Whereas Black Wall Streets had been enterprise hubs inside bigger cities, Freedom Colonies had been rural, self-sufficient Black settlements constructed by previously enslaved individuals after the Civil Struggle. These communities had been designed for security, land possession, and independence — far faraway from white financial management.
But, like Black Wall Streets, Freedom Colonies confronted destruction by way 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 had been fully Black-led enclaves, deliberately separated from white communities. They had been created not just for survival but in addition for self-determination, cultural preservation, and freedom from white financial management.
These settlements had been constructed on land owned and ruled by Black individuals, a revolutionary act within the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They had been symbols of what it meant to reside 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 ignored, chapter within the story of Black financial independence.
Freedom Colonies had been primarily rural and agrarian, centering round land possession, farming, and cooperative residing. In distinction, Black Wall Streets had been city business districts that flourished inside segregated cities.
Freedom Colonies had been based by freed Black individuals escaping the brutalities of Reconstruction-era racism, together with lynchings, sharecropping traps, and political disenfranchisement. Many settlers had been previously enslaved people decided by no means to be below white authority once more. These colonies had been usually constructed on donated, bought, or deserted land and grew as clusters of household networks in search of refuge and alternative.
Slightly than commerce alone, Freedom Colonies prioritized sustainability and independence. They constructed their very own faculties, church buildings, cemeteries, and methods 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 had been acts of reclamation and cultural resilience.
Examples of Freedom Colonies
Texas: Texas had over 550 documented Freedom Colonies — by far the most important 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 fashionable maps, having been both absorbed by increasing cities, erased by highways, or misplaced by way of authorized trickery.
Oklahoma: Over 50 Black cities had been based in Oklahoma, particularly in the course of the Land Run period and following the Civil Struggle. Boley, Langston, Rentiesville, and Clearview had been among the many most distinguished. These cities had been beacons of Black excellence, boasting banks, newspapers, faculties, 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 non secular practices and creole languages.
These communities had been constructed from the bottom up by individuals with little to no assets, usually pooling funds, labor, and data to determine thriving settlements. They’re testaments to the creativity and fortitude of Black People throughout probably the most hostile intervals in U.S. historical past.
How Freedom Colonies Had been Destroyed
Freedom Colonies had been uniquely susceptible to land loss. With restricted entry to authorized companies, 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 power gross sales below claims of “fractionated possession.” These loopholes had been extensively exploited.
Fraud, intimidation, and authorized manipulation had been additionally widespread. Deeds had been cast, taxes inflated, and courtroom rulings weaponized in opposition to Black households. In some instances, complete households had been pushed off their land by white mobs or pressured into promoting at costs far beneath market worth.
As industrial jobs within the North and West opened throughout World Wars I and II, many Black households left the South seeking safer, extra economically secure lives. This Nice Migration hollowed out rural Black communities, particularly these missing primary infrastructure. With dwindling populations, Freedom Colonies misplaced the power to maintain faculties, church buildings, and shops. Ultimately, land was bought, deserted, or absorbed into surrounding white communities.
Many Freedom Colonies had been intentionally excluded from public infrastructure investments. They had been denied entry to paved roads, electrical energy, sewer methods, and public faculties. With out these primary facilities, it turned almost unattainable 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 individuals 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. Tasks just like the Texas Freedom Colonies Challenge 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 just isn’t about nostalgia — it’s about truth-telling. These communities show that Black individuals have at all times sought — and constructed — alternate options to oppression. They’re reminders that Black self-sufficiency just isn’t 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 Foremost Streets and founding father of Sunday Celebrations
