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The African American population in San Antonio, Texas has been a significant part of the city's community since its founding. African Americans have been a part of the Greater San Antonio's history since the late 1800s. [1] San Antonio ranks as the top Texas destination city for Black professionals. [2]
The first Africans that lived in San Antonio were Afro-Mexicans when Texas was still a part of Mexico before the Mexican–American War. African slaves arrived in 1528 in Spanish Texas. [3] In 1792, there were 34 blacks and 414 mulattos in Spanish Texas. [4] Anglo white immigration into Mexican Texas in the 1820s brought an increased numbers of slaves. [5] Many African Americans in Texas remained in slavery until after the U.S. Civil War ended. There was scarce Union Army activity in Texas, preventing them from joining the Northern lines. During the Reconstruction era, newly emancipated African American slaves began moving from rural areas in Texas to San Antonio, establishing Freedmen's Towns on the city's East Side. Ellis Alley was one of the first African-American settlements in San Antonio. The census recorded 592 African-American slaves of 3,488 total residents living in San Antonio in 1850, five years after Texas joined the United States. [6] Although slavery ended after the U.S. Civil War, by the mid-1870s racial segregation became codified throughout the South, including Texas. African Americans left Texas by the tens of thousands during the Great Migration in the first half of the 20th century, seeking work and political opportunities elsewhere. African Americans in San Antonio 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. Racial segregation ended in the mid-1960s. On March 16, 1960, San Antonio became the first southern city to begin integration of its small restaurants when Richard Hunt sat at the lunch counter of the Woolworth's lunch counter in Alamo Plaza. [7] In the 1970s, the African American population in San Antonio was 7.6 percent. Forbes ranked San Antonio in one of The Top 10 Cities Where African-Americans Are Doing The Best Economically. [8] San Antonio ranks as the top Texas destination city for Black professionals and entrepreneurs. [2] In addition to the New Great Migration, many African Americans in the US are now recently moving to San Antonio for lower cost of living and more job opportunities. [9] San Antonio is considered more affordable in lower cost of living than Austin, Dallas, and Houston, which is an additional draw for many African American families. [10] San Antonio's Black population also increased by more than 10,000 throughout the decade. When the census numbers were collected last year, there were nearly 94,000 non-Hispanic Black residents were living in the city, amounting to 6.5 percent of the total population. 13 percent increase from the number of residents recorded in 2010. [11] An additional 25,000 to 35,000 mostly black evacuees arrived in 2005 from the New Orleans metro after Hurricane Katrina with many of them deciding to stay in San Antonio. [12] Ivy Taylor was also the first African American to be elected mayor of San Antonio and only the second woman in the position. [13] Successful Black-owned businesses are abound in San Antonio. [14] There are an estimated 1,485 Black-owned businesses in the San Antonio metro area comprising just 2.4 percent of total businesses. [15]
In the 1970s, The African American population in San Antonio was 7.6 percent. [6] The number of blacks increased in San Antonio, growing by 25 percent throughout the last decade, which was a surge of more than 29,000 people. Nearly 148,000 blacks were living in Bexar County by 2020. They accounted for 7.4 percent of Bexar County's population up from 6.9 percent in 2010 and still increasing. [11]
The East Side of San Antonio has a large concentration of predominantly African American residents. Denver Heights is historically one of the oldest black neighborhoods in San Antonio. [16] Outside of the East Side, the San Antonio black population of both working and middle-class black families is located on the diverse Northeast Side in areas like Camelot, Converse, Sunrise and Dignowity Hill as their presence has been around since the 1980s and 90s.[ citation needed ] African Americans are also located in parts of San Antonio’s West Side. [17]
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There are plenty of Black-owned restaurants and cultural staples around San Antonio that offer up everything from seafood, Soul food, Creole, barbecue, wings, vegan and Ethiopian such as Tony G’s Soul Food, Ma Harper’s Creole Kitchen, & Big Mama’s Taste of Soul. [18]
Ivy Taylor was the first African American to be elected mayor of San Antonio and only the second woman in the position. [13] In addition, Taylor was the first female African-American mayor of a city with a population of more than one million. [19] Taylor was elected to San Antonio City Council in 2009 to represent District 2 on the east side of the city, and was re-elected to the body in 2011 and 2013. [20] [21] In 2021, Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez was elected to serve City Council District 2. The Alamo City Black Chamber of Commerce in San Antonio was established in April, 1938.
