area, cut it off from the downtown area isolated it. Uh it also played a role in many of the uh historic events that took place in Houston. Uh The uh 1917 riots uh began in the Fourth Ward. Uh the soldiers uh who, who was

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arrested that sparked that riot was visiting a girlfriend in the fourth ward and he encountered the police and tried to prevent her from being arrested. And that sparked the riot. And the uh rioters actually marched uh down uh what's now San Felipe Street uh in through

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the fourth War uh into the downtown area. Uh you know, raising havoc of the soldiers who rebelled. Um So it, you know, most, most, if you talk to most African Americans in Houston at the, at the middle of the 20th century, the fourth ward would still

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be considered kind of, you know, it, it, it was the place and it's uh hasn't, you know, the, the the city has changed so much uh since that time. And uh I've mentioned several things that led to its decline. I think it equally important though was

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the decision of African Americans sometimes also prompted by white uh patrons who funded these things to move hospitals and particularly the major educational institutions out of the fourth ward. Part of this was natural uh in, in the 19 twenties, uh when the Houston was booming, uh

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there was a, a bond issue to create new schools and it's out of this bond issue that they created uh Santa Center High School and uh other uh high schools for whites the first iteration of the bond issue failed mainly because black voters voted against it.

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Uh And so they came back and they negotiated with the black community and they uh put it back on the ballot again, but it would also create new black high schools as well. Uh One basically uh uh Wheatley and Yates. And so uh that again, Wheatley

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is in the fifth ward. Yates is in the uh third ward. So that too helped mark the end of the fourth ward. Uh Fourth ward is still there today. Uh It's, it's changing even more right now. It's gentrified. Uh It's a an example of uh gentrification.

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Uh The shotgun houses are being replaced uh as rapidly as possible by expensive three story, two story three story townhouses. But it holds on to one thing. It is the location of the library and the African American archives. And so the fourth ward still hangs on

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to its glory uh in the 21st century. Thank you, Doctor Winz. Um Next, we will have uh remarks from Doctor Pruitt. Hi. Thank you very much. It's extraordinary being on this panel with my former professor Kerry Wentz. Um I took my first history class from Carry,

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I think in the fall of 1986. So it's just, wow, unbelievable. I can still see you sitting on a she did not sit where everybody else sat, there were a few seats on the side next to the window and she sat there the whole semester. I

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can still see her unbelievable, unbelievable historian Joe William Trotter tells us that migration is one of the most salient themes in the African American experience between 1915 and 1976 to 7 million African descent Americans fled the South, escaping Jim Crow, segregation, escaping rural poverty, escaping self

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debasement. Um for new horizons in the Midwest, like my grandparents in the northeast. Uh and of course West, primarily in uh California. But when we look at the Red Book, it challenges that prevailing theme because the Red book shows us prominently that hundreds upon hundreds of

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African American historians in 1915 were born outside of the city. Here's the reality, the majority of African Americans um were essentially living in the South. They remain in the South even when their siblings and cousins and nieces and nephews. And in some instances, uh parents fled

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racial segregation. So the Red Book clearly confirms this argument. Uh And in fact, scholars such as myself, Juanna Keto Luther Adams uh makes the argument that uh the majority of African Americans are remaining in the South and African American agency, which is often associated with the

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Harlem Renaissance, right in New York, or the Chicago Renaissance uh in Chicago uh uh or even political mobilization of our argument, even cultural consciousness. But our argument is that African American agency clearly begins in the South. And in truth, the agency that is highlighted and um

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uh the agency we're paying homage to tonight uh in in many ways, truly begins in the rural south among the emancipated former slaves, among their ancestors. And of course, we can link that back to West Africa. It is interesting that the African Americans who are highlighted

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in the red book, as I said, a moment ago are migrants uh from largely surrounding communities. Uh The cotton belt that surrounded Houston uh surrounded Western Houston. Um the mixed economy belt, uh cotton and lumbering um that surrounds north, I would say probably Northeastern Houston. And

00:31:54.560 - 00:32:22.170

then you also had significant numbers of African Americans who are fleeing the Northeast timber belt. But who were these African Americans? They are the ancestors, the elders of African Americans who are in Houston today. Today, Houston is home to 1.1 million uh African Americans and, and,

00:32:22.180 - 00:32:44.324

and again, I'm speaking of greater Houston, OK, which encompasses I think seven surrounding counties. When we look at Houston proper, just Houston alone, we're talking about five 110,000 African Americans. And this is a community uh that comprises uh the descendants of the red book uh settlers.

