Timelines
History of Our Current Building - 1926 to the Present:
http://digital.houstonlibrary.net/timeline/gregory-school.html
Dr. Martin Luther King & the Civil Rights Movement in Texas:
Freedmen's Town - 1840 to 1920
1841 - The "Wards" are established.
1863 - Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln.
1865 - News of Emancipation freedom from slavery arrives in Texas, and Freedpeople from plantations along the Brazos River migrate to Houston.
1865 - Freedpeople settle and own property along the west side of Downtown Houston in an area later known as Freedmen’s Town.
1870 - The Freedmen’s Bureau persuades the Texas Legislature to create public schools for African Americans. The Gregory Institute opens in Fourth Ward, Freedmen’s Town.
1872 - The Freedmen’s Bureau schools close and teachers and students transfer to the Gregory Institute.
1875 - A committee established by the Mayor recommends a high school for each race; one white and one black for each district.
1876 - The City of Houston assumes control of all public schools. The Gregory Institute becomes part of the public school system.
1906 - The "Ward" system is officially discontinued.
1915 - Over 400 Black establishments or businesses exist in Freedmen’s Town.
1920 - Freedmen’s Town represents one-third of Houston’s population, becoming an area similar to that of Harlem, New York. West Dallas is a commercial strip with nightclubs, restaurants and businesses.