Illuminating Blackness: Blackness & Erasure in Lake Jackson

This StoryMap experience derives from our Fondren Fellows research titled "Finding and Mapping Archival Images from the Historical Plantations of Brazoria County." To situate ourselves within the context of Brazoria County, our research team visited Lake Jackson, Texas multiple times in Fall 2023. These visits led us to think deeply about the physical experiences encountered by enslaved people and how little their presence appeared within the archives of the Lake Jackson Historical Museum. While archiving and digitization were significant parts of our research work, we desired to further illuminate an erasure so potently felt throughout our archival work and plantation site visits in this StoryMap. Throughout this StoryMap we are thus led by questions of whose histories are told and, more importantly, how they are told.

Our hope is that through our StoryMap, which includes new and revised GIS-mapped geolocated information on the plantations, inquiries into the material and emotional experiences of enslaved people in Brazoria County will continue to honor their legacies and contributions to the county and country.

This timeline below outlines significant events in captive labor, the challenges of mobility for freed people, and the development of convict leasing in the period following the Civil War. Finally, we end with a chronology of recent community archival projects created to preserve and reclaim Black history in the county archives.

A great departure point for our research was Joan Few's archaeological work Sugar, Planters, Slaves, and Convicts (2006) which delved deeply into the site of Lake Jackson Plantation. We noticed how her work contained thorough archaeological interpretations, robust historical information, and brief narratives of those enslaved at the plantation. Much of this work remains widely inaccessible in Brazoria County.

Despite this, however, there were glimpses of narratives highlighting the history of Black Lake Jackson, one as recent as February 2023.

An exhibit on the Black History of Lake Jackson was on view from February 7 through March 4 at the Lake Jackson Historical Museum.

The purpose of the exhibit was "to provide a broad overview of important figures, events, and movements which impacted African American communities in and around Lake Jackson"( Lake Jackson Historical Museum ).

However, this exhibit was limited to being a pop-up exhibit--we were not able to see this exhibit in person in October 2023. The Lake Jackson Historical Museum notes that "there is vast opportunity to conduct further research and launch future exhibits that delve into deeper detail about each topic presented here."

Throughout our research, we felt compelled to learn more about the schools and individuals mentioned in the exhibit. We were directed to the archives of Brazoria County to delve deeper into these histories. It was during this exploration that we noticed, despite our awareness that Black communities existed the archival record was inaccessible, obscuring the true presence of Black life.

From here, our curiosity and commitment to learning more about the accomplishments of Black Brazorians led us to the Houston Public Library archives which had remarkably digitized the histories of Black Houstonians and Texans from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 

It's crucial to acknowledge the invisibility of Black history within the archives and other historical narratives in the context of Lake Jackson. Yet, amidst this critique, we also see progress. As researchers, we are aware of the conditions that come with working with sensitive histories and the work that it takes to effectively (re)present erased histories. We nod toward the Lake Jackson Historical Museum's significant achievements in the past decade. Through thoughtful Black History Month programming, pop-up exhibits, and engagement with local and regional institutions these histories will not be forgotten.

We hope that an ensured, sustained focus on historical representation occurs in ways that will honor the legacies and contributions of Black history in the city of Lake Jackson and more broadly within Brazoria County, extending beyond the confines of Black History Month.

We would like to sincerely thank Dr. Morgan, our mentor, for her grace and guidance throughout the process, Uilvim Ettore Gardin Franco for his expertise in ArcGIS mapping and assistance throughout the process, along with our other peer-researchers Rohini Pillay and Hai-Van Hoang! We would also like to thank our community partners, Angela Pfeiffer, Angela Villarreal, and Lindsay Scovil for their assistance throughout this process. We could not have done this work without you all.