LIFE AFTER THE CIVIL WAR

African Americans who were born in Huntsville in 1864, including future educator Samuel Walker Houston, were born with the unfortunate status of slaves. Samuel’s father Joshua was owned by Texan Sam Houston, making Samuel property as well. Emancipation would change the legal status of Samuel Houston and his father yet Houston recognized the end of slavery would only be the beginning for the emancipation of African Americans in Texas. Education was the key to the future for his fellow citizens. Houston established the Galilee Community School in Walker County in 1907, emphasizing a vocational, mechanical, academic, musical, and humanities curriculum for African American children in grades one through eleven. Houston’s legacy is celebrated today at the Samuel Walker Houston Museum and Cultural Center in Huntsville where visitors may explore exhibits and artifacts that depict contemporary life for African Americans in Huntsville after the Civil War.