00:32:44.334 - 00:33:08.165

Um those individuals who migrated to the city during World War Two, it includes people like myself, uh people who are part of the return migrants of the return migrations. Uh African Americans who are often um returning home sometimes in reverse order. OK? Um Back home to

00:33:08.175 - 00:33:29.180

the south. It also includes uh those Caribbean Americans, uh who will make their way into the city, West African Americans, who will ultimately make their way into the city. Um in uh the mid, well for Caribbean Americans, West Africans, late 20th century, but the point I'm

00:33:29.189 - 00:33:55.180

making the Houston that is celebrated today is uh one of the best places for African Americans. Uh and people can point to uh education levels of african-americans homeownership uh among um upwardly mobile African Americans, um this sense of community agency, all of this, even for those

00:33:55.189 - 00:34:16.294

who have come here in the last 30 to 40 years, we can trace those elements of community agency back to, to those individuals who are highlighted in the red book. People like Julia Hester, uh Julia Hester was the wife of a minister, uh a graduate of

00:34:16.304 - 00:34:41.118

Spelman Institution which ultimately becomes Spelman College. Uh She was a dedicated school teacher and upon her death in the 19 forties, African Americans um create the Hester House, a community center for African Americans. So, III I think it is very important that we have such a

00:34:41.128 - 00:35:04.333

moment like this to remember consciously remember um those elders who gave so much who did not live to see desegregation, who did not leave live to see the Karen Ksi cherish shes who will ultimately earn their phd S from Rice University. Uh But without question, it

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is because of uh the prayers and the hopes of these individuals who are highlighted in the red book that we ultimately have the Karen Cosi Cher shows that we ultimately have the Yvonne Davis Spear. Uh So I, I think I will stop there. Uh Thank you

00:35:20.444 - 00:35:39.709

very much. Thank you so much, Doctor Pruitt. I feel like maybe Doctor Pruitt is also a minister in another life based on how she presented just now. Um So last but not least, of course, uh we have Doctor Karen Cassy Turners and I wanna make a

00:35:39.719 - 00:36:02.354

correction. Um He contributed to the edited volume, Recovering. Uh No, she edited Recovering five generations. Hence the life and writing of Lilian Jones Horace. And she contributed to um the volume African Americans in Central Texas History uh edited by Bruce Glassford. So without further ado here

00:36:02.364 - 00:36:35.879

is Doctor Karen Kasi cherish. Thank you very much. I am going to pull up a slide presentation. Give me one second, please. OK. OK. So the red book, um I remembered being introduced to it or finding out that it was there when I started my graduate

00:36:35.889 - 00:36:53.199

studies at Rice University. Now, my initial reason for wanting to look at the book was to see if I could find any trace of African American Pentecostals, the, the group that I was studying for my phd dissertation. Um I was early, you know, this is my

00:36:53.209 - 00:37:09.250

first uh major project in history. And so I was still learning how to do history and I was even learning how to examine different texts. Right. And so the first thing that I want to point out is that, you know, I was reading it from cover

00:37:09.260 - 00:37:25.370

to cover, but again, it's a compendium and it's, it was not, it has a lot of historical information in it, but it is not necessarily a historical, you know, it's not history monograph, like you would read something that's focusing on a particular area or person or

00:37:25.379 - 00:37:43.310

whatever. So I really had to try to learn how to use it. Um When in that early phase of my uh research, I didn't find much on African American Pentecostals. In fact, I didn't find anything. I did find names of people who were affiliated with District

00:37:43.320 - 00:37:59.540

B, which is what I'm gonna talk about, extensive uh more extensively. So, again, as I, no noticed here, as I note here on the, on the slide, this was one of the first books I Perusse. Again, it was rich in detail. Um But there was not

00:37:59.550 - 00:38:16.070

much on the subject that I was looking for. Um So as we, as I continued, the research that I was doing, I had to really go to individuals. I had to do a lot of interviews with people, many of whom are no longer with us. Most

00:38:16.080 - 00:38:31.929

of the folks that I started interviewing in the 19 eighties, when this idea of doing a book on African American Pentecostals came to mind, I started to uh interview folks that I knew. And again, most of those people are now deceased. So another thing that I

00:38:31.939 - 00:38:51.360

looked at another project that I tried to find information on was the Works progress administration. So there are narratives, there, there were narratives that were taken from formerly enslaved African Americans. But there again, there was nothing on African American religion in Texas because and this is

00:38:51.370 - 00:39:11.129

something that happens sometimes. Um the funds that were used to support this project ran out before they were able to do interviews and, and to collect any data on black religion in Texas. Now, those of you who may be familiar with Wallace best's work on Chicago.

