The following are short descriptions of the places which have contributed to the shaping of African American history. These encyclopedia entries serve as a starting point for much more inclusive descriptions and discussions that appear in other sources. For additional information please consult the print or website sources cited in the entry.
Constructed in 1910 with a grant from Andrew Carnegie’s library development program, the Carnegie Library of Mound Bayou, Mississippi was the first free public library intended for African Americans in the state of Mississippi and one of the first African American public libraries in the country. It served … Read MoreCarnegie Library, Mound Bayou, Mississippi (1910-1935)
The East Henry Street Carnegie Library is a branch of the Live Oak Public Libraries in Savannah, Georgia. It originally opened in 1914 as the Colored Carnegie Library, one of twelve segregated public libraries in the south funded by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and one of the earliest African … Read MoreEast Henry Street Carnegie Library, Savannah, Georgia (1914- )
Compton is a city in Southern California, located in south Los Angeles County. Compton was settled in 1867 by thirty pioneer families led by Griffith Dickenson Compton, after whom the city was named. The first black families came to the city just before World War … Read MoreCompton, California (1867- )
Freedmen’s Town is a nationally registered historical site. The site was originally a community located in the Fourth Ward of Houston, Texas that began in 1865 as the destination for former enslaved people from surrounding plantations in Texas and Louisiana after the Civil War. Freedmen’s … Read MoreFreedmen’s Town, Houston, Texas (1865- )
The prohibition of alcohol in the United States during the early 20th century didn’t really affect the nightclubbing scene in Los Angeles, California, especially in the Culver City area during the 1920s. Sebastian’s Cotton Club, at the intersection of Washington Boulevard and National Street, was … Read MoreSebastian’s Cotton Club Culver City, California (1926-1938)
Frenchtown, a community built in 1922 in Houston, Texas, was constructed by hundreds of Creole descendants of free French, Spanish, and African people living in southwestern Louisiana in the eighteenth century. Coming to Houston for economic opportunities, they settled and created this community because of … Read MoreFrenchtown Houston, Texas (1922- )
Villa Lewaro, built by Madam C.J. Walker in 1918, is a thirty-four-room, 20,000-square-foot mansion located at Fargo Lane and North Broadway in Irvington, New York. The estate is situated near the resident of the Franklin D. Roosevelt family on the Hudson River. Walker, a self-made … Read MoreVilla Lewaro, The Mansion of Madam C.J. Walker (1918- )
1140 Royal Street, New Orleans, Site of the LaLaurie “Image Ownership: Public Domain” The LaLaurie Mansion, located at 1140 Royal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, is famous as the site of the torture and murder of a number of enslaved people owned by Marie Delphine Macarty … Read MoreThe LaLaurie Mansion 1832
The largest number of African American townships after the Civil War were located in Oklahoma. The state was promoted as a ‘safe haven’ for Blacks by both local and national leaders. As a result, between 1865 and 1920, dozens of townships and settlements were founded … Read MoreDeep Greenwood (Tulsa), Oklahoma (1906- )
Albina is a neighborhood located in Northeast Portland, Oregon that for most of the 20th century was home to the majority of the city’s African American population. Before it was annexed into Portland in 1891, Albina was a rapidly growing city on the east side … Read MoreAlbina, Portland, Oregon (1870- )
