Historically African-American communities and settlements
Historically African-American communities and settlements, known in various areas as "Freedom Towns" or "All-Black towns" were established by or for a predominately African-American populace.[1] Many of these municipalities were established or populated by freed slaves either during or after the period of legal slavery in the United States in the 19th century.
In pre-segregation Oklahoma, many African-American migrants from the Southeast found a space whereby they could establish municipalities on their own terms. Chief among them was Edward P. McCabe, who envisioned so large a number of African-Americans settling in the territory that it would become a Black-governed state.
Monroe Work's Negro Year Book editions included a listing of "Negro Towns and Settlements in the United States."[2]
List
Places marked in italics are no longer populated. Places marked with * are absorbed into larger cities.
Alabama
- Africatown
- Benson / Kowaliga, Alabama
- Hobson City, became Alabama's first self-governed all-black municipality in 1899[3]
California
- Abila, California[4][2] (Abila Station)
- Allensworth
- Bowles, California[4]
- Victorville, California[4]
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Louisiana
Maryland
Massachusetts
Mississippi
Nebraska
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
Oklahoma
- Boley
- Brooksville
- Clearview
- Grayson
- Langston
- Lima
- Redbird
- Rentiesville
- Summit
- Taft
- Tatums
- Tullahassee
- Vernon
Pennsylvania
- Indian Run
- Laurel Hill[5]
- Rosedale*[6]
- Six Penny Creek[7]
Tennessee
- Boxtown*[8]
Texas
Source:[9]
- Antioch Colony
- Armstrong Colony
- Barrett Station
- Cedar Branch
- Clarksville
- Cozy Corner
- Cologne
- Deep Ellum
- Fodice
- Grant's Colony
- Hall's Bluff
- Independence Heights
- Kendleton
- Saint Johns Colony
- Shankleville
- Tenth Street * Historically called Oak Cliff or Oak Cliff Negro District to distinguish the segregated freedman's town from the ethnically white Town of Oak Cliff.[10]
- Upshaw
- Wheatville
Virginia
- Freedman's Village - Freedman fully evicted by U.S. Army by 1900, now part of Arlington National Cemetery
- Hall's Hill
- Green Valley
- Queen City - Demolished during construction of the Pentagon
- Arlington View - Originally named Johnson's Hill
See also
References
- ^ "The Legacy of Freedmen's Settlements in Texas".
- ^ a b "Negro Yearbook". 1925.
- ^ "Alabama's oldest black city fading away". Lodi News-Sentinel. May 26, 2009. p. 12. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
- ^ a b c Hamilton, Kenneth Marvin (1991). Black Towns and Profit: Promotion and Development in the Trans-Appalachian West, 1877-1915. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-01757-5.
- ^ "Untold Stories Introduction". ArcGIS StoryMaps. 2024-04-01. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
- ^ McDevitt, Cody (2015-11-09). Banished from Johnstown: Racist Backlash in Pennsylvania. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4396-6884-9.
- ^ "Six Penny Creek Community - Iron Allentown Wiki". wiki.ironallentownpa.org. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
- ^ Graduates, University of Memphis (2019-09-16). "Boxtown: The Land of Broken Promises". StoryBoard Memphis. Retrieved 2025-06-09.
- ^ txfcp. "Home". The Texas Freedom Colonies Project. Retrieved 2025-04-28.
- ^ txfcp. "Home". The Texas Freedom Colonies Project. Retrieved 2025-06-03.