Houston's African American Community In Photographs
The Images of America series of Arcadia Publishers offers readers the opportunity to explore the diverse, local character of American life through small, uniformly-bound collections of photographs and texts. Books in the Images of America series feature African American communities in places such as Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, Milwaukee, Pine Bluff Arkansas, and many others. The Washington, D.C. public library system has a strong collection of African American related books which has allowed me to visit many communities through the Images of America volumes.
Ronald Goodwin's book "African Americans of Houston" (2013) is one of the best and most recent in the Images of America series. The book consists of an excellent collection of photographs of Houston together with a nuanced ahd perceptive historical discussion. Goodwin is a young historian with an interest in urban history and in the African American communities of Texas.
The book taught me both about Houston and about its African American community The opening pages of the book concentrate on photographs of a growing downtown Houston during the early years of the 20th Century. Goodwin shows a strong interest in studying the public places of city life and in emphasizing their importance to the community. He discusses how the city tried to present itself as a lively, diverse metropolis in its urban spaces while minimizing the presence of African Americans and subjecting them to the rules of Jim Crow. Goodwin also shows a fascination with urban transportation, especially with streetcars. He offers many photographs of Houston's once-flourishing streetcar system, which could easily be the subject of a separate Images of America book. He describes how streetcars and other means of public transportation discriminated against African Americans and their neighborhoods. African Americans frequently were not allowed on the streetcars or on public transit. There were some African American cars and some cars that allowed segregated seating.
The book also focuses on Houston's African American communities which began to flourish in the city just after the Civil War. There are pictures of unpaved, litter-filled streets, which the city did not maintain in the early years, and long rows of identical cheaply constructed houses. Goodwin discusses the effects of Jim Crow while he also emphasizes the strong positive aspects of African American life during the years of segregation. He presents photographs of African American businesses, professionals, theaters churches, libraries, and schools.He shows local events such as parades which instilled a sense of neighborhood. Goodwin argues that the community developed a substantial degree of cohesiveness and economic strength during the segregation years. With the civil rights era, many African American businesses faded as members of the community became welcome elsewhere and as middle-class residents abandoned the once strong local areas for the suburbs.
The book discusses educational opportunities in African American Houston. Goodwin presents photographs of old segregated primary and secondary schools and of trade schools for the training of beauticians. His primary interest, however, is in the growth of college and professional education. As Goodwin indicates, in 1946, an African American man, Heman Sweatt, represented by Thurgood Marshall, went to the Supreme Court to secure admission to the University of Texas Law School. In an attempt to avoid an unfavorable decision, Texas established a college for African Americans in Houston called Texas State University for Negroes,later renamed Texas Southern University. TSU plays a large role in this book as Goodwin offers photographs of students, professors, athletic events, and presidents of the institution. Former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan was a TSU graduate and developed her formidable ability as a public speaker through the school's debating program.
Goodwin discusses the desegregation of Houston in the 1960s. Although there were protests in the city and harsh police action at TSU, the city integrated relatively peacefully and quietly. African American leaders worked behind the scenes with city businesses and government officials to provide for a low-key end to Jim Crow.
This book offers a brief, insightful look at Houston and at its African American community and its history.
