Whereas Black Wall Streets have been enterprise hubs inside bigger cities, Freedom Colonies have been rural, self-sufficient Black settlements constructed by previously enslaved folks after the Civil Struggle. These communities have been designed for security, land possession, and independence — far faraway from white financial management.
But, like Black Wall Streets, Freedom Colonies confronted destruction by means of systemic racism, land theft, and financial displacement.
Whereas Black Wall Streets centered on commerce and entrepreneurship inside metropolis limits — usually thriving regardless of intense racial segregation — Freedom Colonies have been completely Black-led enclaves, deliberately separated from white communities. They have been created not just for survival but additionally for self-determination, cultural preservation, and freedom from white financial management.
These settlements have been constructed on land owned and ruled by Black folks, a revolutionary act within the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They have been symbols of what it meant to stay free, with out white oversight or interference. For previously enslaved people and their descendants, proudly owning land was one of many few tangible pathways to autonomy, security, and generational wealth. Freedom Colonies represented a robust, although usually missed, chapter within the story of Black financial independence.
Freedom Colonies have been primarily rural and agrarian, centering round land possession, farming, and cooperative dwelling. In distinction, Black Wall Streets have been city industrial districts that flourished inside segregated cities.
Freedom Colonies have been based by freed Black folks escaping the brutalities of Reconstruction-era racism, together with lynchings, sharecropping traps, and political disenfranchisement. Many settlers have been previously enslaved people decided by no means to be underneath white authority once more. These colonies have been usually constructed on donated, bought, or deserted land and grew as clusters of household networks searching for refuge and alternative.
Somewhat than commerce alone, Freedom Colonies prioritized sustainability and independence. They constructed their very own colleges, church buildings, cemeteries, and programs of governance. Some preserved African customs, oral histories, and foodways—particularly in areas just like the Gullah/Geechee coastal areas. These communities weren’t merely settlements; they have been acts of reclamation and cultural resilience.
Examples of Freedom Colonies
Texas: Texas had over 550 documented Freedom Colonies — by far the biggest focus within the U.S. These included cities like Independence Heights (the primary included Black municipality in Texas) and Kendleton. Many of those communities now not seem on trendy maps, having been both absorbed by increasing cities, erased by highways, or misplaced by means of authorized trickery.
Oklahoma: Over 50 Black cities have been based in Oklahoma, particularly throughout the Land Run period and following the Civil Struggle. Boley, Langston, Rentiesville, and Clearview have been among the many most outstanding. These cities have been beacons of Black excellence, boasting banks, newspapers, colleges, and railroads. Boley was even praised by Booker T. Washington as a mannequin for Black self-governance.
South Carolina and Georgia: Gullah and Geechee communities alongside the southeastern coast are distinct Freedom Colonies, preserving African cultural and linguistic heritage. Their relative geographic isolation allowed for distinctive traditions to outlive —starting from basket weaving and delicacies to spiritual practices and creole languages.
These communities have been constructed from the bottom up by folks with little to no assets, usually pooling funds, labor, and information to ascertain thriving settlements. They’re testaments to the creativity and fortitude of Black Individuals throughout one of the hostile intervals in U.S. historical past.
How Freedom Colonies Had been Destroyed
Freedom Colonies have been uniquely susceptible to land loss. With restricted entry to authorized providers, many landowners didn’t depart formal wills. This created “heirs’ property,” the place land is handed down informally to descendants, making it simple for speculators or the federal government to drive gross sales underneath claims of “fractionated possession.” These loopholes have been broadly exploited.
Fraud, intimidation, and authorized manipulation have been additionally frequent. Deeds have been cast, taxes inflated, and courtroom rulings weaponized towards Black households. In some circumstances, total households have been pushed off their land by white mobs or pressured into promoting at costs far under market worth.
As industrial jobs within the North and West opened throughout World Wars I and II, many Black households left the South in quest of safer, extra economically steady lives. This Nice Migration hollowed out rural Black communities, particularly these missing fundamental infrastructure. With dwindling populations, Freedom Colonies misplaced the power to maintain colleges, church buildings, and shops. Finally, land was offered, deserted, or absorbed into surrounding white communities.
Many Freedom Colonies have been intentionally excluded from public infrastructure investments. They have been denied entry to paved roads, electrical energy, sewer programs, and public colleges. With out these fundamental facilities, it grew to become practically not possible to draw new households or companies. The shortage of postal addresses and official mapping additional contributed to their disappearance from public information.
The destruction of Freedom Colonies was not an accident — it was systematic. These communities represented a direct problem to white supremacy: Black folks proudly owning land, governing themselves, and preserving their cultural heritage exterior white management. Their erasure was not solely bodily however historic, intentionally not noted of textbooks and maps.
However the legacy of those settlements persists. Initiatives just like the Texas Freedom Colonies Undertaking and the Oklahoma Historic Society’s work on Black cities are serving to to doc, digitize, and honor the tales of those misplaced communities. Authorized advocacy teams are additionally working to reform heirs’ property legal guidelines and assist Black households reclaim or retain ancestral land.
Remembering Freedom Colonies shouldn’t be about nostalgia — it’s about truth-telling. These communities show that Black folks have at all times sought — and constructed — options to oppression. They’re reminders that Black self-sufficiency shouldn’t be a dream deferred; it’s a actuality that when was, and might be once more, if protected and nurtured.
Ed Gaskin is Government Director of Better Grove Corridor Primary Streets and founding father of Sunday Celebrations
