SAVE THE DATE
Thursday, June 6, 2024
University of North Texas, Dallas
(Not Denton!)
Theme: City eScape: Freedom Communities in Urban Settings
The year's focus is on the unique histories, cultures, and characteristics of Texas freedom colonies in and near urban centers – especially Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. The day will feature stories of emancipated Texans’ migration to these metro areas, (as well as smaller cities (like Beaumont, Waco, Corpus Christi, Abilene, etc.), and celebrate the countless “Black Wall Streets” they built upon their arrival.
The symposium will discuss the challenges these communities in Texas and the U.S. currently face and the work of those offering solutions and strategies for addressing them as residents and descendants strive to maintain each community’s distinctive history, culture and contribution to the story of Texas and the United States.
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2023 Overview
2023 Theme:
Technology: A New Frontier in Telling your Freedom Colony Story
This year’s annual symposium, held at community centers or universities, is focused on enhancing the average community member’s understanding of tools available to them as they preserve, document, and promote their freedom colonies. This means introducing a “pen and paper heritage conservationist” to tools that can make data gathering more effective and easier to access while helping the computer-savvy person get the most out of the apps they may currently use and introducing them to even newer tools. Read more here.