Editorial: Cemetery s designation would honor past, present
Express-News Editorial Board
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In this photo from January, 2020, the Hockley-Clay Cemetery has been cleared and marked. It’s taken one more step toward an official historic designation, and with it preservation of a piece of San Antonio’s Black history.Josie Norris /The San Antonio Express-News
History is what we cherish; neglected gardens we discover and nurture, special people we won’t allow to be forgotten. Whether we celebrate it in public ceremony or private commemoration, the importance of celebrating history is that we also teach it.
Unmarked graves are lives that, if not already forgotten, will soon be lost in the brushes of time. Stories not told equate to history unheard and forgotten.
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Final public meeting set on historic Black church site on San Pedro Creek in San Antonio
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Work continues on the San Pedro Creek project by the Alameda Theater, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. Crews work on the Houston Street bridge by the foundations of the 1800’s St. James AME Church, one of the oldest Black churches in Texas, (left). The public has until March 8 to weigh in on eight redesign options for the site as part of the San Pedro Creek Culture Park.Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News
San Antonians have one more chance to make their voices heard publicly about what they think is the best way to preserve and promote historical finds at San Pedro Creek, including what’s left of one of the oldest Black churches in Texas.
Descendants reclaim land that was part of lost family cemetery
Work begins on historic designations for Hockley-Clay Cemetery
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SAN ANTONIO – The original Hockley-Clay Family Cemetery in Northeast San Antonio is now complete.
About 6,000 square feet that wound up in two neighboring backyards decades ago have been reclaimed by the descendants of Jane Warren, a freed slave who had a ranch in the area after the Civil War.
The Northern Hills subdivision borders the cemetery on one side and Northern Hills Elementary on the other.
The fences in those backyards were torn down last week and replaced with new fencing where a certified land survey showed the property lines actually were.
Alamo Heights alums seek fellow Black pioneers who integrated the San Antonio suburb s schools
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Two people talk in the shadows in a hallway at Alamo Heights High School in 1962. Alamo Heights Independent School District, which previously had been white-only, integrated in 1955 with four children from the John Henry Smith family, who lived in Olmos Park.Courtesy / Alamo Heights ISD
My friend Everett Fly, who is a National for the Humanities medalist, and I, both Alamo Heights High School graduates, are trying to identify Black pioneers of the Alamo Heights school system to recognize. These folk integrated Heights during the 1950s and ’60s. We have some names and need help finding them so we can recognize them. If you could help, it would make a great column for Black History Month in the Express-News. Joseph and I are determined to use the February event to bring awareness to history that has been denied.