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Our Story, Our History | Preserving Black history in Houston's Fourth Ward

The galleries inside the African-American Library at the Gregory School are lined with photos that capture moments in time in Houston's Black community.

HOUSTON — The Fourth Ward in Houston is sometimes called the "Mother Ward."

In it, you'll find the African-American Library at the Gregory School. It's a building with a long history and many stories to tell.

The galleries that line the hallways are filled with photos that capture moments in time in Houston's Black community.

They highlight trailblazers, like Jack Yates, Barbara Jordan and Hilliard Taylor.

Yates was a community leader and pastor of one of the first Black churches in Houston. Jordan was the first Black woman to represent Texas in Congress. Taylor, in 1871, became one of the first African-Americans to hold political office in Houston.

Long before the Gregory School began collecting and preserving history, it was the first school for Blacks in Houston.

"The Gregory School sits in the heart of Houston's Fourth Ward, also known as Freedmen's Town. When slavery ended in 1865, about 1,000 freed slaves moved to this neighborhood. The school opened its doors in 1870 and provided an education to both children and adults," archivist Miguell Ceasar said. "It definitely gave a sense of respect once you were able to go to school, to learn to read and write, things that you were not afforded to do as a slave.

The current building that houses the school is the third to do it. It was built in 1926 and closed in 1984. It sat empty for 25 years until another trailblazer had an idea. Lee Brown was the first Black police chief and first Black mayor of Houston.

"It was his vision to have an African-American institution to document African-American history," Ceasar said.

The reimagined school opened in 2009.

Ceasar said it means a lot to him to work at the library. He said he believes it to be one of the few libraries in the country that's dedicated to African-American history.

Freedman's Town is now considered to be prime real estate, but after the Civil War, Blacks settled there because Whites didn't want the swampy, flood-prone land that lies so close to Buffalo Bayou.

The school that made history more than 150 years ago is keeping history alive today.

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