Orange Mound, Memphis (1890- )

Orange Mound is an African-American neighborhood located in the southeast part of the Memphis, Tennessee. Orange Mound is the first African American community built solely by and for African Americans. Orange Mound was built on the John George Deaderick Plantation. Deaderick purchased 5,000 acres of land … Read MoreOrange Mound, Memphis (1890- )

The History of Allensworth, California (1908- )

In the article below retired California State University, Fresno historian Robert Mikell explores the history of the only all-black town created in the Golden State.  He traces that history including the role of its principal founder, Colonel Allen Allensworth, from 1908. Allensworth, the first town … Read MoreThe History of Allensworth, California (1908- )

Freedmen’s Town, Houston, Texas (1865- )

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- )

Frenchtown Houston, Texas (1922- )

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- )

Hunters Point (San Francisco)

Hunters Point is a neighborhood of southeastern San Francisco set on a peninsula jutting into the San Francisco Bay.  The neighborhood is adjacent to the site of a former naval base, the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard.   Hunters Point has become an economically underdeveloped neighborhood of … Read MoreHunters Point (San Francisco)

Fort Worth, Texas, Where the West and the South Meet: A Brief History of the City’s African American Community, 1849-2012

In the article below, Fort Worth historian Richard Selcer introduces us to the African American community which has been a presence in this city since its founding in 1849. Fort Worth, Texas’s black community has a distinctive if not unique history.  Fort Worth was a … Read MoreFort Worth, Texas, Where the West and the South Meet: A Brief History of the City’s African American Community, 1849-2012