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Black History
The Avenue - 800-1100 blocks of Texas Avenue
These buildings,
constructed between 1907 and 1910, were part of The Avenue, a section
of African-American businesses, but also home to a variety of ethnic
groups including Jews, Syrians, and Lebanese. The long, narrow lots
contain the urban styled buildings, which often housed the owners on
the second floor above their stores. A variety of prated from 1912
until 1922, and the McAdoo Hotel.1
The Avenue also
had its own sources of entertainment. The Star Theatre catered to
blacks who were segregated at the other theaters in downtown
Shreveport. There were two pool halls and a handful of cafés. The
Calanthean Temple, built by the Grand Court Order of Calanthe was home
to the offices of the order as well as the offices of real estate,
insurance, druggists, doctors, and other businessmen. The rooftop was
an open-air ballroom. 2
Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington played at the dance halls.
3
As black
businesses moved to the Cedar Grove and Hollywood areas of town, the
activity on Texas Avenue began to decline.4
Galilee Baptist Church
In 1958 Martin Luther King, Jr. made
his first appearance in Shreveport, speaking at this
church.5
Located at 854 Williamson Street behind City Hall, the Galilee
Missionary Baptist Church, built in 1917, housed a congregation formed
in 1877 under Reverend Thomas Luke. The first members came from
Greenwood Baptist Church in Greenwood. The congregation moved to
Pierre Avenue in 1975.6
E. E. Allen
E. E. Allen was the first black Shreveport
dentist to be accepted into the Local American Dental Association. He
also became the first black man to be elected to office in Shreveport
since Reconstruction times; he became a member of the Caddo Parish
School Board in 1970.7
Amanda Clark
Amanda Clark, an ex-slave, inherited money from
her master upon his death. She bought property on McNeill Street,
which was at the bottom of town at the time. She built houses on the
land, renting them to blacks as well as whites, and two of them, at
212 and 215 McNeill Street stood until the 1980’s. She had one son,
Dickerson Alphonse Smith, who was the first black doctor in
Shreveport. He established the Amanda Clark Memorial Home in the Cedar
Grove area in 1930 in his mother’s memory. The home was used to care
for the elderly who had no one to care for them.8
Norman C. Davis
Born in about 1800, Norman C. Davis lived in
Shreveport by 1849. He was a barber by trade, but became Shreveport’s
first black architect and real estate developer. He bought ten acres
near the 900 block of Texas Avenue. By 1851 he had sold five of his
thirty-one lots to whites. He died on May 4, 1868 in Galveston, Texas,
leaving $120,000 to his heirs. Davis Street in the Highland area is
named for him.9
Dr. William Gozy
Born on February 3, 1876 in Trout, Louisiana,
Dr. William Gozy was the best known black doctor in Shreveport at the
turn-of-the-century. He operated out of his office in the Masonic
Building on Texas Avenue. He served as a pallbearer at the funeral for
former Lieutenant
Governor C. C. Antoine. At his death in 1940, Dr. Gozy was
the oldest black physician in both age and practice.10
Joseph Herndon
A progressive businessman Joseph Herndon lived
in the northern part of Caddo Parish, but had oil operations and
businesses in Shreveport. He donated twenty-two acres of land for a
school for black children, and this became Herndon Elementary and
Middle School.11
Odessa Manson
Odessa Manson was born in Arcadia, Louisiana in
May 9, 1904 to Mamon David Amos and Mary Wilson Amos. She married Hamp
Manson and the couple had six children. She was an active member of
the Avenue Baptist Church for sixty-five years. She wrote plays and
performed her original works in churches, schools, and colleges. Most
of her work had Christian themes. Before her death, she wrote the
musical drama “God’s Divine Plan.” She died at Louisiana State
University Medical Center on October 11, 1985.12
David Raines
David Raines had several tracts of land and over
one million dollars. He gave twenty-two acres for the development of
programs to help delinquent members of society to lead better lives.
This facility was used until the Caddo Parish Detention Center was
formed. A David Raines Center was built and houses a childcare program
from LSU Medical Center, a Headstart program, a branch of the Shreve
Memorial Library, and a park.13
Odessa Strickland
Odessa Strickland owned and operated the
Universal Oil, Gas, and Mining Company, which was the first
African-American owned oil company in Shreveport as well as the first
oil company run by black employees. Strickland, who had organized the
company in 1930, also invented the electron meter, which helped locate
drilling sites.14
Central Colored High School
An auditorium was built in 1939. Professor Ernest Miller
suggested
the
building be named
Newton Smith, after the
local black entrepreneur. China Hill was called that because it was
located below a hill and far away from the other buildings. Brown Hall
named after the first principle,
R. E. Brown.
References
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