The Texas Freedom Colonies Project's newest feature series #MappingMonday will be highlighting our own Atlas map along with various maps that are highlighting the stories, needs and issues plaguing black settlements. Our first feature is the brainchild of our very own team member Jennifer Blanks. Jennifer is leading research on natural disasters' impact on cemetery [...]
This webinar focuses on the unique challenges faced by African American farm families regarding the transfer of land from generation to generation. Program speakers discuss the importance of and the power inherent in land ownership by African American farmers. They provide historical perspectives highlighting the growth of African American farm ownership from Emancipation until [...]
The Texas Freedom Colonies Project's mission is to locate unmapped freedom colonies, preserve their socio-economic and cultural assets, and support their descendants' efforts to preserve their own communities. We are proud to announce the receipt of a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA/NIFA) and The [...]
Black Settlement Storytelling, Dallas African American MuseumShare your stories using paper forms!Add memories, origin stories, images, and more by email or mail!We at the project are happy to make available survey forms you can print and distribute. Here are easy steps for downloading, completing, and returning them:Steps: 1) Download the [...]
This day is celebratory for most but as for descendants of black settlements and formerly enslaved people, this day holds a much different meaning. On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a keynote address at an Independence Day celebration and asked, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Douglass was a powerful orator, [...]
A presentation from Jennifer Blanks on the Texas Freedom Colonies Project!
An afternoon of creative experiments and ideas featuring artists, scholars, & cultural organizers who are actively advancing black freedom.About this Eventfree/conjure/black is a communal mediation, a spirit-sourced intervention, a virtual ring shout calling forth a perpetual and inevitable throughline of prismatic black freedom. free/conjure/black centers the rich legacy of the Weeksville community and movements for black sovereignty [...]
If you missed our event at the Schomburg Center you can view it here!
Check out the rest of the reading list with links here
JUNETEENTH: Creating Legacy in Contested PlacesWe will examine the artful negotiations of formerly enslaved African Americans and celebrate the persistent pursuit of freedom.Join us as we examine the artful negotiations of African Americans in the aftermath of the Civil War and news of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation finally reaching enslaved people in Galveston, Texas [...]