Welcome to FLMA's Fourth Ward/Freedmenstown and

HISD Gregory-Lincoln/HSPVA Project Website

This basic website (no fancy HTML, no unnecessary plug-ins) has been designed for ease of use and contains project documentation as well as historical information about Houston's Fourth Ward. In addition, this website contains the community outreach items outlined in the joint Phase II research design developed by FLMA and Hicks & Company, including regular project updates. We hope that you will find this page a valuable resource about this unique neighborhood and HISD's ongoing efforts to redevelop the area in a historically aware and culturally respectful manner.

Suggestions are always welcome. Please direct these to Dr. McGhee at fmcghee@flma.org.

Project Brochure

Click here to download and view a pdf copy of FLMA's project brochure.

Superintendent's Advisory Committee Members

• Jew Don Boney
• Diana Davila
• Anthony Pizzitola
• George Parker
• Allen Ueckert
• Yvette Diaz
• Gladys M. House
• Rev. S.H. Smith
• Darrell Patterson
• Sylvia Brooks
• Willie E. Smith
• Ms. Jacqueline Beckham

General Background Information About Houston's Fourth Ward/Freedmenstown

• Prof. Cary Wintz has written a good introductory description of the neighborhood here for the New Handbook of Texas.
• Prof. Wintz has also co-edited Black Dixie: Afro-Texan History & Culture in Houston, a valuable collection.
• Prof. Robert D. Bullard, now of Clark-Atlanta University, wrote an important book about Houston in the 1980's. Entitled Invisible Houston, it still furnishes vital information about Fourth Ward and Black Houston in general.
• The Texas Historical Sites Atlas lists the official entry for the Freedmen's Town Historic District into the National Register of Historic Places
• Community Advisory Committee member Gladys House has posted a brief history of Freedmenstown on the Houston Progressive website.
• The same website has an excellent "Zine" (comic book style community oriented publication) containing a well written and drawn history of the neighborhood.
• Prof. Robert V. Haynes of Western Kentucky University has written the standard account of the Houston Race Riot of 1917. The worst riot in Houston's history, the incidents that led up to it took place in Freedmenstown. According to community leader Ms. Martha Whiting (a young girl at the time the riot took place), "the shooting began" in Freedmenstown at the corner of West Dallas (a.k.a. San Felipe St.) and Wilson St near the Jewish cemetery.
  • Although this book is available in most Texas libraries, it is difficult to find elsewhere. As a public service, I have posted a scan of Chapter 1 of the book online here. Please be aware that this "preview" contains copyrighted material and is provided for non-commercial purposes only. You can also get a used copy from Amazon.
• Several dissertations and M.A. theses discuss the history and culture of Fourth Ward, as well as Afro-Texans at large. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but a good springboard for further investigation. You can order copies of these dissertations from University Microfilms.
  • Sorelle, James M., 1980
    "The Darker Side of Heaven: The Black Community in Houston, Texas, 1917-1945." Ph.D. dissertation, Kent State University.
  • McGhee, Fred Lee, 2000
    "The Black Crop: Slavery and Slave Trading in Nineteenth Century Texas." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas at Austin
  • Passey, M. Louise, 1993
    "Freedmantown: The Evolution of a Black Neighborhood in Houston, 1865-1880." M.A. Thesis, Rice University
  • Park, Phocion Samuel, 1971
    "The Twenty-Fourth Infantry and Houston Riot of 1917." M.A. Thesis, University of Houston
  • Adams, Thomas Richard, 1972
    "The Houston Riot of 1917." M.A. Thesis, Texas A&M University

