Milam County Historical Commission
Milam County, Texas

All credit for these articles go to
Susie Sansom-Piper and
the Rockdale Reporter
Milam County Historical Commission - Milam County, TX
Statue of Ben Milam at Milam County, TX Courthouse
Old Junior High School Building, Rockdale, TX
Milam County Courthouse - Cameron, TX
Preserve America
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

2013

Fraternal Organizations Played Big Role

Schools, Civic Groups Contributed

Modernistics, The Original 12

Education, Parks and a Restaurant

2014

‘Getting Along’ in the Early 1900s

Not Always Harmony in the 1930s

Changes Begin in 40s, Early 50s

60s - Big Changes in Nation, Town

2015

The 30s: ‘Everybody walked everywhere’

The 40s: Changes and accomplishments

The 50s: Aycock trains Future Leaders

The 60s: Changes to Rockdale, Nation

2016

Intro to 2016 Series

Hard Work, Education, & Church

Education, Jobs and that Chicken Roost

40s & 50s - War and Changes

60s Bring Changes to Both Sides of the Tracks

2017

50 Years Hence - Part 1: School of Champions, School of Intergity

50 Years Hence - Part 2 - Life Lessons from Cactus Saga

50 Years Hence - Part 3 - - Memorable Encounters at School, Church









Miscellaneous Articles

Living Conditions in the 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s

The Story of Paul Moultry

Julius "Bose" Moultry

"Black History Series Focusing on Two Historic Anniversaries"
by Mike Brown - Editor - Rockdale Reporter

Integration was Easier for Some Students
by Deborah McKeon
Temple Daily Telegram - May 17, 2014

Rockdale Man Among First Blacks To Attend Texas A&M
by Jay Ermis - Temple Daily Telegram - May 18, 2014

Fate Remembers the Greats: 1950s Aycock
by Fate Arnwine - Rockdale Reporter - April 30, 2015

Hallowed Ground
Mike Brown - Editor- Rockdale Reporter - 2016-02-11

Juneteenth Celebration
Rockdale Reporter - 2016-06-23

Civic Club, Preachers Want to Restore Aycock School
Rockdale Reporter - 2016-07-14




















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Susie Sansom Piper’s Black History Month series
“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.










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