Texas Black History Preservation Project

1. Texas Black History Preservation Project Documenting the Complete African American Experience in Texas www.tbhpp.org

2. What is the TBHPP? The Texas Black History Preservation Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, incorporated in March 2007.

3. Our Mission Bessie Coleman Atlanta, Texas First licensed Black pilot in the world, and first Black woman to fly in the U.S. To document the comprehensive history of African Americans in Texas.

4. Our Vision Every student of Texas History – scholars, teachers, youth and adults in all walks of life – will be enriched and inspired by the complete record of African Americans in Texas and their contributions to the Lone Star State and beyond. Barbara Jordan Houston, TX Politician, Educator In 1973, became first Black woman from a Southern state to serve in Congress

5. Project Overview Produce a five-volume book series. Each volume will be accompanied by an interactive DVD containing links to reference materials, oral histories and other resources for educators and students at all levels. The Project goal is to produce one volume per year for the next five years. Lovie Smith Big Sandy, TX Football Coach First African American to lead a team to the Super Bowl (2006)

6. Subjects Overview • Esteban – A Moor, Esteban was in explorer Cabeza de Vaca’s group that ship-wrecked near Galveston Island. Once ashore, Esteban became the first African-born person to enter Texas. • “Afromestizos” – Spaniards brought Africans to colonial Mexico (“New Spain”) as slaves to work in the sugar fields and silver mines. New Spain probably had more enslaved Africans than any other colony in the Western Hemisphere. • Norris WrightCuney – The child of a white planter, Cuney became a powerful figure in Texas’ Republican circles – president of the Galveston chapter of the Union League, secretary of the Republican State Executive Committee, and the Republican Party’s national committeeman from Texas. Esteban the Moor First person of African descent in Texas (1528)

7. Subjects Overview • 761st Tank Battalion – During WWII, the unit trained at Fort Hood, near Killeen, and was called to Europe in 1944 to serve with Gen. Patton’s Third Army as the first-ever all-Black tank unit deployed for combat duty. • Flood, Curt – A Major League Baseball player and Houston native, Flood’s antitrust litigation challenging the baseball’s reserve clause was unsuccessful, however it led to the clause’s demise and ushered in the era of free agency for pro athletes. • Samuel McCulloch, Jr. – The Texas Revolution began in October 1835 with McCulloch, a free Black man, the first casualty when he received a shoulder wound as Texans captured the Mexican fort at Goliad. Lincolnville at Moccasin Bend Black community in Central Texas founded by freed slaves in 1865

8. Subjects Overview Black soldiers at Camp Logan Houston Riots– On August 23, 1917, members of the 24th Infantry, stationed at Houston’s Camp Logan, took part in what the U.S. Army calls the “Houston Mutiny.” The Black soldiers marched through downtown Houston seeking revenge on policemen for their brutal and racist treatment of the soldiers. One hundred eighteen of the unit’s soldiers were tried in a hastily-convened court-martial – the largest ever in the U.S. Thirteen of the soldiers were later hung near Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.

9. Subjects Overview • Rev. John Henry “Jack” Yates– The son of slaves, Yates was the first pastor of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, the first Black Baptist church in Houston, organized in 1866. He helped purchase Emancipation Park on Dowling Street and was instrumental in organizing the first Baptist association for blacks in Houston, the Old Land Mark Association. • Foxx, Jamie –The Terrell, Texas-born actor became the first African American to receive two Oscar nominations in the same year (2004) for two different movies, Collateral and Ray. He received the best actor award for Ray. • How slavery shaped the Lone Star State • Separate but unequal: Education in Texas • Great migration • Much, much more…religion, business, sports, education, politics, arts and entertainment, all things relative to Black Texans. Doris “Dorie” Miller Waco, TX Pearl Harbor hero First African American awarded the Navy Cross

10. African American Texans “The Black man must find himself as a Black man, before he can find himself as an American.”James Farmer, social activist, from Marshall There are 2.72 million African Americans in Texas:11.6% of the state’s population.(US Census Bureau) 14.4% of K-12 students in Texas are African American. (TEA 2006-07 Profile Report) 9.3% of K-12 teachers in Texas are African American.(TEA 2006-07 Profile Report) 11.7% of Texas college students are African American.(TX Higher Education Coordinating Board) 1860 Texas’ population: 30% enslaved African Americans.(Handbook of Texas Online)

11. Stories Waiting to be Told There is currently no comprehensive history of African Americans in Texas and relatively few published works about Black Texans. Heman Sweatt Houston, TX Landmark 1946 case led to integration of University of Texas Law School

12. Stories Waiting to be Told • Percentage of Black Texas History works in major • Texas History catalogues: • Houston Public Library, 4% - 115 of 2,799 volumes • Austin Public Library, 2% - 37 of 1,863 volumes • San Antonio Library, 1% – 64 of 4,705 volumes • Dallas Public Library, 0.7% – 28 of 3,845 volumes