Buffalo Soldier Information

• Many people are still not aware that Houston has a Buffalo Soldier Museum of high quality.
• Interested in joining a Yahoo forum about the Buffalo Soldiers? This website defines itself as the "definitive source of information" about the Buffalo Soldiers.
• May as well complete the domain name round-up. Here is another website with information about the famous Black Soldiers.
• Where are the Buffalo Soldiers who served in Texas buried? Many of them are buried at Alexandria National Cemetery in Pineville, Louisiana, especially the Buffalo Soldiers who served in Brownsville. According to the VA, "there are 57 Buffalo Soldiers interred at the Alexandria National Cemetery. They represent the following units: 24th Infantry, 10th Calvary, and the 9th Calvary and are interred in Sections A, B, C, and R." Stated more correctly, there are 57 confirmed Buffalo Soldiers buried there. There are also many "unknown soldiers" buried at that cemetery (at least 1,500) a majority of whom are probably of African descent and were members of the famed regiment. Prof. Antonio Zavaleta of the University of Texas at Brownsville has written a provocative paper about these unknowns.
• For some photographs of the final resting place of the 1537 "unknown" soldiers who served at Fort Brown, as well as of Lt. Col. Francis Taylor, commander of Ft. Brown, click here. These photographs were taken by Dr. McGhee on June 2, 2005, at the Alexandria National Cemetery in Pineville, Louisiana.
• There are also a significant number of United States Colored Troops buried at the Baton Rouge National Cemetery, although the number of soldiers who may have served in Texas is unknown. Many of the burials at this cemetery are of soldiers and sailors who fought to capture Baton Rouge during the Civil War.
• Twenty-seven Buffalo soldiers from the 9th and 10th Cavalry who served during the Indian Wars are interred in Section PE of Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. Their remains were initially buried in the frontier forts where they were assigned, such as Fort Clark, Fort McIntosh, and Fort Ringgold. As these frontier posts were closed, the remains were disinterred and brought to San Antonio.
• Some recent archaeological excavations of the Pine Springs Buffalo Soldier encampment have been conducted in West Texas as part of a Buffalo Soldiers Archaeology Project.

Project Documents

• The overall research design for the project, written by Dr. McGhee can be downloaded here. This is a large file.
• The Phase II research design instrument co-written by Rachel Feit, M.A. of Hicks & Company and Dr. McGhee can be downloaded here.
• The project timeline can be downloaded here.

Oral Histories

• Ms. Gladys House has graciously given permission to post a brief video clip of her oral history interview on this website.
• Click here for Ms. House's interview (file is 18 MB large, Quicktime required).

Project Update #1

Project archaeologists conducted a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR for short) survey over three of four portions of the project area. The survey was conducted in rainy conditions between 13 and 15 July, 2005. Portions scanned included currently paved portions on the western edge of the existing Gregory-Lincoln School (the basketball court), the brick street portion of Andrews St. and portions of the area along the western edge of Andrews St. along the corner with Taft. Archaeologists also mechanically excavated a trench over "soil boring #19" which a previous archaeological company had indicated contained a small bone fragment and limited historic artifacts. Click here for a photograph of the trench, taken on 14 July. Despite the difficult conditions, project archaeologists were able to deduce:

• There were no burials found, either by the radar or via excavation, although the radar did identify subsurface utility lines
• Contrary to previous anecdotal and written opinion, Ground Penetrating Radar does work in the clay-laden soil environment of Houston
• Most artifact deposits are shallow, well within one meter of the surface

Project Update #2

A review draft of the GPR survey has been completed. Click here for a pdf copy of the draft, along with a transmittal letter from Rachel Feit of Hicks & Company to the Texas Historical Commission, archaeologically describing the two trenches unearthed in conjunction with the remote sensing sweep. J.K. Wagner and company have also finished their archival research for the site. Due to size constraints, the file reproduced here contains only section one of the archival analysis, although that section contains a summary of findings and interpretations. A full hardcopy of the study, as well as CD copies will be made available in the future.

Project Update #3

Archaeologists have begun excavation. Hurricane Rita interrupted project activities during the week of 19 September, but significant progress has been made thus far.

• Over fifteen gradall trenches have been dug throughout the project site (more to follow), and a field crew of ten archaeologists has begun manual digging, to continue to the end of the month. To date no human remains have been found
• KUHF Houston Public Radio conducted an interview with Dr. McGhee on Tuesday 4 October, 2005 (click on the "Fourth Ward Dig Moves Into New Phase" link) in which listeners were given an idea of some of the artifacts uncovered thus far.
• HISD students, University of Houston students, and project volunteers have been participating in the dig
• Sample artifacts include nails, bricks, bottles, pieces of shoes, pipes, toothbrushes, cut animal bone, ceramics, and various other forms of historic debitage. Almost all of the artifacts have been found at shallow depths. Culturally sterile soil (soil where there are no more artifacts) usually begins at about 70 centimeters beneath the surface, at deepest.
• A future town hall meeting, open to the public, will be scheduled for the future in which archaeologsts will brief preliminary findings