HistoricSiteMarkers
Progressive & Modern Era

Saint Philip's Episcopal Church

San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

Marker Inscription

In 1877 Bishop R. W. Elliott of the Missionary District of West Texas envisioned a church for the nearly four million recently freed black citizens of Texas. His campaign for sunday Schools and other religious services for African Americans was cut short by his retirement, but his actions carved a path for the future. Under the authority of Bishop James Steptoe Johnston, the first Episcopal Church for African Americans in the Diocese of West Texas was established in 1895. The first home of "St. Philip's Episcopal Church for Negroes" was an old German Methodist church in downtown San Antonio later known as La Villita. In 1898, the church began a vocational school for African American young people which in 1923 became known as St. Philip's College. After many years at La Villita, the congregation was forced to find other homes. Beginning in 19917, several locations served in turn as houses of worship for St. Philip's. A new church was erected on Pecan Valley Drive in 1963; it remained the only predominantly African American church in the diocese until 1964. A full parish since 1967, St. Philip's provides support for many Episcopal programs and funds and is active in community outreach and fellowship. (1998)

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Envisioned in the 1870s as a spiritual home for Texas's newly freed Black citizens, St. Philip's became the first Episcopal church for African Americans in the Diocese of West Texas when it was established in 1895. Housed at first in a former German Methodist church in the La Villita district, the congregation launched a vocational school in 1898 that grew into St. Philip's College. It remained the diocese's only predominantly African American parish until the 1960s.

Why it matters

The church shows how Black congregations after emancipation became engines of education and community, planting institutions that outlasted the era of segregation that produced them.

Plan your visit

Nearby

Make a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.

Museums & culture

Attractions

Food & drink

Places to stay

Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.

Own a business near here? Add it to the map.

Related people

  • · James Steptoe Johnston
  • · R. W. Elliott

Themes & tags

African American HistoryEducationChurch

Nearby & related markers

Saint Philip's College

San Antonio, TX

St. Philip's began in 1898 as a church sewing class for African American children in the rectory of St. Philip's Episcopal Church, born of a congregation determined to secure education for Black students in segregated San Antonio. Under principal Artemisia Bowden, hired in 1902, it grew from a vocational day school into a junior college by 1927 and eventually a public branch of the city's college system. After Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, it opened to all students and by its centennial enrolled nearly 9,000.

EducationAfrican American History

Myra Lillian Davis Hemmings

San Antonio, TX

Born in Gonzales and raised in San Antonio, Myra Hemmings became one of 22 founders of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority at Howard University in 1913, and days later marched in the women's suffrage procession in Washington. Returning home, she taught English and drama in San Antonio's Black high schools for more than fifty years while founding the city's Delta Sigma Theta chapter and, with her husband, a dramatic guild. She also acted in stage productions and several feature films, shaping the cultural life of Black San Antonio.

African American HistoryWomen's History

St. Paul United Methodist Church

San Antonio, TX

Organized in 1866, St. Paul was the first church established for African Americans in San Antonio, growing out of a congregation many members had attended before emancipation. Working with the Freedmen's Bureau, members founded the Lincoln School for Black students that same year, and over the decades the congregation became a hub of benevolence, education, and civil rights activism. During segregation it even opened St. Paul House to shelter Black travelers turned away from hotels.

African American HistoryCivil Rights

Pleasanton School Integration

Pleasanton, TX

Pleasanton had educated its African American children at the Abraham Lincoln School since 1913, and by the mid-1950s Black and white students were already practicing and playing sports together. When the Lincoln School proved inadequate and Texas's House Bill 65 required a community petition and vote before integration, Pleasanton's residents supplied both, approving the measure 343 to 88 on October 26, 1957. Days later nine Black students entered the new high school before assembled press, welcomed by their classmates in a transition that recorded no violence.

Civil RightsAfrican American History