00:39:11.139 - 00:39:27.060

Well, lucky for him, they had collected a lot of narratives related to African American religion in Chicago. But the same is not true for Texas for the group that I was looking at. The only scholar who had really paid any attention to African American Pentecostals was

00:39:27.100 - 00:39:44.560

Zora Nee Hurston. And most of her research was done on uh the southeast coast and not necessarily again in Texas. So I had to look at um look at newspapers, local newspapers for information, but most of it, as I said, came from interviews with individuals or

00:39:44.570 - 00:40:00.409

from the personal archives of people whom I met, like Mother Allen, who eventually became Doctor Allen. Um she was inspired by, I was inspired by all that she was collecting. She was inspired by the fact that I was earning a phd at Rice and she decided

00:40:00.419 - 00:40:15.739

to work on her doctor of ministry at Houston Graduate School of Theology and made history as the oldest student to graduate from there. I also met Glenda Goodson who has, who had a wonderful collection in her garage that I helped her to organize. She now has

00:40:15.750 - 00:40:33.290

a center um that she established to study African American pentecostalism. So what ends up happening is that I find property records and it's through the property records that I start to look at where these churches are and the more I looked at them, um A lot

00:40:33.300 - 00:40:48.590

of them are in district B so some of the ch uh the first one of the first churches I looked at was actually in the fourth ward area. It's the oldest African American Pentecostal Church, independent Pentecostal church in the, in the fourth ward area. It's called

00:40:48.600 - 00:41:03.489

Zion Temple Church of Holiness. And now it's New Zion Temple and it's right on Ruthven and Gillette. And so if you go to the f fourth ward area, you will still see the, the church there. It actually has a historical marker. Uh And another uh very

00:41:03.500 - 00:41:18.909

old African American Pentecostal Church is in what we call Cashmere Gardens. And that church was established by the late bishop J RJ L Parker. In fact, as I was taking my walk around the park, I ran into one of his uh senior members who is still

00:41:18.919 - 00:41:34.479

lamenting his death. But um Bishop falls in the fourth word area, he becomes the, the leader of a fellowship that has about 70 churches. It had about 70 churches in it when he was alive. He, the title of it was the name of, it was a

00:41:34.489 - 00:41:52.050

worldwide fellowship and his um younger contemporary Bishop Parker. He had a lot of what he calls spiritual daughters and sons, but he never tried to establish a denomination. But there are a lot of uh local people who have um what we would call a spiritual connection

00:41:52.060 - 00:42:08.929

to, to his ministry in district B. So the what's interesting about Zion Temple? If you look at the, the zip code, you see 77019, that is where River Oaks is, right? So this is, that was District C but most of the churches that I'm I looked

00:42:08.939 - 00:42:23.350

at are uh I discovered as I mapped them, they were in district B now district I learned a whole lot more about district B when I ran for Houston City Council. And it was when I had to go to all these different um communities. And what

00:42:23.360 - 00:42:37.850

was really interesting was to see how people, regardless of where they were in the district, they knew folks in other parts of the district. So the oldest portion of the district that would have been affiliated with early Houston was the fifth ward area. OK. And so

00:42:37.860 - 00:42:53.350

um a lot of activity is, is a lot really happens. Um Fifth Ward is really important to a lot of cultural, political and social history as you will see in a couple of slides. But what I wanted to do is show you the mayors of Houston

00:42:53.649 - 00:43:11.719

um from 1972 to the present. And the goal, the reason I did that was because I wanted you to be aware of the council mem members who served, who were African American in district B. And so Judson Robinson is the first and he is a council

00:43:11.729 - 00:43:41.399

member from 1972 to 1979 Ernest mcgowan from 1980 to 1993 Michael Yarborough um from 1994 to 99 Carol Mims Galloway, uh Jarvis Johnson. Um Let me move this thing here, Jarvis Johnson and sorry. Um Jerry Davis and now Tasha Jackson, who's serving district B when you

