Freedmen's Town in Houston: A 1987 Photo Chronicle

It was 1987, and my new best friend/sister, Cecelia Cook Drew, asked me if I wanted to visit Houston with her and her daughter Jaz. I was thrilled and very grateful for her generous invitation. We immediately began planning our trip and came up with the idea to document the Fourth Ward in honor of Juneteenth. We were both students at Los Angeles Community College and were looking to collaborate on a project. When we arrived in Houston, the heat and humidity were unbearable. But as we made our way to the Fourth Ward, I was overtaken by the sites. I felt like we had stepped back in time, and Fourth Ward was the town that time forgot. Once there, more than anything, I wanted to convey the warmth and familiarity we had experienced immediately upon entering the neighborhood. These next selected photographs are from the collection Houston: A Look At Fourth Ward.

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