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The San Antonio Observer is a weekly tabloid established in 1995, [22] and bills itself as the only African American newspaper in San Antonio. [23] The newspaper attracted national attention in 2016 when it held a news conference for a police shooting of an unarmed Black man, and announced, then later retracted, a threat to reveal the addresses of all police officers in San Antonio. [22] [24]
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The San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum (SAAACAM) is a digital archive and museum located in the La Villita Historic Arts Village District near the San Antonio River Walk. [25]
100 Black Men of San Antonio, Inc. is to improve the quality of life within the communities and enhance educational and economic opportunities for youth in the community.[ citation needed ]
The Alamo City Black Chamber of Commerce serves and supports black businesses and professionals. [8]
St. Philip's College is a public community college located in San Antonio, accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. It is the westernmost HBCU in the United States. St. Philip's College, a part of the Alamo Colleges District, currently serves more than 11,000 students in over 70 different academic and technical disciplines. It is the only college to be federally designated as both a historically black college and a Hispanic-serving institution.
Sam Houston High School, is a historically African American public high school with a Hispanic student body. It is one of the first African American high Schools in San Antonio; it is located in eastern San Antonio and classified as a 4A school by the UIL. This school is one of twelve schools in the San Antonio Independent School District. In 2015, the school was rated "Met Standard" by the Texas Education Agency.[ citation needed ]
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Mount Zion First Baptist Church is an historic African American church located at 333 Martin Luther King Drive in San Antonio, Texas. Founded in 1871 by former slaves, the church has since provided ministerial services to thousands and played a major role in the Civil Rights Movement of the city. In 1949 the Reverend Claude Black Jr. became pastor and lead the church to national prominence in the National Baptist Convention. Pastor Black who would become a Civil Rights icon and city councilman would invite figures controversial at the time to speak from his pulpit. Some of those would include Thurgood Marshall, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Azie Taylor Morton, Percy Sutton, Barbara Jordan and others. The church created the city's first black owned credit union as well as Project Free, a program dedicated to assisting the poor and the elderly. The church was burned down by arson in 1974, but rebuilt the following year.[ citation needed ]
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Over twenty million tourists visit San Antonio and its attractions every year, contributing substantially to its economy, primarily due to The Alamo and the River Walk. [26] San Antonio also became one of the destination vacations for African Americans. [27]
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Notable African-American cultural point of interest includes the San Antonio African American Community Archive & Museum.[ citation needed ] [28]
Juneteenth is an annual celebration, Texas holiday. recognizing the emancipation of black slaves in Texas. President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and published it on January 1, 1863, but it was not abided by in Texas until June 19, 1865. Over the next few years, African-American populations across Texas collected money to buy property dedicated to Juneteenth celebrations.[ citation needed ]
The State of Texas made Juneteenth a holiday at the state level after 2007, Al Edwards, a member of the Texas House of Representatives from Houston, proposed it as a bill. As of 2021 Juneteenth became a Federal holiday; 70+ years after slavery legally ended, and African Americans still are being treated less than. [29]
In 1987, the City of San Antonio’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission held its first official march, building on marches that have occurred since 1968. [30] The event typically draws more than 300,000 participants and is one of the largest in the United States. [30] [31]
San Antonio is renowned for its food trucks, restaurants and cuisines and black owned restaurants play a large part in the annual event. San Antonio Black Restaurant Week will showcase food trucks and Black-owned businesses such as health and wellness, catering and event planning companies. [32]
San Antonio Royal Steppaz is an African American trail riding group in San Antonio founded during the pandemic to connect members to nature and history. [33]
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San Antonio, officially the City of San Antonio, is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio, the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 2.6 million people in 2020. It is the most populous city in and seat of Bexar County. The city is the seventh-most populous in the United States, the second-largest in the Southern United States, and the second-most populous in Texas after Houston.
Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Its name is a portmanteau of the words "June" and "nineteenth", as it is celebrated on the anniversary of June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the American Civil War. Originating in Galveston, Juneteenth has since been observed annually in various parts of the United States, often broadly celebrating African-American culture.
Bexar County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio.
Terrell Hills is a city in Bexar County, Texas, United States; it is located 5 miles (8 km) northeast of downtown San Antonio. As of the 2020 census Terrell Hills had a population of 5,045. It is part of a group of three cities—Terrell Hills, Alamo Heights, and Olmos Park—located between Uptown San Antonio, Midtown San Antonio, Downtown San Antonio, and Fort Sam Houston. Terrell Hills is bordered on the west by Alamo Heights, on the east by Fort Sam Houston, on the north by Uptown San Antonio, and on the south by San Antonio's Near East Side. It is part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The San Antonio River Walk is a city park and special-case pedestrian street in San Antonio, Texas, one level down from the automobile street. The River Walk winds and loops under bridges as two parallel sidewalks lined with restaurants and shops, connecting the major tourist draws such as the Shops at Rivercenter, the Arneson River Theatre, Marriage Island, La Villita, HemisFair Park, the Tower Life Building, the San Antonio Museum of Art, the Pearl, and the city's five Spanish colonial missions, which have been named a World Heritage Site, which includes the Alamo. During the annual springtime Fiesta San Antonio, the River Parade features flowery floats that float down the river.
