page_title: History of African Americans in Houston
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: History of African Americans in Houston / History
caption_attribution_description: English: James D. Ryan Middle School - Formerly Jack Yates High School Español: Escuela Media James D. Ryan - El primero edificio de la Escuela Preparatoria Jack Yates Tiếng Việt: Trung Học James D. Ryan - Trước đây: Trung Học Jack Yates
context_page_description: The African American population in Houston, Texas, has been a significant part of the city's community since its establishment. The Greater Houston area has the largest population of African Americans in Texas. Black Enterprise has referred to Houston as the next black mecca.
context_section_description: When Houston was founded in 1836, an African-American community had already begun to be established. In 1860, 49% of the city's African American population was enslaved; there were eight free blacks and 1,060 slaves. Before the American Civil War, enslaved African-Americans living near Houston worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those living within the city limits held domestic and artisan jobs.
  Although slavery ended after the U.S. Civil War, by the mid-1870s racial segregation became codified throughout the South, including Texas.  African Americans in Houston were poorly represented by the predominantly white state legislature and city council, and were politically disenfranchised during the Jim Crow era; whites had used a variety of tactics, including militias and legislation, to re-establish political and social supremacy throughout the South.
  The Houston Riot of 1917 was a riot of black U.S. soldiers stationed in Houston.
  In 1929 Houston Planning Commission chairperson Will Hogg made a proposal to designate areas of the city by race in its zoning so African-Americans do not become too numerous near White communities; the city did not enact this as it never adopted zoning.
  In the 1940s and 1950s black people from small southern towns moved to Houston, resulting in the black communities increasing in size. The black population in the Third Ward became larger and therefore closer in proximity to nearby Jewish communities. White people began to move from the Third Ward area, partly due to the passage of Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954.
  Texas Southern University students led the integration of Houston in the 1960s. On Friday, March 4, 1960, Texas Southern University students led Houston's first sit-in at the Weingarten's grocery store lunch counter located at 4110 Almeda Road.  That sit-in played a major role in the desegregation of Houston's white owned businesses.  Today, a U.S. Post Office sits at that location; however, a Texas Historical Marker sits in the front of the building reminding visitors of the courageous role TSU students played in the desegregation of Houston, Texas. Six months after their first sit-in, 70 Houston lunch counters were desegregated.  The success of their continued efforts eventually led to the full integration of businesses within the city.
  In 1970, 90% of the black people in Houston lived in mostly African-American neighborhoods. By 1980 this decreased to 82%.
  
  Historically, the City of Houston placed established landfill facilities in established African American neighborhoods. Private companies also located landfills in black neighborhoods. Between the early 1920s and the late 1970s the five municipal sanitary landfills were in black neighborhoods. During the same period, six of the eight municipal solid waste incinerators resided in mostly black neighborhoods. From 1970 to 1978 three of the four private landfills established during that period were located in Houston black neighborhoods. Around that era African Americans made up around 25% of the city's population. Houston City Council, which decided where the landfills would be located, was entirely composed of white residents until 1972. The political efforts and advocacy behind a 1979 federal lawsuit regarding one proposed landfill led to political changes that ended the deliberate placement of landfills in black neighborhoods.
  In 1980, the city had 440,257 African American residents, making it one of the largest black populations in the country. As of 1987 most African Americans in Houston continued to live in inner-city black neighborhoods, even though they gained the legal right to move to any neighborhood. According to research at the University of Chicago, many African Americans choose to live in neighborhoods where they were raised.
  From the 1980 U.S. Census to the 1990 U.S. Census, many African Americans left traditional African-American neighborhoods such as the MacGregor area, Settegast, Sunnyside, and the Third Ward and entered parts of Southwest Houston, such as Alief, Fondren Southwest, Sharpstown,
caption: The Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan (formerly Ryan Middle School) exists at the first location of Yates Colored High School
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