DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Freedman Town, over in Grimes County. Now, every great story starts with a moment when people decide to build something out of nothing — and this one starts in 1865, with emancipation, and a piece of Texas land called Camp Canaan. Freed slaves came to that land and did something that takes real nerve and real vision: they purchased lots from Ira Malcolm Camp, and they got to work.
First thing they did — and this says everything about who these people were — they renamed the place. Camp Canaan became Freedman Town. Their town.
Their name. Their declaration. And then they built.
Not slowly, not tentatively. Citizens quickly erected homes. They established churches.
They put up schools. They opened businesses. You get the sense these were people who had been waiting a long time for the chance to do exactly this, and they were not about to waste a single morning.
Many of those homes, those churches, those businesses — they're still there. Still standing. Still playing a major role in the development and success of the area.
Think about that for a moment. By 1919, the word had spread far enough that the Dallas Express — a newspaper — ran an article about what was happening in Navasota. And the words they used were not small words.
They described a large and thriving African American community. A flourishing business district. Written during a time of segregation, when the obstacles thrown in front of this community were not small obstacles.
The marker calls it what it is: a testament to their determination. And it wasn't all churches and commerce, either. The community built a swimming pool.
They built a baseball field. Amenities built by and for the people of Freedman Town. Because a community worth building is one where folks can swim on a hot summer day and argue about whether the shortstop made the right call.
Freedman Town. Born from emancipation, named by its own people, built with their own hands — and still here to tell the story.
What the marker says
Following emancipation in 1865, freed slaves purchased lots from Ira Malcolm Camp on land known as Camp Canaan. They established a community that they renamed Freedman Town. Citizens quickly erected homes and established churches, schools and businesses, many of which remain and have played a major role in the development and success of the area. A 1919 Dallas Express article reported a large and thriving African American community in Navasota with a flourishing business district, a testament to their determination during a time of segregation. Other amenities built by and for the African American community included a swimming pool and baseball field.