7 Hour African-American Themed Tour
- 7 hours
- Free cancellation up to 24h before
- Guided in English
- Private tour
Highlights
Will bring 2 or 3 videos to watch during the tour. I will have maps and population tables of the past 150 years. I will bring 4 books to peruse about African-American Texans, African-American Houstonians, The Green Book, and lastly a booklet about Memorial Park, where the biggest race riot in Texas took place in 1917. I will also play hit songs by local African-Americans from the 1960s and 1970s. You will have lots of stimuli. This tour covers portions of the 3rd and 4th Wards and southeast Houston beyond the Wards. It includes a variety of disparate Black communities that are spread across Houston. We will drive over 25 miles within the city.
Inclusions
What's included
- Reference Material
What's not
- We will stop at either an African-American fried chicken, soul food, vegetarian, or barbecue restaurant for lunch. We might also stop at an A-A bakery.
Itinerary
This is the oldest African-American settlement in Houston, found in 1865.
This is the oldest African-American church in Houston. It was established in 1866. The church building was initially built in 1875. We stop to take photos of the stained glass, historic doors, the building, the historical marker, and the 2 cornerstones.
This is the largest such museum in the United States. We usually do not go into on this tour as it has a separate fee and will take about 45 minutes to 1 hour to tour. However, you now will know where it is located and return to it. If you want us to stop so you can tour inside at your expense, and you understand that we will have to delete other sites to make time for touring it, that is fine.
This relatively small museum is open only 3 days a week for limited hours. General admission is free; special exhibits have a fee. If it is open and you want to tour inside it, we will accommodate you.
This traditional African American school has a beautiful multicultural mural that takes up one side of the building.
The former school from 1926 in Freedmen's Town is now a museum of local African-American history. It has wonderful exhibits in about 5 rooms. It is free!
Jack Yates was a former enslaved man who became Houston's first civil rights leader. His house along with another formerly enslaved family in the post-Civil War era have been relocated in Sam Houston Park. It is free to view. If you would like to tour inside, the Heritage Society will open them by special arrangement for a fee that you will have to pay. Allow 1 hour to tour these 2 homes along with a 3rd historic home.
This area of beautiful mansions dating to the 1920s was the wealthiest African-American neighborhood in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s.
Texas Southern University (TSU) opened in 1947 as Texas State University for Negroes (TSUN). In 1951, it was given its current name. It is the 5th largest Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in the nation.
Frenchy's was found in 1969 by a Creole Percy "Frenchy" Creuzot. It is arguably the best fast food chicken place in Houston. The chicken is spicy. You can pour jalapeno juice on your chicken. Mr. Creuzot died in 2010, but his legacy survives. We sometimes stop for lunch here.
This site used to be the This is It Soul Food Restaurant until October 2025. It is one of the largest soul food restaurants in Texas. Do you want chitlin's, pork chops, fried fish, smothered chicken, ox tails, or something else? We sometimes stop here for lunch.
This popular local restaurant has a loyal crowd for breakfast. You can often see queues that go around the block as people wait to get in. It is famous for its wings and waffles. We can stop here for lunch, if you like.
Cancellation
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.
Know before you go
- Meeting point
- On Monday through Friday, we meet in the rotunda on the first floor. On Sunday and Saturday, we meet outside on the east side of the building at a picnic table on the upper level.
- Pickup
- Everyone meets at the starting point; there is no pickup.
- Ticket type
- Mobile or paper ticket accepted
- Operated by
- Houston Historical Tours - Day Tours
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Parents and guardians need to provide booster seats for children 2 years old and under
How it compares in Houston
- Its from-price is 102% above the median of the 301 experiences we list in Houston.
- It is longer than most of them.
- The operator lists free cancellation on it.
About Houston
Houston is the largest city in Texas, a sprawling Gulf Coast metropolis of space history, big museums, bayou parks and food from around the world.
Houston sprawls across the flat coastal plain of south-east Texas, inland from the Gulf coast, with a skyline of towers downtown. It was founded in 1836 and named for Sam Houston, the general who won Texas independence at the Battle of San Jacinto. The San Jacinto Monument, a tall masonry column topped with a star, marks the battlefield, and Buffalo Bayou Park runs through the city, with trails, bridges and an underground cistern.
Top-ranked sights in Houston: Space Center Houston, Market Square Park, Downtown Aquarium.
Special offers in Houston
Was/now prices come from the operator, never from us.