00:43:41.409 - 00:43:55.919

look at district B, you see and, and I want you to compare it to the other two maps that you see to the side. It's sprawling, it's a sprawling district, right? Um So campaigning in a district that is uh disjointed in the way that it is,

00:43:55.929 - 00:44:15.514

is, is pretty hard work. So the freeway system that uh Kerry mentioned um it, it cuts through a lot of district B in fact, highway 40 f uh 45 does 45 north and also 59 I 10, all of these are cutting across district B and so

00:44:15.524 - 00:44:32.229

again, that uh that, uh that is gonna be part of, that's one of the, uh the stories we talk about when we talk about African American communities in Houston being disrupted by the construction of the freeway system. If you compare them to say district C, you

00:44:32.239 - 00:44:51.600

see a much um more manageable kind of uh area here and also district uh d where um Texas Southern University is, you'll see a difference in the mapping in, in those uh of those districts. I wanted to just kind of make you aware of some of

00:44:51.610 - 00:45:13.659

the names that are associated with district B uh and faces we see Judson Robinson, Barbara, Jordan, Mickey Leland, um Ernest mcgowan, Senfronia Thompson, who's the long, the second longest serving representative in the State of Texas, James Douglas, a former uh pre uh president of the N

00:45:13.669 - 00:45:30.439

A AC P and also a former president of, of Texas Southern Ruth Simmons. And, and so many uh peacock records even for cultural history in Tawana Steptoe book. She talks about uh a lot of the, the cultural aspects of Houston and in the Fifth Ward area

00:45:30.449 - 00:45:51.270

in particular. And again, Carol Mims Galloway and Tasha Jackson. There are a lot of African Americans who are making major contributions in various areas to uh cultural and political history who are coming from district B. Um The area was predominant, it's still predominantly African American, but

00:45:51.479 - 00:46:08.709

the Latin X community is growing significantly. And you'll also notice that there that the um according to the, the census, the earnings of people in the district are uh going up and what we're seeing is more people coming from other parts of the city. Some are

00:46:08.719 - 00:46:24.209

moving back, uh whose parents may have bought homes in various uh areas of district B there are also some newer communities that are, that are being established. So the the area overall is becoming much more cul culturally diverse. It was already culturally diverse, but it's even

00:46:24.219 - 00:46:39.780

more. So I know the community that my parents uh bought their home and now it's more than, it's more than, it's for sure about uh 45% Hispanic. And there are other groups represented as well. And so here you'll see um the zip codes that are associated

00:46:39.790 - 00:46:57.070

with District B and some of the contemporary issues that you think of. When you think of African American life in Houston, you'll see that a lot of them emerged out of District B, for example, I'll look at 77029 where um you had, excuse me, 77078 in

00:46:57.080 - 00:47:14.939

the cus area. Doctor Robert Bullard of Texas Southern University. He launched the environmental justice movement. Of course, he wasn't, he didn't realize he was launching a movement then, but there was an issue with um solid waste and so solid solid waste management was actually dumping. Um

00:47:15.000 - 00:47:32.790

you know, in an area in a middle class area in 77078 off of 610. And so that entire think about it, he's gotten uh uh award an award from the United Nations and that project started in District B in a predominantly African American community. There are

00:47:32.800 - 00:47:49.479

other things that are in District B that some people are not aware of. Houston, the the airport is in District B. Um Also in 77029, there's an ongoing study from uh Professor Dean King. They're looking at air quality in, in Pleasantville. Uh And I was already

00:47:49.489 - 00:48:05.669

mentioned um S Frana Thompson, who's the se the second longest serving um representative for the State of Texas, she's out of District B. And of course, our mayor uh Sylvester Turner also hails from District B from the acres homes area. So it's uh a very rich

00:48:05.679 - 00:48:21.879

area of Ruth Simmons as well. I already mentioned there are a lot of people, a lot of events that are significant to African American history that happened in this um in the District B region. So the final statement is that it is ripe for an in

00:48:21.889 - 00:48:42.750

depth study and the question is, who's going to do it? Thank you. Thank you so much, Doctor Kasi Trev. OK. So now we're to the point that I think people are most interested in our audience is most interested in and that is asking questions of our

00:48:42.760 - 00:48:59.389

panelists. So I'd like to remind everyone again. Uh Please use the Q and a feature, we have some questions there already um, to ask questions of our panelists and I will um help moderate these questions and get them to the, um, to the right person to

00:48:59.399 - 00:49:14.939

answer them. So we already had questions coming in pretty much from the beginning. So, um, I'm not even going to do what I usually do, which is I usually cheat and get in line first and ask my own question. But I'm in the interest of, of

00:49:14.949 - 00:49:30.909

getting to some of these other ones. Um So Josh Furman says, you know, this is an amazing, amazing project. What do you think are some of the more interesting findings or conclusions we learn about Houston's black community at this time by mapping all of this data.