13. Value: Knowledge and Growth “Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history… If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.” Carter G. Woodson, Black Historian, Founder of Black History Week Scott Joplin “The King of Ragtime” Texarkana, TX Entertainer, Composer

14. Value: Knowledge and Growth How will The History of African Americans in Texas help? • Fill in gaps in the existing historical record • Provide educators with resources for teaching Black Texas History • Provide a source of pride and inspiration for young students • Gain an eyewitness view of Texas history through the stories of Black Texans who helped shape it • Advance our understanding of social forces that continue to influence Texas today • Improve the cultural climate necessary for positive change • Bring a deeper understanding of what in means to be a Texan

15. Profiles: Black Texans Alvin Ailey Rogers, TX Dancer, choreographer, and founder of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater “I am trying to show the world that we are all human beings and that color is not important. What is important is the quality of our work.”

16. Profiles: Black Texans “Somebody will always break your records. It is how you live that counts.” Earl Campbell “The Tyler Rose” Tyler, TX First Heisman Trophy winner for University of Texas Longhorns (1977)

17. Profiles: Black Texans "For every point I'm given, I'll have earned two, because I'm a Negro." Jack Johnson Galveston, TX 1910 World Heavyweight Champion

18. Our Team: Editorial Advisory Board • Gemeral Berry, publisher, Our Texas Magazine • Gary Bledsoe, president, Texas NAACP • Dr. Maceo Crenshaw Dailey, director, African American Studies at UT-El Paso • Dr. W. Marvin Dulaney, executive director, Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture at Charleston University • Roland Hayes, history professor, Austin Community College • Dr. Joseph O. Jewell, sociology professor, Interim Director of the Race & Ethnic Studies Institute at Texas A&M University • Eva Lindsey, manager of Austin’s Victory Grill, one of the last live Chitlin’ Circuit venues • Paul J. Matthews, African American military historian, founder of the Buffalo Soldiers Museum in Houston

19. Our Team: Editorial Advisory Board • Harold McMillan, founder/director of Austin’s DiverseArts Production Group • Dr. Linda Reed, former Director of the U. of Houston African American Studies Program; former director for the National Association of Black Women Historians • Karen Riles, Austin History Center, and a leading expert on Rosenwald Schools • Dr. Harry Robinson, president and CEO, African American Museum in Dallas • Dr. Dwight David Watson, history professor, Texas State University • Dr. David Williams, author, “Bricks Without Straw” • Herman Wright, founder and president of MC3, producer: “The Long Black Line: An American Story”

20. Roxanne Evans Graduate of Drake University Reporter, editorial board member for the Austin American-Statesman In 1988, paper on “The History of Black Catholics in Texas” was placed in the highly-esteemed Schomburg Center Collection for Research in Black Culture in New York. Deputy press secretary for Gov. Ann Richards Writer for Dallas Examiner, African-AmericanNews and Issues and editor-at-Large for Our Texas Magazine. LeadershipCo-editor-in-chief

21. LeadershipCo-editor-in-chief Michael Hurd • Native of Texarkana, Texas • U.S. Air Force, Vietnam veteran • Graduate UT-Austin • Reporter: The Houston Post, Austin American-Statesman, and member of founding staff (1982) at USA Today • Author of “Black College Football, 1892-1992,” and “Collie J., Grambling’s Man with the Golden Pen.”

22. Funding Needs Project Cost = $250,000 per year to pay for: Research Writing Editing Contract services DVD production Travel Marketing Administration Supplies Fundraising

23. TBHPP is a Community Effort This project belongs to you! Our Current Partners: University of Texas Press The Trull Family Foundation of Palacios The Harold Simmons Foundation of Dallas

24. Our most important partner is you! How you can help • Make a cash donation • Get your service organization, school, church or alumni association involved • Ask your employer’s HR or Community Affairs office about a corporate donation to TBHPP • Tell your friends about the project • Let us put a link to TBHPP on your web site

25. Encouraging Words “History can still speak to us – provided someone keeps or brings it alive… I was pleased to learn of The Texas Black History Preservation Project and of the scholars and writers who are determined to fill out the story, to make the past whole, to keep alive those who would otherwise be pale ghosts in the background of events. I wish the Project well in this urgent endeavor.” Bill Moyers Journalist Marshall, Texas

26. Encouraging Words “I hope that you will join me in helping make this project a reality so that future generations of Texans will know the breadth and depth of the contributions African Americans have made to this great state.” Ron Kirk Former mayor of Dallas

27. Contacting TBHPP • Mailing Address:Texas Black History Preservation Project, Inc. 603 W. 13th St., Ste. 1A-212 Austin, Texas 78701-1477 • Phone: 512-527-3046 • E-mail:Roxanne Evans -- roxanneevans@tbhpp.org Michael Hurd -- michaelhurd@tbhpp.org • Web site:www.tbhpp.org

28. Thank You!