The Texas Freedom Colonies Project

TEXAS CULTURAL LANDSCAPES SYMPOSIUM 1:00 - 2:00 pm — Making the Invisible Visible: Rural Cultural Landscapes  Hilton Waco, Brazos Ballroom This panel discussion will focus on the identification, documentation, and preservation of rural cultural landscapes in Texas.  Dr. Perky Beisel will share her work with the Voices from Small Places project, which focuses on collaborative, community-focused documentation of the history of places in Texas with fewer than 100 residents. Dr. Andrea Roberts, the founder of the Texas Freedom Colonies Project, will discuss her efforts to protect vanishing communities established by freed slaves in Texas between 1866 and 1920. Sandro Canovas will discuss the cultural importance of adobe to West Texas and the importance of keeping this indigenous building method alive.  His activism has been featured in a recent documentary, which reinforces his message that Adobe is Political.  Moderator: Evan Thompson / Preservation Texas ...

Equity + Freedom's Footprint in Dallas Freedman's Towns from UTA CAPPA on Vimeo . November 18, 2017 Organized by the David Dillon Center for Texas Architecture College of Architecture, Planning, and Public Affairs University of Texas at Arlington Equity + Freedom’s Footprint in Dallas Freedman's Towns is part of the Physical City Track of the festival. That track deepens understanding of how Dallas was historically built to keep groups separate by race and income, and explores what ideas create spaces that bring people together. Andrea Roberts, assistant professor at Texas A&M University and founder of the Texas Freedom Colonies Project, is the keynote speaker.

Announcement! TAMU Scholar Testing Online Black Settlement Atlas, Launching Statewide Survey  The Texas Freedom Colonies Project invites you  to participate in a statewide study & to test a new mapping application! Learn How to Access Portal Here SITE GOES LIVE THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2018, 10 am Dr. Andrea Roberts (The Texas Freedom Colonies Project Founder) and her research team, are excited to announce the launch of a new crowdsourcing project: The Texas Freedom Colonies Atlas along with a survey of settlement locations, preservation activities, and culture. Since 2014, The Texas Freedom Colonies Project has documented Black settlement heritage and grassroots preservation practice among descendants of these historic communities. Freedom Colonies are everywhere, hidden behind the pine curtain of the rural countryside and beneath the concrete landscapes of Houston, Austin, and Dallas. A large number of freedom colonies were never mapped or became "ghos...