Jim's Restaurants is an American chain of restaurants owned by Uptown San Antonio, Texas-based Frontier Enterprises. Jim's, most well known for its breakfast and charbroiled hamburgers, was started in 1947 when Germano "Jim" Hasslocher and his business partner and wife Veva Ball Hasslocher built their first burger stand. At its peak, Jim's had locations in San Antonio, Austin, Houston, San Marcos, Waco, and Temple.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2023, Texas was the second largest state in population after California, with a population of 30,503,301, an increase of more than 1.3 million people, or 4.7%, since the 29,145,505 of the 2020 census. Its apportioned population in 2020 was 29,183,290. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the state of Texas has experienced strong population growth. Texas has many major cities and metropolitan areas, along with many towns and rural areas. Much of the population is concentrated in the major cities of Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, McAllen, and El Paso and their corresponding metropolitan areas. The first four aforementioned main urban centers are also referred to as the Texas Triangle megaregion.
The history of slavery in Texas began slowly at first during the first few phases in Texas' history. Texas was a colonial territory, then part of Mexico, later Republic in 1836, and U.S. state in 1845. The use of slavery expanded in the mid-nineteenth century as White American settlers, primarily from the Southeastern United States, crossed the Sabine River and brought enslaved people with them. Slavery was present in Spanish America and Mexico prior to the arrival of American settlers, but it was not highly developed, and the Spanish did not rely on it for labor during their years in Spanish Texas.
Greater San Antonio, officially designated San Antonio–New Braunfels, is an eight-county metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Texas defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The metropolitan area straddles South Texas and Central Texas and is on the southwestern corner of the Texas Triangle. The official 2020 U.S. census showed the metropolitan area's population at 2,558,143—up from a reported 1,711,103 in 2000—making it the 24th largest metropolitan area in the United States. Downtown Austin and Downtown San Antonio are approximately 80 miles (129 km) apart, and both fall along the Interstate 35 corridor. This combined metropolitan region of San Antonio–Austin has approximately 5 million people.
The culture of San Antonio reflects the history and culture of one of the state's oldest and largest cities straddling the regional and cultural divide between South and Central Texas. Historically, San Antonio culture comes from a blend of Central Texas and South Texas (Southwestern) culture. Founded as a Spanish outpost and the first civil settlement in Texas, San Antonio is heavily influenced by Mexican American culture due to Texas formerly being part of Mexico and, previously, the Spanish Empire. The city also has significant German, Anglo, and African American cultural influences. San Antonio offers a host of cultural institutions, events, restaurants and nightlife in South Texas for both residents and visitors alike.
The city of San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas is composed of a number of neighborhoods and districts, spreading out surrounding the central Downtown Area.
African American Texans or Black Texans are residents of the state of Texas who are of African ancestry and people that have origins as African-American slaves. African Americans formed a unique ethnic identity in Texas while facing the problems of societal and institutional discrimination as well as colorism for many years. The first person of African heritage to arrive in Texas was Estevanico, who came to Texas in 1528.
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 and west of the Mississippi River. Black Enterprise has referred to Houston as a Black mecca.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of San Antonio, Texas, United States.
Ivy Ruth Taylor is the former Mayor of San Antonio, Texas from 2014 through 2017, and the former president of Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi from 2017 through 2023. The former politician and urban planner was a nonpartisan officeholder, although she is registered as a Democrat. She was also the first African American to be elected mayor of San Antonio and only the second woman in that position. In addition, Taylor was the first female African-American mayor of a city with a population of more than one million.
On May 9, 2015, the city of San Antonio, Texas, held an election to choose the next Mayor of San Antonio. Interim mayor Ivy Taylor ran for election to a full term and narrowly defeated former state senator Leticia Van de Putte in the runoff election on June 13, 2015, to become the first African American elected to the position.
The history of African Americans in Austin dates back to 1839, when the first African American, Mahala Murchison, arrived. By the 1860s, several communities were established by freedmen that later became incorporated into the city proper. The relative share of Austin's African-American population has steadily declined since its peak in the late 20th century.
On May 6, 2017, the city of San Antonio, Texas held an election to choose the next mayor of San Antonio. As no candidate secured a majority of the vote, a runoff was held on June 10, 2017 with Councilman Ron Nirenberg defeating incumbent mayor Ivy Taylor.
Ronald Adrian Nirenberg is an American politician who is the mayor of San Antonio, Texas. Prior to his election, Nirenberg served as a member of the San Antonio City Council for District 8 for two terms.
The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex has 1.2 million African-Americans, the 2nd-largest metro population of African-Americans in Texas.
https://www.blacksinsanantonio.com/
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