00:49:30.989 - 00:49:49.879

So I think probably Nori is the first person um who should answer. But I think uh because our panelists are familiar with the source, if you, if everyone could say a little something about what um our audience members can gain from looking at um the red

00:49:49.889 - 00:50:05.810

book as a source. So go ahead and kick a sophomore. Um Yeah, ultimately, I think, um you know, presenting that data is in the hopes that other uh experts can look at it and um get their own information. Um But I, I, one thing I think

00:50:05.820 - 00:50:22.310

that I mentioned while I was presenting was um the rate of female business um ownership was really high. Um I thought that was just, you know, interesting and that, you know, many of those were taking place like in the home or next to the home. Um

00:50:22.320 - 00:50:36.889

I, I just, for me, that kind of really struck out when I was going back to that data and I saw that kind of pop out. I, I was, I was quite surprised, I mean, pleasantly surprised, improve it. You seem like you want to say something.

00:50:36.899 - 00:50:59.485

Yeah, please. No, I was just gonna point out that uh certainly this collaborative project shows us that it is a diverse African American community. It's very interesting that in the 21st century, we're grappling with issues of race and uh caste. And um where do African Americans

00:50:59.495 - 00:51:22.409

fit in this country? This is an ongoing question historically, this has been an ongoing question but it's interesting that when you go back 50 years after emancipation, blacks are opening businesses, they are committed to teaching uh teaching their Children. Uh It is Reverend uh Nell Nell

00:51:22.679 - 00:51:46.284

I believe or Pelham, Re Reverend Ned Pelham, um who in Fourth Ward will help to establish people sanitarian in 1911. And that in, in many ways becomes a precursor uh to Houston Negro Hospital um that opened in 1927. So African Americans are determined to prove to

00:51:46.294 - 00:52:15.689

the world that they are legitimate uh that they are deserving of citizenship equity even while masking their feelings and their frustrations and anger because this is 1915 during the period of Jim Crow segregation. Thank you. Uh Doctor Kasi cherish, would you like to chime in? Yes,

00:52:15.699 - 00:52:28.770

I was trying to find a page in the red book that I, that really stood out for me. It was in the, one of the, one of the first uh sections where the writer was, was making it very clear that he was not trying to write

00:52:28.780 - 00:52:45.739

uh a race narrative. Um And he was actually saying that um the races as he, as he described them were getting along well. And I was reading that and going, wow, so in 1910 and nine, you know, and it was this 1915 15 when this book

00:52:45.750 - 00:53:01.699

is being published, he's talking about the races, quote getting along, you know, and it, it really, it, I just, it just kind of struck me, especially given uh a lot of the discussion that we have now the discussions that we're having now about race. And so

00:53:01.709 - 00:53:20.679

it's, it's interesting to read how the editor was thinking about race relations that early in, in Houston. Uh I found it really striking, especially given again some of the developments that we will definitely have and that we're, we're, we're certainly in the, in the center of

00:53:20.689 - 00:53:38.469

Jim Crow. And in fact, in that, at that time, some are describing um this period as the nadir of, of African American history. So I, I just found that uh pretty striking. I was just trying to find those pages. Um, looking, I perhaps before we finish,

00:53:38.479 - 00:53:56.860

I'll find the exact section. But if you read the introduction, you'll, you'll see, it's at the beginning of the narrative where he's describing what his project is, what his aim is. And, and, and, and after that introduction, Emmett Scott, uh presents a narrative. So again, if

00:53:56.870 - 00:54:15.209

Emmett Scott, uh who is a native Houstonian who is Booker T Washington's personal secretary, right? Uh If he's part of this, certainly African American appeasement is going to be central. Do you think we were, do you think they would have been able to publish this uh

