Window into the past
A faded photograph of hundreds of children lined up in front of the Paul Laurence Dunbar School on Clark Street in 1915 captures a moment in Houston’s past that many have never seen.
The two-story school, named for the famed Black poet, was razed many years ago and is now a freeway. If it weren’t for the photo, we might not know it even existed and, likely, it would be lost in time.
The school had a principal and some dozen teachers who were dedicated to educating Black children at the turn of the century, a time when such efforts were often futile given that slavery was recent.
The photograph is one of many images captured in “The Red Book: A Compendium of Social, Professional, Religious, Educational and Industrial Interests of Houston’s Colored Population,” which offers a rare look at the city’s Black community during 1915, just 50 years after June 19, 1865, or Juneteenth, when former enslaved African Americans in Texas learned of their freedom.
It lists teachers, lawyers, inventors, ministers and doctors with their salaries and addresses and even has in-depth profiles of some prominent residents. It’s loaded with statistics and data, much like an almanac. It also celebrates an educated and entrepreneurial Black middle class — men and women who worked to make a living and a life for their families, in spite of adversity.
It was published only once, then forgotten as the city grew and highways replaced landmarks, often carving away Black communities. The book was written by seven Houston residents who referred to themselves the “Board of Censors.”
“The Red Book shows us the way our city has changed for good and ill,” said Norie Guthrie, an archivist and special-collections librarian in the Fondren Library’s Woodson Research Center at Rice University. Since 2019, Guthrie has led the university’s ambitious project to extract data and details from the book for a free online interactive map, which allows researchers and those interested in genealogy and the city’s history to use the data for projects or personal research. The effort is funded by a Fondren Fellows grant and incorporated a team of researchers, including Rachael Pasierowska, who served as a Fondren Fellow until the project was completed earlier this year.
There is no book like it in any other U.S. city, said Guthrie, who poured through census records to confirm data, some of which could not be verified. She canvassed the city to photograph many of the addresses listed in the book to show what has replaced history. More than 900 names and addresses were extracted from the book for the project.
“It’s incredible how little people in Houston know what came before, not realizing this vibrant community was here,” she said. “There has been a very clear and purposeful decision to build through Black communities.”
Guthrie said as she walked the neighborhoods, she quickly discovered that many of the historical places were gone, replaced with highways, vacant lots or commercial buildings.
“I mostly kept running into interstate. People could actually walk from Fourth Ward to downtown, but when an interstate is placed in the middle of a neighborhood, it is difficult for people to move around. Our highway system has profoundly impacted how people move through this city.”
“The Red Book” contains a 10-page directory of businesses organized by type, including attorneys and postal workers. Many of the restaurants were run by women and based out of their homes. The list of businesses conjures images of a bustling community, with places like Dreamland Ice Cream Parlor and Cafe, which was at 613 San Felipe, or the shoeshine stand owned by Thomas Fletcher at 817 Congress with the motto, “We never close. Try us when others fail you.” The Rex Grocery, 606 Allston, which was owned by King Hughes, touted “more groceries for less money,” and Standard Tailoring, Cleaning & Pressing Co. at 220 San Felipe seemed to be the the place for hat cleaning.
There’s a section dedicated to clubs and lodges, such the Sisters of the Mysterious Ten, the Married Ladies’ Social Club and the Hotel Men’s Benevolent Association, which met the first and third Thursday of the month at the
Odd Fellows Hall at Crosby and Hopson.
The book’s list of professionals encompasses a variety of careers, such as C.G. Harris, an Arkansas native who moved to Houston in 1910 and became a noted photographer, and Dr. O.C. Garrett, a surgeon and 1904 graduate of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, who lived at 417 Robin. A midwife named Annie Hagen, who came to Houston with just 50 cents, amassed enough money to buy several houses, which were later demolished to make way for Interstate 45 and Allen Parkway.
There’s a grainy wedding photograph of the Rev. Elder James Pendleton, the founder of the
Church of God, and Lillie Bell Price. Their marriage in 1913 was deemed “among the most important Houston has produced, being attended by white and colored en masse.” According to the book, Pendleton started the church with one member and in six years was able to purchase a lot for $600 (roughly $16,000 today) to build a “beautiful” church. Interestingly, women were often listed under their
husband’s names, making it harder to trace their background.
A significant portion of the book is dedicated to the city’s churches and pastors, as religion was vitally important to the community. Also, the thriving spirit of many neighborhoods, such as Independence Heights, which became the first African American municipality in Texas, fills the book’s pages.
There are few remaining original copies of “The Red Book” — at Texas Southern University and the Gregory School in Fourth Ward. Available copies have been photocopied, bound and are available at the Rutherford B.H. Yates Museum in Freedmen’s Town.
Similar books came after, such as the “Negro Motorist Green Book,” of 1936, a guide for Black residents of New York to businesses they could frequent without facing discrimination. It was expanded nationally the next year and became the focus of the 2018 movie “Green Book,” starring Mahershala Ali.
“The Red Book” wasn’t cheap, selling on glossy stock for $3.50, which equates to nearly $100 today. But its value extends beyond money. It’s our history, particularly for the city’s Black community.
We know the major obstacle to tracing African American lineage is slavery, an institution that broke family bonds and made record-keeping nearly impossible. Also, the migration of Black people after slavery ended was often not documented in written form.
“The Red Book” could potentially fill in some blanks.
“This is a great resource for genealogists who are trying to trace their family history in a personal way,” said Fay Yarbrough, the project’s adviser and professor of American Indian, African American and Southern History at Rice University. “This gives so much more texture than people usually have and gives a glimpse into what life was like. These people made this book for a reason, and it does something to honor them by keeping this book alive. They would want people to know about them.”
‘Red Book’ offers rare glimpse of Houston’s Black middle class more than 100 years ago