Early residents of Freedom Colonies around Austin, the Smith Family preserved ties across generations through land ownership, education, and mutual support.
After the Civil War, Black Texans faced economic hardship and unfair working conditions. Families like the Smiths created independent Black communities, which they called Freedom Colonies. There, they could support each other, go to school, and own land.
Dee Smith lived in the Wheatville Freedom Colony in West Austin, where he and his family worked jobs that supported the community. His mother Lottie cared for the community’s health as a midwife. Dee worked as a wagon driver and later a motorman. His wife Liza worked as a washwoman. Some of their children went to the community school, and the family likely attended one of Wheatville’s Baptist churches.
In 1928, Austin city planners pushed Black residents to East Austin by cutting off key services if they lived anywhere else in the city. Dee’s daughter, Lottie, her husband, Fred, and their three children were forced to move. At the same time, the Great Depression limited opportunities and pushed other members of the Smith family off their farming land in the Cottonwood Freedom Colony and into the city.
The Smith family’s story highlights a continuous effort to build better lives, first in Freedom Colonies like Wheatville and Cottonwood, and later in their East Austin neighborhood. Even as they were pushed to move, they carried strong community values and family ties with them.
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