The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 103, July 1999 - April, 2000 Page: 23
554 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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1999 Main House, Carriage House 23
At the other end of the social and economic scale from families such as
the McFaddins were those who worked for them, virtually all of whom
were African Americans. Between 1900 and 1950 African Americans
made up about one-third of Beaumont's total population, living in one of
several residential areas, near early sources of labor such as sawmills or
on the outskirts of prosperous white neighborhoods. During the 192os,
developers opened African-American residential additions for sale to a
"better class of negroes," as the newspaper put it, one being advertised as
"the choicest Colored Residential Addition in this part of Texas."s
Within their allotted spaces, African Americans in Beaumont made
lives separate and apart from those of whites. Often using inexpensive or
secondhand furnishings, many nevertheless lived in their residences
"with pride," in the words of one white Beaumont matron. They cultivat-
ed vegetable gardens in small spaces, coaxing crops from densely
packed "gumbo" soil along alleys and back fences. For domestic employ-
ees who "lived in," staying in servants' quarters behind homes in white
neighborhoods, making a life apart from long and unpredictable hours
of work was particularly difficult. They were denied the solidarity and
companionship of living in an African-American neighborhood.9
Under segregation, African Americans created their own schools,
churches, and social and health facilities. They had their own newspa-
pers, the labor-oriented IndustrialEra in the 192os, and the Beaumont In-
former in the 1930s. Beaumont's black business district covered several
downtown blocks. A 1930 survey of the town's black community, made by
African Americans for the National Recreation Association, revealed a
broad range of black business owners: service station operators, barbers,
beauticians, cabinetmakers, taxi drivers, restaurateurs, cement contrac-
tors, laundry operators, confectioners, undertakers, grocers, insurance
and investment brokers, pharmacists, physicians, and wood dealers.o
At the center of the African-American community stood the church.
Between 1916 and 1920, seven of every eleven blacks in the United
States were enrolled in a church. In Beaumont in 1920, twenty-eight of
8 Beaumont Enterprise, Nov. 19, 1922, Sept. 30, 1923-
9 Emma Reed Johns, telephone interview with Judith Linsley, May 3, 1990 (McFaddin-Ward
House; cited hereafter as MWH); James E. White Sr., interview with Judith Linsley, Mar. 1o,
1992, Tape 113, transcript pp. 4-5, 14 (MWH); Mary Anna Anderson, Jessamine Birdwell,
Eleanor Heartfield, interview with Judith Linsley, Apr. 27, 1990, Tapes 66-67, transcript pp. 8-9
(MWH).
o1 Sanborn Map Company Fire Insurance Map of Beaumont, Texas (New York: Sanborn Insurance
Map Co., ca. 1948), Map Collections (Tyrrell Historical Library, Beaumont); Beaumont: A Guide
to the City and Its Environs. Work Projects Administration in the State of Texas, Federal Writers' Project,
American Guide Series (Houston: Anson Jones Press, 1938), 15-17, 123-124; J. M. Pollard, Fact
Finding Survey of Beaumont, Texas, About Colored Citizens, 1930, unpublished typescript (Tyrrell
Historical Library Archives), 8.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 103, July 1999 - April, 2000, periodical, 2000; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101220/m1/49/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.