historic black san antonio
1528
1528
1528
Mustafa Azemmouri, called “Estvanico” was an enslaved Moroccan born in 1500 and accompanied Spanish explorer Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca across the territory which would later be named Tejas. In 1527, Estevanico was aboard the Spanish Narvaez Expedition to establish a colony in "La Florida" and all unexplored lands to the north and west, including Northern Mexico by 1528.
1731
1528
1528
At eleven o'clock in the morning, March 9, 1731, fifteen families of fifty-five settlers from the Canary Islands filed before Juan Antonio de Almazan, Captain of the Presidio of San Antonio, who welcomed them the new settlement. Fresh food, supplies, and housing were provided until they could build their own houses and plant crops. Not long after their arrival, the Canarians established La Villa de San Fernando adjacent to the Presidio.
1850
1528
Buffalo Soldiers
In 1850 San Antonio reportedly had 168 black enslaved people among its population of 3,436. By 1860, there were 7,643 whites and 592 slaves. By 1870, the white population grew to 14,753 and 3,366 “Colored.” Of the 14,753 whites, 3,090 were reported as Mexicans. Slavery formally ended in Texas on June 19, 1865 when Maj. Gen. Gordon S. Granger arrived at Galveston with occupying federal forces and announced emancipation.
Buffalo Soldiers
Guadalupe College
Buffalo Soldiers
The Sundry Civil Service Bill of March 3, 1873, included a $100,000 allotment for a new army post in San Antonio on 93 acres of land deeded by the city. Development of the Government Hill neighborhood directly south of Fort Sam Houston began during the construction of the Army post in 1876 and is the oldest Historic suburb. The hospital, known as the Sam Houston House, was built in 1886 and the post was formally named Fort Sam Houston on 11 September 1890.
Guadalupe College
Guadalupe College
Guadalupe College
Elm Creek Baptist Church in Guadalupe County was renamed Sweet Home Baptist Church in 1906 after a storm damaged the first structure and the congregation moved to its present site in 1906. The Sweet Home freemen settlement formed around the church beginning in 1864 and was one of the charter members of the Guadalupe Baptist Association (GBA) which formed in 1872. Guadalupe College was established in 1884 by members of the GBA.
Sunset Station
Guadalupe College
Guadalupe College
In 1902, the Mission Revival style Southern Pacific Passenger Depot was constructed, which greatly increased the amount of commercial activity and development on the Eastside of town. Designed in the mission revival style with a curved gable, the ornate train depot sparked much of St. Paul Square’s commercial black business development around the station. There were a variety of businesses largely focused on trade and transportation.
20th century at a glance
Houston Riot of 1917
Houston Riot of 1917
Houston Riot of 1917
On July 27, 1917, the army ordered the 3rd Battalion of the black 24thU.S. Infantry to travel by train with white officers to Camp Logan in Houston. It was raining on the night of August 23, 1917, when a group of black soldiers took to the streets in Houston to protest their inhumane treatment and to avenge the death of a fellow soldier, but by the end of the night, 20 people would be dead. This would result in one of the largest court-martials in American military history and ultimately, the conviction at Fort Sam Houston and death by hanging of 19 black soldiers.
Okeh Records
Houston Riot of 1917
Houston Riot of 1917
George “Little Hat” Jones recorded the San Antonio blues anthem: “Cherry Street Blues” for Okeh Records with lyrics of a woman of his interest residing on Cherry Street located on the Eastside. Troy Floyd and the Plaza Hotel Orchestra were recorded live during a K.T.S.A. radio broadcast in the hotel ballroom in March 1928, sponsored by Okeh. Floyd’s eleven-piece orchestra played at the Plaza Hotel and gigged on-the-side at the ‘Shadowland,’ a notorious San Antonio speak-easy and one of the most successful jazz clubs in Texas.
Keyhole Club
Houston Riot of 1917
Rev. Claude W. Black
The first Keyhole club opened on November 3, 1944 to a racially integrated crowd, many of whom were stationed at Fort Sam, Kelly, and Brooks Field. The owner Don Albert also played with his orchestra at the Shadowland. It was heralded as “The South’s Leading Night Club" and played “Snappy Jazz Tunes.” Keyhole club joined a list of venues on the “Chitlin Circuit” that included Shadowland and Eastwood Country Club on the far Eastside. Notable names include Nat King Cole, James Brown, B.B. King, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, and many others.
Rev. Claude W. Black
Rev. Claude W. Black
Rev. Claude W. Black
Claude William Black Jr., Baptist minister and political figure was born in 1916 segregated San Antonio. For his junior year in college, he applied and was accepted to Morehouse College in Atlanta and travelled through Montgomery, Alabama and to Atlanta in 1933: “Stepping off the train at midnight, I had the feeling I was in a different kind of climate. The signs were more noticeable; the separation was more significant. I knew that I had moved from San Antonio, to Montgomery, Alabama and that I was moving into a different atmosphere, from the one I left…”
Julius Whittier
Rev. Claude W. Black
Julius Whittier
In 1969 Highlands graduate Julius Whittier was considered one of the greatest football players of all-time in San Antonio and was the first black player to earn a “letter” in football for the UT Longhorns. Whittier was born in San Antonio in 1950, his father Oncy was a doctor and his mother Loraine, a schoolteacher and community activist. During Whittier's college career from 1970 to 1972, UT won the 1970 national championship and the Southwest Conference title three years in a row. He earned a master’s degree in public policy in 1976 and attended the UT School of Law. Whittier earned a Juris Doctor from UT in 1980 and was licensed as an attorney the same year.
Percy Sutton
Rev. Claude W. Black
Julius Whittier
Percy Ellis Sutton, the youngest of the Sutton children was born in 1920 and became a well-known and prominent figure in black American history. Sutton was one of the original “Freedom Riders” and civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern U.S. in 1961. In subsequent years he challenged the non-enforcement of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions which ruled that segregated buses were unconstitutional. Upon hearing about civil rights leader Malcolm X, Sutton introduced himself, telling the activist that he would be his new lawyer and represented him until his assassination in 1965.
