Givens Homesite
Houston County, Houston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Solomon George Givens and his wife Lula (Burleson), both born in Houston County in 1871, were the children of former slaves. They were married in Crockett in 1891, and in 1892 they bought 34 acres of land here. Their farm proved a success and in 1893 they built a large 8-room house at this site. The Givenses were noted for their charity and as leaders in the development of a nearby school and Baptist church; Baptism services took place in a tank on their land. For many years their home was the center of an African-American farming community known as "Givens Hill."
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Solomon George Givens and his wife Lula, both born in Houston County in 1871 to formerly enslaved parents, married in Crockett in 1891 and bought 34 acres here the following year. Their farm prospered, and in 1893 they built a large eight-room house on this site. Known for their charity and their leadership in founding a local school and Baptist church — with baptisms held in a tank on their land — the Givenses made their home the heart of an African-American farming community remembered as "Givens Hill."
Why it matters
The rise of a landowning Black family and the community they nurtured within a generation of emancipation embodies the aspirations and self-reliance of Reconstruction-era African American life in the rural South.
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Related people
- · Solomon George Givens
- · Lula Burleson Givens
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Post Oak School
Crockett, TX
Post Oak School held its first classes in September 1892 and served African American students across rural Houston County for more than 60 years. Built beside Mt. Olive Baptist Church, it grew to include seven classrooms and, by 1939, a vocational building for homemaking and agriculture, drawing students from as far as eight miles away. Alongside the church it anchored community life with athletics, drama, music, and interscholastic competitions before consolidation closed it in 1955.
Samuel Fisher Tenney
Crockett, TX
A Georgia native and Civil War veteran, Samuel Fisher Tenney (1840-1926) graduated from the University of Georgia and a South Carolina seminary before settling in Crockett in 1870. For 54 years he served as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, while also helping build educational facilities for Black residents and starting a mission in 1880 for the Alabama-Coushatta Indians in Polk County. His long ministry left a deep mark on the region.
Mary Allen Seminary
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In 1886 the Presbyterian Church's Board of Missions for Freedmen chose Crockett—for its large Black population and an existing parochial school—as the home of a new school for Black girls, named for Mary Allen, wife of the effort's leader. Growing into Mary Allen College under its first Black president, Dr. Byrd R. Smith, it became a coeducational, four-year liberal arts institution before legal and financial troubles forced its closing in 1972. For generations its twelve-building campus stood as a center of quality education in East Texas.
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In the segregated schools of early-20th-century East Texas, Black families in Houston County built their own path to learning. Two schools for African American children, Center Hill and Smith Grove, merged in 1925 to form the Center Grove School, and a whole community took its name from the campus. By mid-century it was sending most of its graduates to college, powered by strong sports, vocational, music, and science programs, and it served the area until desegregation finally closed it in 1969.