00:54:15.340 - 00:54:33.729

if, if they were uh n ac P activists? Yes or no. Although I, there's a, there's another argument that comes to mind, but I will, um I say that for a little later, but an extra point, Karen, I just found it necessary to say, you know,

00:54:33.804 - 00:54:47.945

don't expect any, you just got the impression that, well, don't expect any protest, uh kind of language coming out of this book. That's not what this is about, but I have to say that I appreciate. Um It, some of it may be part of uh the

00:54:47.955 - 00:55:02.290

kind of Zora Hurston approach that, you know, the, the, the world is my uh oyster and, you know, I'm gonna take out a pearl and I'm just not gonna, you know, pay attention uh to some of the horrific things that actually may be happening you know,

00:55:02.300 - 00:55:14.530

so there was, there was this sense that yes, you dealt with certain kinds of issues if you were African American, but you certainly weren't gonna talk about them and make a big deal about them. So, I, I'm just wondering where some of that, uh, whether, whether

00:55:14.540 - 00:55:33.889

it's part of, part of that tradition of, um, you know, standing strong and, and moving forward and just not paying attention in an open way to the discriminatory environment that they were certainly living through. I'd like to, you know, just add a couple of things. Uh

00:55:33.899 - 00:55:49.330

First of all, uh I liked what Karen talked about about myth and so forth. And the, the one thing I always told my, my students and I'm sure Bernadette remembers this history is not what you think it is, it's what you find it to be and

00:55:49.340 - 00:56:15.010

that, you know, it, we do have to move beyond the myths. I, I mean, the Red book is a tremendously rich source of information, but it also has some pretty significant flaws. Uh There is a, a statement on page three that basically is embracing segregation and

00:56:15.020 - 00:56:36.419

racial separation uh and, and urging people not to challenge the uh racial segregation of the time. Uh The, the I'm sure most of, you know, that, that, that there were a number of red books for on, done on different communities. And uh there were also a

00:56:36.429 - 00:56:53.840

number of blue books done. Uh There's a Blue Book of Houston that came out about the same time. And so this, this was a really, it's, it was a commercial venture, uh really to sell subscriptions and make money. But it, it, I don't know if this

00:56:53.850 - 00:57:20.479

was their intention or not, but they provided a truly wonderful source for future historians. Uh, but they were certainly not challenging in any sense, the uh uh status quo, the racial status quo. And uh, it's, uh, they strive, I think to be very a polit on

00:57:20.489 - 00:57:47.969

that feature. And I was kind of, um, I was stunned when I saw that little, uh, snippet in there, uh, that is urging people, uh, not to, uh, challenge uh, racial separation. Yeah, but, and that, no, go ahead. No, I was gonna say that. Keep in

00:57:47.979 - 00:58:09.989

mind this is 1915, 2 years later, we're gonna have the Houston riot and I actually, there are actors in the red book who will, uh, distance themselves from many of the central players here. Um, two people who come to mind are Henry Mims born in Brazoria

00:58:10.000 - 00:58:33.620

County in the 18 seventies, moves to Houston. Uh, he is hired, uh by the post office, uh, and Mason Patten, uh, is also hired by the post office in 1913 in Chattanooga. Uh, they are going to establish, uh, the Federal Postal Office, um, employees uh, union.

00:58:33.790 - 00:58:57.530

This union is still in existence today and then this is in 1913 when they established the union actually. But later they will help to establish the Houston branch of the NAECP that's in 1918. So the there is a consciousness and Mims and Mason uh Patton are

00:58:57.540 - 00:59:22.879

cognizant of the Wilson administration and how the Wilson administration in 1913 segregates everything. So this is why they established this Federal Postal Workers Association. So on the surface, certainly everybody's adhering to appeasement. What choice do they have? But underneath the surface, there are layers of tension

00:59:22.979 - 00:59:38.219

without question, Bernadetta. I wasn't saying that Estonians were doing that. I was saying the people who put the book together that they were uh they were a commercial venture. They did not want to get kicked out of the city. So they made it very clear that

00:59:38.229 - 00:59:58.699

they were trying to be a political. But on the other hand, by creating the book, they were political. Well, the fact that they would even need to say that they're being a polit. That's not surprising in 1915. Uh you know, the, the three years later, you

00:59:58.709 - 01:00:20.020

have some of the worst racial violence in, in uh in, in American history and you have Houston's big riot two years later. And, and the Houston riot is not a typical riot. It is actually an attack on the white community by people fed up with racial

