Milam County Historical Commission
Milam County, Texas
All credit for these articles go to
Susie Sansom-Piper and
the Rockdale Reporter
Milam County, Texas
All credit for these articles go to
Susie Sansom-Piper and
the Rockdale Reporter
2008
Blacks lived on all sides of the tracks
Black businesses were in ‘The Flat’
"Speedyville" was always integrated
Settlements on both sides of tracks
Farmers grew crops and families
2009
1874-1940s: Community bonds, ghost dogs
Life on the farm was one of survival
No. 3 washtubs, pit toilets, unlocked doors
Groceries were a short walk away
‘Thanks for the haircut’ meant free
2010
Springfield Baptist is older than Rockdale
New Hope congregation dates back to 1891
Allen Chapel named for AME founder
‘The little church with the big heart’
Church, School and Pecan Street
2011
Saturday nights ‘back in the day’
Musicians ‘jazzed up’ 20s and 30s
Gospel singers livened church services
Spreading the gospel with songs and music
Aycock band kept the beat from 1952-66
2012
A Roll Call of Rockdale's Black Women
Black women of the 40s and early 50s
Rockdale's Black Women of the 1950s and 1960s
Rockdale’s Black Women of the 1950s to present
Pioneers in Education, Professions, Business
Miscellaneous Articles
Living Conditions in the 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s
The Story of Paul Moultry
Julius "Bose" Moultry
Blacks lived on all sides of the tracks
Black businesses were in ‘The Flat’
"Speedyville" was always integrated
Settlements on both sides of tracks
Farmers grew crops and families
2009
1874-1940s: Community bonds, ghost dogs
Life on the farm was one of survival
No. 3 washtubs, pit toilets, unlocked doors
Groceries were a short walk away
‘Thanks for the haircut’ meant free
2010
Springfield Baptist is older than Rockdale
New Hope congregation dates back to 1891
Allen Chapel named for AME founder
‘The little church with the big heart’
Church, School and Pecan Street
2011
Saturday nights ‘back in the day’
Musicians ‘jazzed up’ 20s and 30s
Gospel singers livened church services
Spreading the gospel with songs and music
Aycock band kept the beat from 1952-66
2012
A Roll Call of Rockdale's Black Women
Black women of the 40s and early 50s
Rockdale's Black Women of the 1950s and 1960s
Rockdale’s Black Women of the 1950s to present
Pioneers in Education, Professions, Business
Miscellaneous Articles
Living Conditions in the 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s
The Story of Paul Moultry
Julius "Bose" Moultry
Susie Sansom Piper’s Black History Month series
“On The Other Side of the Tracks”
as published in the Rockdale Reporter
“On The Other Side of the Tracks”
as published in the Rockdale Reporter
Black history
Tradition’s rich roots will turn 100 in three years from 2012
Editorial by Mike Brown - Rockdale Reporter
February 2, 2012
February is Black History Month and the 35th consecutive series in The Reporter, by local legend Susie Sansom Piper commemorating the observance.
One of the annual duties each February is to remind many Americans that Black History Month is not something recent or trendy, that it has a long, rich and brave tradition. In fact, the tradition of Black History Month will turn 100 in 2015, although its formal beginning actually dates to 1926.
But the idea began in 1915, the year which marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. Dr. Carter G. Woodson, author, journalist and historian, exhibited at one of the 50-year observances that year, a three-week affair at the Chicago Coliseum.
Dr. Woodson was inspired to form the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.
Five years later Dr. Woodson was urging black civic organizations, and his fraternity brothers in Omega Phi Psi, to create a special week to observe achievements by African Americans.
It was first called Negro History and Literature Week, then Negro Achievement Week. In 1925 Dr. Woodson announced a coordinated Negro History Month would be observed, for the first time, in February, 1926.
The month was chosen to honor Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, both of whom were born in February.
Dr. Woodson promoted the observance until the end of his life in 1950. The first state to formally declare a Black History Month was West Virginia in the 1960s. In 1976 Black History Month became a national observance.
In the 1990s its name was changed to African American History Month, although many persons still refer to the observance by its older name. - M.B.
Tradition’s rich roots will turn 100 in three years from 2012
Editorial by Mike Brown - Rockdale Reporter
February 2, 2012
February is Black History Month and the 35th consecutive series in The Reporter, by local legend Susie Sansom Piper commemorating the observance.
One of the annual duties each February is to remind many Americans that Black History Month is not something recent or trendy, that it has a long, rich and brave tradition. In fact, the tradition of Black History Month will turn 100 in 2015, although its formal beginning actually dates to 1926.
But the idea began in 1915, the year which marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. Dr. Carter G. Woodson, author, journalist and historian, exhibited at one of the 50-year observances that year, a three-week affair at the Chicago Coliseum.
Dr. Woodson was inspired to form the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.
Five years later Dr. Woodson was urging black civic organizations, and his fraternity brothers in Omega Phi Psi, to create a special week to observe achievements by African Americans.
It was first called Negro History and Literature Week, then Negro Achievement Week. In 1925 Dr. Woodson announced a coordinated Negro History Month would be observed, for the first time, in February, 1926.
The month was chosen to honor Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, both of whom were born in February.
Dr. Woodson promoted the observance until the end of his life in 1950. The first state to formally declare a Black History Month was West Virginia in the 1960s. In 1976 Black History Month became a national observance.
In the 1990s its name was changed to African American History Month, although many persons still refer to the observance by its older name. - M.B.
.