Browse Items (18 total)

Beatrice Mayes Clabon and her brother Curtis Mayes are long standing residents of Texas City. As with all African American families at this time, they lived south of Texas Avenue. Clabon is the oldest of seven children and was the only girl until…

Bernia Hall talks about moving to La Marque (West Texas City) in 1952 with her family. She talks about her parents, childhood, and having twin sisters. She describes her early life as busy with studies, chores and taking care of her sisters,…

Betty Adams Jones talks about her home in Texas City, her family, and being an only child, (though she had two stepsisters.) She discusses what it was like to live with both of her grandfathers who were complete opposites in personality, and the…

Daisy Buster talks about growing up in a family with seventeen children, her community, and attending Booker T. Washington School. She talks about visiting her grandparents in Louisiana and how her sister, Rose, was almost like another mother to her.…

Dr. Lynn Ray Ellison shares how he grew up in Texas City with six brothers and two sisters. He talks about the economy and how people migrated to Texas City for work. Ellison states that there were 502 families living in their community, and that…

This is an image of Emmitt R. Wisby at the community swimming pool, holding a baby. ca. 1950s

[ohms] This oral history documents the life of Emmitt R. Wisby, Sr., born in 1936 in Galveston, Texas, who grew up in Texas City during the segregation era and later became a successful contractor and carpentry educator in Oklahoma City. Wisby shares…

Image of Emmitt R. Wisby and his family. From left to right standing is Timothy Wisby, sitting is Hortense Wisby. In her lap is Belinda Wisby and standing is Yolanda Wisby. Sitting is Emmitt R. Wisby Sr. and in his lap is Michael Wisby. Standing…

Inside Wisby's Ice Cream Parlor. people standing in the photo of the Ice Cream Parlor. Starting left to right: Ernest Wisby, Arletha Smith, Nadine Scott, Artis Wisby, Faye Evans, Kathi’s Williams, Ernest E. Wisby, and Emmitt R. Wisby. People listed…

Lee R. Gordon talks about being descended from a family of sharecroppers and why they moved to Texas City in 1946. He describes his neighborhood, parents, family life, and growing up in The Projects, a segregated low-income apartment complex. He…