01:00:20.030 - 01:00:42.889

discrimination and, and, and ra and violence against their comrades. But we also have to keep in mind that in Houston uh black educators and, and professionals were trying to, they were trying to implement um Washingtonian philosophy, right? The whole se you know, fingers on a separate,

01:00:42.899 - 01:00:59.500

like fingers on a hand, you know, they really are trying to, to make that work. Um And so you will find uh that it, it takes, it takes a moment for some of the leaders to actually embrace um more progressive ideas uh as, as far as

01:00:59.510 - 01:01:18.330

segregation is concerned. And so it's, it's great that the Red book is there because you can actually see from when we've come. Right. Uh And the other thing that you see is that you do have African American professionals, uh leaders uh fully engaged and making the

01:01:18.340 - 01:01:39.080

best out of the Jim Crow world that they live in. And so I say even more, they're creating a world and they're creating a city within a city. Yeah, you're right. I, I agree 100%. Um We've had a number of questions um about how folks can

01:01:39.090 - 01:01:56.000

um research their own families or use the red book in conjunction with census materials or um that, you know, that kind those kinds of questions. So if any of our panelists would like to speak to how um someone might turn to the red book to try

01:01:56.010 - 01:02:13.000

to fill in the details of, of their lives and, and connect it to other kinds of records. You're nodding your head, Doctor Pruitt, please go ahead. Yeah, I, I was actually trying to get in contact with Mrs Horton's. I think her last name is called Patrick.

01:02:13.010 - 01:02:36.287

She is the granddaughter of Henry Mis a retired school teacher, uh, Purview graduate who's actually, um, doing a family, uh, history, uh, looking at her family and her grandfather's legacy. Uh, so certainly the Red Book provides you with a basis to study and familiarize yourself with

01:02:36.297 - 01:03:02.467

Black Houston. Uh, certainly, for me, it was about understanding who these individuals were um tracing um their birthplaces. Uh and then trying to find these individuals in the census. So these individuals uh people like John Bell, uh who was born in, I think he was born

01:03:02.477 - 01:03:24.384

in 1859. So these individuals are certainly going to be in the 1900 census, 1910 census, 1920 census. And, and, and then for individuals who were either emancipated as Children or they're the Children of emancipated slaves, um those individuals will more than likely make their transition um

01:03:24.404 - 01:03:48.420

in the thirties, forties. Um So the point I'm making you can locate individuals uh by finding them in the census. Uh So finding them in the Harris County census for uh let's say 1920 then moving backward. And because the red book tells you uh where these

01:03:48.430 - 01:04:07.889

individuals were born now, you know, you can go to that County manuscript census. So the census is a Godsend. So our city directories, I was gonna say, pay attention to the places um that, that are, that are located, that are already there, that are listed. That's

01:04:07.899 - 01:04:20.449

a great way to start. Um, because, you know, history happens in a place people live in a place, so pay attention to those spaces. So if you, you know that a relative grew up in uh one of the wards that, that, that's covered in the red

01:04:20.459 - 01:04:37.659

book. Well, you know, it's, it's you, you know, that you at least have a beginning there and you can begin to explore that particular place. Thank you. Um Do we have uh one of the um attendees wants to know if we have any sense of how

01:04:37.669 - 01:04:57.909

many um how much of the black population of Houston in 1915 is represented in the red book, right? So is it, does it represent? Yeah. Right. A percentage based on what we know or? Right. Oh Nori has, has popped in Iii I looked it up when

01:04:57.919 - 01:05:15.580

I saw that question because the um the population is given in the red book as 30,000. And so based on the data that I was able to take out of kind of MAPP all people there are people that are mentioned but like maybe they on they

01:05:15.590 - 01:05:35.709

don't have a first name. There's just an initial like it's hard to find who they are. Um There's approximately 900 that I at so um so it's not, it, it's not a nearly like complete um view, but it it is a, a smaller percentage but, but

01:05:35.719 - 01:05:50.409

it's still not, not, it's not bad. It's not, not a bad number. I think it's important to remember too that um there are that the city of Houston is annexed in the 19 forties. I think it's 1948. So there are black people just beyond the perimeters

