Blair Woods, Travis Audubon’s 10-acre urban sanctuary, needs your help! They are having a community planting day on Feb. 15 (find more details here) It should be a fun morning of dirt, plants, and community camaraderie. We will also have several staff members around ready to answer any questions about Blair Woods’ history, programming, and community accessibility.
Our Community, Our Voice
Photographs from The Villager Newspaper
January 30—April 19, 2020
Austin History Center, 810 Guadalupe St.
Since first publication in 1973, The Villager has served as a free community service weekly with an emphasis on news about Austin’s African American community. Publisher Tommy L. Wyatt has made it his mission to report positive news about the black community, countering the negative narrative about African Americans historically reported by mainstream media outlets. Wyatt wanted to create a space for the community to speak for themselves and for every community member to have access to the news. The Villager has been in continuous publication since its founding with a weekly print run of 6,000 issues, a treasure of Austin’s black community for 46 years and counting. Photographs capture local community members in striking images, illustrating the vibrancy of Austin’s black population. Marching bands, community leaders, theater groups, protests, musicians, churches, and neighborhood groups portray life in black Austin through the decades.
“Black in the Past,” a collection of one-minute vignettes depicting the stories of African Americans and the communities they built is now available on youtube. Vignette topics highlight the events, places and people that characterize Black Austin, using historic photographs and documents from the archival holdings at the Austin History Center. Click on the link and hear the story of Adam’s Apple, the 1906 Streetcar Boycott, Garland’s Grove and other intriguing stories. Here’s the link to the entire AHC channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmKoOUpsn4H0mUcIGAqFtCQ.
