blackaustintours

blackaustintours Come disrupt public space and engage with the histories, experiences and contributions of Black people in Austin and beyond.

06/17/2026

Most people know Juneteenth as the day freedom finally arrived in Texas. But the story of Juneteenth in Austin is also a story of place.

For nearly a century, Rosewood Park has been at the heart of Austin’s Juneteenth celebrations. Since the 1930s, generations of Black Austinites have gathered here to celebrate freedom, strengthen community, and preserve cultural traditions. Its importance grew even more after the loss of Austin’s original Emancipation Park, established in 1905 specifically for Juneteenth celebrations.

Thomas & Mattie White of the Travis County Emancipation Organization organized to purchase land and create Emancipation Park. This is important that they bought and owned land as they were once reduced to property as enslaved people.

Today, Rosewood Park remains one of the most enduring landmarks of Black Austin history—a place where the stories of emancipation, resilience, and community continue to be remembered and shared.

This clip is just a glimpse of that history.

If you want the full story, check out our Juneteenth Tour of Austin on YouTube, where we explore the people, places, and communities that shaped Black Austin before and after emancipation.

Because understanding Juneteenth means understanding not only when freedom came, but how Black communities fought to build lives, institutions, and traditions in its wake.

06/14/2026

Today’s tour was something special.

As part of the Greater & Greener Conference, we partnered with Pease Park Conservancy to welcome visitors from across the country for a deeper look at the history, experiences, and contributions of Black people throughout Austin.

Along the way, we were joined by the sounds of Ivy Roots , who created a custom playlist that helped bring the journey to life.

The experience concluded at Mr. Catfish & More , a longtime cornerstone of Austin’s Black music community and a reminder that these stories are not just history—they continue to shape the city today.

Thank you to everyone who joined us and to Ivy Roots for helping us connect place, memory, and music in such a meaningful way.

Belle Hill, Freedom Colony & Beulah Johnnie Hurd-Mercer(1906-2010)In the middle of what is now known as West Lake Hills/...
06/13/2026

Belle Hill, Freedom Colony & Beulah Johnnie Hurd-Mercer(1906-2010)

In the middle of what is now known as West Lake Hills/Bee Cave  in the west of Austin stands Belle Hill. Belle Hill was a Freedom Colony or Freedmen's Town founded by formerly enslaved Black people in the area. Beulah Johnnie "Big Moma" Hurd Mercer was one of the last living residents of the settlement before her death at 104 years in 2010.

In her short autobiography, she wrote, "I especially recall the stories of my father and his mother's life following the end of slavery and how they remained on the slave owners' farm, but eventually left to start a new life near the Pedernales River." The family later moved to the Round Rock area to establish another farm. Racial terrorism prevented Belle Hill's descendants from returning to their ancestral lands. During the 1950s, one of Mrs. Hurd-Mercer's aunts attempted to visit the colony and cemetery and was run off by a white man wielding a gun shouting, "No ni***rs will ever be allowed on this property again to live to tell about it,'"

This is such a critical history because it forces us to contend with the vast presence of Black people throughout Travis County. It was stated that during the height of enslavement in the region, one could stand at the top of Mount Bonnell and see nothing but cotton and sugar-growing on either side of the river. Additionally, there were reports of armed self-emancipated African people hiding out in the hills and caves of the western part of the county during the same time. Their presence invoked fear in white society. It was believed they would incite a revolt against enslavement.

This story came in from one of our followers, Mr. Kevin Franklin, one of Beulah Mercer's great grandsons . We thank you for sharing this story with us. Please don't hesitate to share your family's story with us. Even though this is social media, we are still archiving our histories! We can do what mainstream society has denied us for so long, telling our stories. This lives forever.

06/12/2026

To our past guests! We love hearing from you!!

Drop a Google Review for us!!

It can’t hurt, BUT it helps Black Austin Tours grow!!

Thanks and see you again soon! See dates in bio to book your tour!

Austin's Emancipation Park holds a unique place in the city's history as one of the few spaces intentionally purchased, ...
06/12/2026

Austin's Emancipation Park holds a unique place in the city's history as one of the few spaces intentionally purchased, owned, and preserved by Black Austinites for their own community. In 1905, Thomas J. White and Mattie B. White founded the Emancipation Park Association, and in 1907 acquired a five-acre tract of land in East Austin dedicated specifically to Juneteenth celebrations and community gatherings.

At a time when segregation limited access to many public spaces, the park represented more than a place for recreation—it was an act of self-determination and cultural preservation. Thomas J. White, himself formerly enslaved, believed that the celebration of freedom should take place on land owned by Black residents, ensuring that the history and meaning of emancipation remained under community stewardship.

For more than three decades, Emancipation Park served as a gathering place for Juneteenth festivities, cultural events, and civic life, becoming a symbol of Black resilience and collective ownership. Although the City of Austin acquired the property through eminent domain in 1938 to construct Rosewood Courts, the legacy of Emancipation Park endures as a powerful reminder of how Black Austinites created and protected spaces where their history, culture, and freedom could be celebrated on their own terms.

Source: Austin Parks Foundation, "Celebrating Juneteenth: Black Austin's Historically Significant Parks."

06/12/2026

At the center of our Gone to Texas project is the story of Hemsley Coursey, a 17-year-old Black teenager sold from Maryland to New Orleans in 1835 and eventually forced to Texas through the domestic slave trade. Yet the world that shaped Hemsley’s life stretched far beyond any single state or nation.

