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How Urban Renewal Destroyed Freedmen's Town: Houston's Black Wall Street

  



In the middle of downtown Houston — not far from the glass towers and busy freeways — lies a neighborhood most people pass without a second thought.

But look closer.
Under your feet, those red bricks aren’t just streets.
They’re history.

This is Freedmen’s Town — a neighborhood built by formerly enslaved Black people after the Civil War. They laid every single brick by hand. They built homes, churches, schools, and businesses. Most of all, they built freedom.


A Place Built From Freedom

After slavery ended in 1865, newly freed Black families had to start over with nothing. No land. No protection. No help from the government. But what they did have was each other — and a deep desire to live free.

So they moved west of Houston’s bayou, bought land, and created their own community. That place became known as Freedmen’s Town. It was more than just a place to live — it was a place to thrive.

They didn’t wait for freedom to be given.
They built it themselves.



Black Excellence Before It Had a Name

By the early 1900s, Freedmen’s Town was booming. Black doctors, lawyers, teachers, and business owners ran the streets. Churches like Antioch Missionary Baptist Church and Bethel Baptist Church weren’t just for worship — they were community centers, schools, and safe spaces.

Every brick you see in the street?
It was made and placed by Black hands.

That brick road wasn’t just for walking — it was a statement:
We are here. We matter. We built this.

When “Progress” Meant Erasure

In the name of urban development and modernization, countless historically Black neighborhoods across the U.S. were systematically dismantled — and Freedmen’s Town in Houston is no exception. What was once a thriving epicenter of Black culture, business, and resilience became a casualty of policies masked as "progress."




One of the most damaging tools in this systemic erasure was the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC)’s residential security maps of the 1930s. These maps categorized neighborhoods based on perceived investment risk — and unsurprisingly, predominantly Black communities like Freedmen’s Town were labeled as “hazardous” (coded in red). This process, now widely known as redlining, effectively denied residents access to mortgages, business loans, and public investment.


But redlining didn’t just cut off economic opportunity — it laid the foundation for government-sanctioned displacement. By branding Freedmen’s Town as undesirable, it became an easy target for urban renewal projects in the decades that followed. Under the guise of infrastructure improvement, major highways were deliberately routed through Black neighborhoods, a practice seen in cities across America.


In Houston, this meant bulldozing homes, businesses, and churches to make way for freeways — erasing much of the physical footprint of Freedmen’s Town, and with it, generations of cultural memory and heritage.

The narrative was framed as “progress,” but in truth, it was displacement by design.

The Fight to Remember


Today, only parts of Freedmen’s Town remain. But the fight to protect it isn’t over.

Organizations like the Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy are working to save what’s left. They’re restoring old homes, protecting brick streets, and telling the stories of the people who made this place special.

Because this isn’t just Houston’s history —

It’s American history.


Why It Still Matters

Freedmen’s Town isn’t just about the past.
It’s a lesson for the present — and a blueprint for the future.

It shows what Black people can build when left to live freely.
It reminds us that every brick, every church, every family matters.
And it asks one question:

How do we protect the places our ancestors built?





If You Visit Freedmen’s Town:

  • Walk the brick streets on Andrews and Wilson.

  • Visit the remains of Bethel Church.

  • Take a guided tour with the Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy.

  • Or just stand still — and feel the power of what was built there.

Don’t let the legacy get lost.

Because every brick tells a story.
And that story is ours.

 

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