01:05:50.419 - 01:06:06.350

of the, the areas covered by the red book who are living breathing, having Children, you know, and all of that. So it, you know, it, you're only getting um a portion of the African American community represented in, in the book. Um But the the black community

01:06:06.360 - 01:06:29.379

in Houston, what becomes greater Houston is much larger. Very good point. I think it's in 1947 when um Houston expands, but you have Independence Heights uh which is north of Fourth Ward. Uh It is annexed in 1929 but it is an incorporated community going back to

01:06:29.389 - 01:06:49.756

1915 black owned homes, business persons who are represented in the red book. I think it's fair to say also that the red book represents probably the upper middle class, the middle class, fluent African Americans. Uh So uh one might say, well, there are gonna be people

01:06:49.766 - 01:07:05.956

who are invisible, that is true to an extent, but their churches are represented. But still one could say, well, uh maybe the storefront churches are not represented, maybe these are the elite churches that are represented. But then you can look at other sources such as welfare

01:07:05.966 - 01:07:28.451

applications that would provide you with an oasis of uh material that does pay homage to working class African Americans obituaries. So you can use a red book in conjunction with other sources to begin to map out Black Houston in its totality, I think black cemeteries uh

01:07:28.461 - 01:07:42.840

as well. Yeah, there are a number of Black cemeteries in Houston and if, if you just take a drive to Houston and particularly in, in throughout district B, you will find a lot of rural land, you know, so you can see where people uh they had

01:07:42.850 - 01:07:55.810

the house, but then there was always a lot on the side, the Cashmere Gardens area, for example, you will find a lot of houses with an extra lot. Well, what was that extra lot for it was to plant um a garden to grow things, right? And

01:07:55.820 - 01:08:11.250

so, and or there are other places that are still again inside Houston inner city uh where you will find, you know, horses being kept, right? Because a lot of that was considered quote the country before the city expanded in the 19 forties. So you'll still, you

01:08:11.260 - 01:08:27.750

know, it's Houston is, is the red book is a great introduction, but there's so much more beyond that, that, that you're able to explore, especially once you move out of um the the chronological perimeter of, of the red book, which is 1915. The other thing to

01:08:27.759 - 01:08:48.790

remember is that the, the Houston that existed when that book was done changed radically after World War Two. I remember because I'm older than all of you uh when I was a child and we, you know, like 89, 10 years old and we would drive to

01:08:48.799 - 01:09:06.208

Galveston and you couldn't get, there was no freeway connector where the, you know, the 45 thing is. Uh and then you drove along the street and that was driving the same thing as driving down west Dallas. What's the third, what, you know, the third ward east

01:09:06.219 - 01:09:23.850

of main street all along there was like, we, we, we had as many shotgun houses and, and, and little groceries and everything else that the fourth ward had. And so the uh red book focus is mainly on the fourth war. It's interesting but, but not, not

01:09:23.859 - 01:09:43.830

exclusively but uh we, we, you know, that all of these things changed and they changed because, uh you know, we, we saw with the fourth word institutions, a white housing project, a freeway uh along uh the third ward, they was in the heart of the third

01:09:43.839 - 01:10:06.180

war. What much closer to downtown than TSU is, are cooney homes. Cooney homes was built as a black uh housing project. But the uh area to the, to the uh north of that was, was shotgun houses and uh you know, a thriving uh black working class

01:10:06.189 - 01:10:27.750

community. Yes. Well, um I see that the hour is growing late and I um wanna be respectful of the time of our panelists and of our attendees. So I'd like to thank all of you for these wonderful presentations and for sharing um some important history about

01:10:27.759 - 01:10:42.255

the, the uh the city that we live in and um for some of us, the communities that we're from. So I to thank all of our panelists for these really thoughtful presentations. Again, I point our attendees to uh the links that I put in the chat

01:10:42.266 - 01:10:55.456

so that you can access some of this information yourself. So if you would like to learn more about what's in the red book, um and to do some of your own research, perhaps academic, perhaps uh personal. But again, thank you so much for joining us. Thank

01:10:55.465 - 01:11:08.731

you to all of um I'm so sorry, we could not get to these questions. You, the attendees were fast and furious in their typing. I feel terrible that we can get to some. So uh all of these questions. But I think it goes to show how

01:11:08.742 - 01:11:22.151

interested people are in this resource and in the information that our panelists provided this evening. So thank you so much for joining us um and have a good evening, everyone they say and lori for inviting us.