LibGuides: African and African Diaspora Studies: Black Communities in Texas

Reference and Bibliographies

Handbook of African American Texas
The Handbook of Texas Online is the best starting point for information about the history of Texas. Features special section on African American Texas.
African-American History Resources - Briscoe Center for American History, UT Austin
This subject bibliography will familiarize researchers with the many resources relating to African Americans in Texas available at the Briscoe Center.

African American Resource Guide (PDF) - Austin History Center, Austin Public Library
Sources of information relating to African Americans in Austin and Travis County at the Austin History Center

Exploring the Afro-Texas Experience: a bibliography of secondary sources about Black Texans by Bruce A. Glasrud; Laurie Champion
Publication Date: 2005
This is a broad-based compilation of source material on African-American history, folkways, fiction, films, and politics in Texas.

Archives

Black Diaspora Archive, UT Austin
The Black Diaspora Archive (BDA) is a collaborative project at The University of Texas at Austin, supported by LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, Black Studies, UT Libraries, and the Office of the President. Established in 2015 and housed at the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, the BDA collects documentary, audiovisual, digital, and artistic works related to the Black Diaspora of the Americas and Caribbean.
Huston-Tillotson University Archives
The Huston-Tillotson University Archives serves as the long-term repository for the institutional records of the University. This is includes yearbooks, administrative reports, board reports, photographs, publications, recordings, correspondence and more.
Prairie View Interscholastic League Collection
The Prairie View Interscholastic League Collection is a repository of documents, photographs, records, etc. relating to the PVIL and its history, from its inception in 1920 as a separate African American high school competition organization from the all-white University of Texas Interscholastic League until 1970, when it formally disbanded and rejoined the UTIL.
San Antonio Black History Collection, 1873-2000, 2018 (bulk 1950-1963)
The San Antonio Black History Collection is an artifical collection created by UTSA Special Collections. The collection consists of printed materials that reflect African-American life in San Antonio in the 20th century. Many materials come from San Antonio funeral homes, schools, and churches.
Texas Archival Resources Online (TARO)
Use TARO to search archival collections from institutions across the state of Texas. Be sure to notice where the archive is located (not all of them are in Austin). Let me know if you have questions about access!

ATX Barrio Archive
A community archive celebrating the culture & history of Austin’s Black & Brown barrios.
DJ Screw Photographs and Memorabilia
This collection includes photographs, handwritten rap lyrics and song lists for “screw tapes,” and flyers related to the late DJ Screw and his rap collective the Screwed Up Click. These materials document how DJ Screw developed the production technique known as “chopped and screwed,” which is closely associated with Houston hip hop. The collection also includes obituaries (memorial service programs) for DJ Screw.
Freedmen's Bureau Records - Texas Reports of Murders and Outrages
This site contains texts from The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, often referred to as the Freedmen's Bureau, from various states including Texas. Of note is the listing of Freedmen's Bureau Records - Texas Reports of Murders and Outrages.
Huston-Tillotson University Archives and Special Collections
The digital collections represent a portion of holdings related to academic, administrative, social, and the cultural history of Huston-Tillotson University. New materials will be added on an ongoing basis.
Texas Freedom Colonies Project
The Texas Freedom Colonies Project is an educational and social justice initiative dedicated to supporting the preservation of Black settlement landscapes, heritage, and grassroots preservation practices.
Texas Runaway Slave Project
A database of runaway slave advertisements, articles and notices from newspapers published in Texas, as well as materials from court records, manuscript collections, and books. It documents more than 2,500 fugitive slaves from Texas. Hosted by Stephen F. Austin State University.
Texas Slavery Project
Interactive maps and a population database allow users to discover the growth of slave and slaveholder populations in the region. Digitized original documents from the era provide access to hundreds of letters, newspapers articles, legislative decrees, and diplomatic correspondence during the 1820s through the 1840s. Hosted by the University of Virginia.

Civil Rights in Black and Brown: Oral Histories of the Multiracial Freedom Struggles in Texas
Videotaped interviews of Black and Mexican American interviewees around the state. Includes subjects such as Austin Black Panthers, Brown Berets, desegregation, Black and Mexican American student activism.
Delta Xi AKA Oral History Collection
The Delta Xi chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. was the first Black Greek-letter organization established at UT Austin. This oral history collection includes seven video interviews with Delta Xi members, interview transcripts, and images.
East Texas African American Oral Histories
This project is the result of efforts by the African American Heritage Project of Nacogdoches (AAHP) and other organizations to gather new information and materials, as well as to identify and preserve resources important to African American organizations and residents in East Texas.
HistoryMakers
Search and browse The HistoryMakers African American oral history collection by location (Texas).
Shankleville Community Oral History Collection
The collection contains photographs, documentation, select interview transcriptions, and 11 oral history interviews recounting the history of Shankleville, Texas, a historic freedom colony in East Texas.

Museums

African American Museum-Dallas - At the African American Museum of Fair Park, you can explore an extensive and comprehensive permanent collection that ranges from inspiring Folk Art to centuries-old masterpieces and including African art, black renaissance paintings, decorative arts, period rooms, and contemporary art.

Brazos Valley African American Museum - Located in Bryan, this Museum is dedicated to promoting individual and community awareness, understanding, pride, and respect for the contributions that African Americans have made in the past and present to the American experience both within the Brazos Valley and outside.

Calaboose African American Museum -Located in San Marcos, this museum has letters, books, photographs and antique artifacts that cover all aspects of African American life in early Texas.

George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center - Located in Austin, the Carver Museum works to create a space where the global contributions of all Black people are celebrated through the preservation and exhibition of African American material culture, history, and aesthetic expression.

Houston Museum of African American Culture - The mission of HMAAC is to collect, conserve, explore, interpret, and exhibit the material and intellectual culture of Africans and African Americans in Houston, the state of Texas, the southwest and the African Diaspora for current and future generations.

Juanita J. Craft Civil Rights House - Located in Dallas, the Juanita J. Craft Civil Rights House is one of only three house museums in the nation honoring major female figures in the modern civil rights movement.

San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum - The organization’s goal is to reclaim San Antonio’s Black history by empowering individuals to curate their own archives and cultivate a community-driven museum of digitized, audiovisual exhibits. Collective legacies of pioneering families will serve as the basis of an evolving collection.

Thank You and Credits

Thank you to the following guides for their references and information.

"African American History in the Archives" - University of Texas at Arlington, Priscilla Escobedo

"Civil Rights in Texas", "African American Texans" - University of Texas at San Antonio, Shari Salisbury

"African American History - Texas Sources" - University of Texas at Tyler, Livia Garza