The cotton cultivated by enslaved people in the United States fueled textile industries across the Atlantic. The wealth generated through slavery reshaped communities, economies, and lives in places far beyond the American South. The consequences of those histories continue to shape the world we live in today.

That is why I wanted to be part of this project.

Edward’s work explores identity, migration, humanity, memory, place, and belonging. As someone who describes himself as indigenous to Brixton and whose family story spans Ghana and the United Kingdom, he brings a perspective that helps us think about movement, displacement, and diaspora in ways that transcend borders.

Gone to Texas is not simply asking what happened to Hemsley Coursey. It is asking how that history continues to live within us today.

Working alongside descendants, artist , and others contributing to this project, Edward’s poetry will help connect the experiences of a young Black man forced into Texas nearly two centuries ago with the lives of Black people navigating questions of identity and belonging in the present. Because this story did not end in 1835. And it does not end in Texas just like cotton that made it England and exported further.

06/11/2026

One of the reasons I wanted involved in Gone to Texas project was because of his ability to wrestle with questions of identity, belonging, memory, and what it means to move through the world as a Black man.

While in Brixton, Edward shared this poem for the first time.

LGone to Texas centers the life of Hemsley Coursey, a 17-year-old Black teenager who was sold from Maryland to New Orleans in 1835 and eventually forced to Texas through the domestic slave trade. Through his story we want to talk about the hundreds of thousands of enslaved Black folks forced to Texas and the result of their stolen labor - primarily cotton production. Yet this project has never been solely about the past.

It is also about the lives that emerged from that history.

It is about the ways Black people continue to navigate questions of identity, movement, place, and humanity across generations and across oceans.

That is why Edward’s voice is so important to this project.

His work helps us think about the connections between the young Black man whose life was forever altered in 1835 and the Black people of various nationalities who continue to make meaning of their lives in the present.

Listen closely.

is creating the sculpture for this project and is architecting how it will come together!

Part of this project is funded by the Elevate Grant from

Juneteenth has been celebrated in Austin for generations, with some of the city's earliest documented observances taking...
06/10/2026

Juneteenth has been celebrated in Austin for generations, with some of the city's earliest documented observances taking place at Wheeler's Grove, now known as Eastwoods Park. Following emancipation, Black Austinites gathered to commemorate freedom through community celebrations that included parades, speeches, music, picnics, athletic competitions, and opportunities for formerly enslaved individuals to share their experiences and stories. These annual gatherings became an important way for Austin's Black community to preserve history, honor resilience, and celebrate the meaning of freedom. Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Juneteenth grew into one of the city's most significant cultural traditions.

As Austin's Black community expanded, dedicated spaces became essential for hosting these celebrations. Community leaders established Emancipation Park as a gathering place for civic events and Juneteenth observances, creating opportunities for Black Austinites to celebrate together during an era of segregation. When Emancipation Park was later displaced by the construction of Rosewood Courts, Rosewood Park became a central site for Juneteenth festivities and community life. Together, Eastwoods Park, Emancipation Park, and Rosewood Park tell the story of how Black Austinites preserved the legacy of emancipation while building spaces for culture, fellowship, and collective memory.

Today, Austin's Juneteenth celebrations continue this tradition, bringing together families, educators, artists, historians, and community members to honor the past while celebrating the enduring strength, contributions, and cultural heritage of Black Austin.

Source: Austin Parks Foundation, "Celebrating Juneteenth: Black Austin's Historically Significant Parks."

06/10/2026

What does Brixton, England have to do with Texas? Quite a lot, actually.

Gone to Texas (GTT), which is the story of slavery, cotton, and forced migration cannot be contained within a single state or even a single country.

That’s why I was excited to spend time in Brixton with , a South London essayist, poet, artist, grower, and researcher whose work explores identity, humanity, migration, memory, and anti-colonial thought.

I first encountered Edward’s work through a mutual connection and was immediately drawn to the ways he thinks about place, land, belonging, and the histories that shape who we become. His work documenting overlooked Black histories in England, including recovering the story of one of the first known Black gardeners in England, resonated deeply with what we’re trying to do through GTT.

Edward will contribute a series of original poems that engage the history of the domestic slave trade, the cotton economy, and the movement of people across the African Diaspora. His work will help us think through the connections between a young Black man in 1835 who was forced from Maryland to New Orleans and eventually Texas, and the global systems that connected those experiences to places like England.

The poems will accompany the sculpture that is creating for the project.
Because the cotton cultivated by enslaved people in the United States helped fuel Britain’s textile industry. Because migration stories continue to shape families and communities across generations. Because the consequences of these histories are still with us today.

Gone to Texas is not simply a story about Texas. Welcome to the project, Edward.

Part of this project is supported by the Elevate Grant of

06/09/2026

When many people think of Black Austin, they think of East Austin. But Black history in Austin has never been confined to one side of town.

Clarksville, founded by formerly enslaved people in 1871, remains one of Austin’s most significant Freedom Colonies. Its history is also connected to nearby and the Pease family, whose wealth and landholdings were built in part through the labor of enslaved people. Some of those enslaved families and their descendants became part of the broader Clarksville community after emancipation.

While the 1928 City Plan concentrated many Black Austinites into East Austin, it’s important to remember that historic Black communities existed across the city. Clarksville residents fought to preserve their neighborhood through decades of displacement pressures, including urban renewal projects and the construction of MoPac.

Understanding Black Austin means understanding all of these stories.

🎥 Learn more on a tour with Black Austin Tours.

👕 And don’t forget to grab your limited-edition Juneteenth shirt before they’re gone. Link in bio!!

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