African Americans

In 1850, Travis County recorded a population of 3,138 residents, of whom 2,336 were white, 791 were slaves and 11 were free Blacks.  A decade later, the population more than doubled to 8,080, and by this time 38% was African American with 3,136 slaves and 13 free Blacks.

While African Americans make up only 10% of Austin's total population today, the long-standing influence of this ethnic culture weaves across the community, from politics and sports to music and dining.

Shortly after emancipation, Gov. Elisha M. Pease gave some of his plantation land along what is now Enfield Road in West Austin to former slaves, in hopes they would continue to live near his mansion and work for him.  The area became known as Clarksville when it was permanently settled in 1871 by Charles Clark, a freedman.  Former slaves also established the Kincheonville, Masonville and Wheatsville communities.

Sweet Home Baptist Church, organized some time before 1882, served as Clarksville's community center with Rev. Jacob Fontaine as the first minister.  A school opened in Clarksville in 1896 with 47 students.

When a dam was constructed on Lake McDonald, now Lake Austin, in 1893, areas along the city's western edge became the desired area for development, and Clarksville's land value rose.  City officials began to concentrate Austin's Black population to the east side of town and pressured communities such as Clarksville and Wheatsville to move.

While most residents of Clarksville today are Anglo American, descendents of some of the neighborhood's earliest settlers remain.  In 1976, Clarksville was included on the National Register of Historic Places.  A historical marker also stands outside Sweet Home Baptist Church at 1725 W. 10^th Street.

Austin's rise to becoming the educational center of Texas began in 1881 with the start of both the University of Texas and Tillotson Collegiate and Normal Institute.  Samuel Huston College began offering classes for African Americans in the 1890s. Huston and Tillotson colleges later merged to become an important institute of higher learning for a predominantly African American student body.

The Sweatt vs. Painter decision in 1950 led the University of Texas to become the first southern university to admit Blacks as undergraduates.  Despite the landmark decision, in 1957 UT student Barbara Lewis Smith was banned from a campus production of "Dido and Aeneas" because of her race.  Smith, now Barbara Conrad, went on to become an internationally acclaimed opera star.  The annual Heman Sweatt Symposium on Civil Rights is held each spring on the University of Texas campus.

A former professor at UT's LBJ School of Public Affairs became one of Texas' most famous political leaders in the 1970s.  Barbara Jordan, the first Black elected to the Texas State Senate since Reconstruction and the first Black woman elected to Congress from the South, drew the national spotlight with her booming voice and oratorical skills during the Watergate hearings.  The Houston congresswoman retired from politics in 1979 and returned to Austin. She is buried in the Texas State Cemetery and the passenger terminal at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport bears her name.

Austin's music scene evolved from a crossroads of cultures and intensified in the jazz joints and blues houses of East Austin.  By the late 1920s, performers such as Duke Ellington and Count Basie strutted across the stages of the Cotton Club and others.  Families gathered in Rosewood Park to listen to the acclaimed L.C. Anderson High School jazz band.  Famed pianist Erbie Bowser called Charlie's Playhouse "the swankiest place in Austin at the time."

By the 1960s, the era of jazz gave way to the blues, and Johnny Holmes' Victory Grill was the place to be.  The late Stevie Ray Vaughan credited his legendary talent to the old bluesmen that mentored him in east side clubs. While many of these music landmarks have long since closed, the Victory Grill (1104 E. 11^th St.) opens for special events, and TC's Lounge (1413 Webberville Rd.) continues to be a favorite venue for Austin's live music scene.

SPECIAL INTEREST SITES:

George Washington Carver Museum & Cultural Center

1165 Angelina St

Austin TX 78702

512-472-4809

Built in 1926, the city's original library was moved to this East Austin location to serve the needs of the African American community as both a library and neighborhood museum. Following an extensive renovation and expansion, the Carver Museum reopened last year with excellent exhibits devoted to the area's African American heritage, including Juneteenth celebration and local families.

ANNUAL EVENTS: