My family has lived in Texas since the 1830s on the same land that they settled on about a mile away from the plantation they were enslaved on. I am basically the first generation to be completely free from farming and sharecropping. My father moved away from our "freedmens" town to work in factories. Until then, his family worked for the same white families up until the 1980s. Most of the white population moved away during segregation as we were the majority in the area but they sustained a relationship through debt and being designated laborers that traveled to their farms where they moved to. Although it may sound like a bad situation, we had it better than most because we were protected as long as we satisfied their needs. When the KKK raided neighboring towns we were left alone being assets and were able to have big families and thrive. On the other hand, my maternal family descends from Slocum Texas and were split up because of pursuing Jobs that were in direct competition to other whites. Although we faced many setbacks on both sides, I am proud to be a native Texan and to know my family history.
I drove through Slocum a few times with my mother. A small town. My mother asked " I wonder what they do here in Slocum"? My reply. " I don't know " Then we looked up the history and found some things out. We learned about the Slocum massacre. Shame. But it seems like a peaceful place now.
I've lived in Brazoria County most of my life, currently in Danbury, and have recently become interested in the history of slavery on the plantations in the area.
Always enjoy your take on things. Have you ever thought about visiting Fort Inge in Uvalde, TX? Basically a large mound with a Volcanic Plug atop that sits above the beautiful Leona River.
Excellent story. Thank you for discussing such a difficult and important subject. My family has a place in east Matagorda County on the coast. Growing up, we passed nearby this plantation each weekend going down to the beachhouse, but never stopped. Now, I want to visit. What a beautiful site.
3:36 Those loopholes were indentured servitude contracts signed be people would couldnt read english. I wonder if copies of these contracts still exist or if any of the other loopholes will be publicly talked about.
Your well thought out comments on the early slave history of Texas are appropriate. As a musician who primarily works with historical music, I have had the opportunity to explain the nature of slavery at many presentations, including the “I Am”, 50th Anniversary Commemoration of the assassination of Dr, Martin Luther King in Memphis, TN. Slavery is a very complicated subject. I would like to use some of your words and logic in future presentations.
I have visited this plantation. Only it was know only as the Gov. Hogg plantation. Varner is the last name oh Martin Varner who came from Virginia. Gov. Hogg bought the plantation in 1824 from Martin Varner. Gov. Hogg made his wealth from the oil field.
Lived in New Braunfels all my life and I'm just now finding out about the schools, slave houses, all the little things around town that I've seen forever but never noticed
I am a descendant of Charles Stevenson and John Wiley Russell some of the largest black plantation owner around La Vernia texas bexhar county. If anyone has any info on this I’d love to speak with you.
Wish this could be made into a into a movie starting with the freeing of the people,some had to be bad ass as fighting men of the frontier forged them as well as farming producing great men
My maternal family is from Brazoria County and has been there since as early as 1831. My grandma lives directly down the street from the Varner-Hogg Plantation.
Great video, thanks! History must be shared, but history belongs to those who made it, so it's not our mistakes but their mistakes. We'll make our own.
I guess the bible is a thing of the past too considering it okayed slavery as long as the slaves were not mistreated or abused in any way. Concubine relationships were prevalent too.
Owning another human being is never okay. That comment was the same comment many slave masters used to get their slaves to comply with hard manual labor. Many slaves were confined to sharing beds, lacked proper shoes and clothes, and lacked proper housing.
Jim Hogg bought the old plantation because he wanted a country place. And he suspected there might be oil. His will forbade his heirs from selling it until 15 years after his death. Indeed, oil was struck there. The Hogg children had been comfortably off but became quite wealthy -- and began serious philanthropy . Bayou Bend, their mansion in River Oaks (which they developed) now belongs to Houston's Museum of Fine Arts and displays Ima Hogg's great collection of American furniture and art. The plantation is also a house / museum, open to the public.
What you failed to address is that in those days, there would have been no way to even maintain and farm these plantations, or settle, feed and clothe the nation without machinery, which didn’t yet exist. That doesn’t excuse slavery, racism, or any cruelty, it just gives context that it was an accepted practice of those times. Consider that today, most people of all races are literally slaves to money, which is akin to sharecropping, and without them working, the wheels would not turn and life would be far more primitive. It’s not that wealthy and successful people are bad, they just require employees to get work done to be successful. Another misconception is that the majority of slave owners were cruel. In many cases, slaves were like family and remained, after emancipation, as loyal employees. This you did partially hint at in one case. What is sad is how wokeism rewrites history and distorts into the Marxist “victim/oppressor narrative” when in reality, that’s not properly balanced in the big picture and is in itself, biased, racist and manipulative with he intent to brainwash for psychological control over the masses.
Most Americans live in our own little bubble and are just uneducated about the hardships people in other parts of the world suffered. African Americans weren’t even treated as harshly compared to other races in Europe or China or the Middle East. Not saying it wasn’t bad for slaves in America but the horrors other slaves faced is just unimaginable
@@Daniel-rc2bu you must be dreaming. Always trying to down play what happened in this Country by whites. Extermination of the Navites to the brutality of the African. Blacks are not concerned with happened in china or else where. Were concerned about our people. One day the shoe maybe on the other foot. And your great grandchildren will be complaining about their treatment.
So true. Women have been bought and sold across the world for most of history and still are today. Originally, the marriage contract was a contract between two men (same sex marriage lol) negotiated and signed to determine the fate of a girl who had no say in the matter. In much of the world that remains the case. Voting rights and property rights for women are, in the most enlightened societies, still only about 100 years old, if that. No right to vote, no right to own property, no right over what is done to her body---that is the history of women.
Slavery was a nasty part of its history, but it weirdly enough was not a part of its war against Mexico. For some reason it’s been a big talking point in recent years as a reactionary opinion towards the lost cause of the 1860s, but the southern slavery stuff wasn’t a big thing until after Texas had joined the union in the 1840s. The Texians and tejanos (along with many of their fellow Mexicans who revolted against centralist Mexico under Santa Anna) listed out many reasons for independence, none of which were slavery, all of which were actual state’s rights (including fire arms, religion, government, education, defense, and trade). These reasons were very similar to actual complaints in the US at the same time. Slavery only became the predominant issue in both regions c.1850, which we also see in the greater south. Saying slavery was a reason why Texas left Mexico (or even that anglos were “illegals” when they were explicitly invited so that Mexico could colonize the north from American Indians) is absolutely ahistorical and a disgusting bastardization of the history.
Respectfully, please read up on the history of Texas. The colonizers were very much there illegally after Mexico gained independence from Spain. Mexico had officially abolished slavery in Texas in 1829, and the Anglo Texans FOUGHT to maintain the institution of chattel slavery in Texas. Kept fighting through the Civil War. I often wonder if people like to duck and dodge and say it “wasn’t all about slavery” out of shame. No societal upheaval is ever about one single issue, because no society is a monolith. Stephen F Austin was conflicted about slavery, but not because he was a noble man. He knew the the other rich Anglos and colonists (financiers of colonists / Old 300) would not support him if he cut off their free, brutal, immoral labor supply. History is complex and the victors’ / financiers’ perspectives inform our mythologizing of people who would rightly offend modern day sensibilities - resulting in the oppressive systems staying in place even now. here is a quote from Austin after Nat Turner's rebellion in 1831, "I sometimes shudder at the consequences and think that a large part of America will be Santo Domingonized in 100, or 200 years. The idea of seeing such a country as this overrun by a slave population almost makes me weep. It is in vain to tell a North American that the white population will be destroyed some fifty or eighty years hence by the *enslaved, and that his daughters will be violated and Butchered by them." Think he was just a “product of his time”? Check out how S.F. Austin handled the Karankawa people and ask if you’d personally want to put his name on anything today. It isn’t fun to look at your heroes (or people you were told half truths about - I didn’t learn of much about the “Father of Texas” until I was an adult) in the modern light of day. Hopefully in 100 years people will live more ethically than us. I want next generations to marvel at our achievements - in spite of previous ethical failures, atrocities and shortsightedness. Not look at the failures without seeing them, and perpetuate the sickness of a society built on old lies driven by greed and immorality. Our beautiful state is a tapestry of people and the foundation - the very warps and wefts if you will, are the murder, exploitation, and control by violence that actual indigenous and enslaved peoples suffered from. They contributed through farming, livestock, industry, and art while oppressed and controlled by wealthy Anglo settlers - Anglo settlers who felt (some still feel) entitled to to steal from their cultures while stepping on their necks. I believe we forget that at our own peril. To love and know Texas is to see ALL of her aspects - all of her people.
@@Aloneandunloved after your first sentence, I’m gonna just stop reading…I’ve read up on Texas history (including first-hand documents) for 10+ years now and whatever BS you’re about to spew, I know is dumb af, reactionary, ahistorical retellings. Never once did I deny that there were slave-holders or slavery defenders in their lot, and I won’t ever defend them for their pro-slavery. But for you to pretend that that shitty aspect of themselves was the sole (or even a major) reason for their war against the proto-fascist Santa Anna and his new empire in Mexico is disgusting af. Not only do you ignore the actual plights of people who were **invited** by the Mexican government to settle those lands freely, but you also deny the same plights of the Mexicans (nowadays called Latinos, Hispanics, Tejanos, and still Mexicans) who loathes the same things (those first people I mentioned, by the way, were both Anglos and Mexicans; Mexico invited both to settle in the “untamed wilderness” that was Tejas at the time because the mexican government wanted to control the Native Americans. Direct your hate at Santa Anna, not the people who were misdirected there for a new life, you stupid dickwad)
@@AloneandunlovedExcellent description of how and why we need to study real history. It is not easy having your heroes demythologized. There is nothing hidden or secret about the correspondence and writings of historical characters, though; it's just that we tend to run away from the hard and inconvenient truths that actual historical documents tell. Sanitized history is dull, as well as being enervating. We should be strong enough to look at our past with clear eyes and no expectation of feel-good stories.
My family has lived in Texas since the 1830s on the same land that they settled on about a mile away from the plantation they were enslaved on. I am basically the first generation to be completely free from farming and sharecropping. My father moved away from our "freedmens" town to work in factories. Until then, his family worked for the same white families up until the 1980s. Most of the white population moved away during segregation as we were the majority in the area but they sustained a relationship through debt and being designated laborers that traveled to their farms where they moved to. Although it may sound like a bad situation, we had it better than most because we were protected as long as we satisfied their needs. When the KKK raided neighboring towns we were left alone being assets and were able to have big families and thrive. On the other hand, my maternal family descends from Slocum Texas and were split up because of pursuing Jobs that were in direct competition to other whites. Although we faced many setbacks on both sides, I am proud to be a native Texan and to know my family history.
Congratulations to be free we came a long way !
You are correct, my relatives are from Slocum too
This is so interesting to read about, thank you for sharing about your family history.
I drove through Slocum a few times with my mother. A small town. My mother asked " I wonder what they do here in Slocum"? My reply. " I don't know " Then we looked up the history and found some things out. We learned about the Slocum massacre. Shame. But it seems like a peaceful place now.
This video needs more views! Dislikes are probably from the people who think it's still 1819.
@Chris 👈What a ignorant comment amigo.
@@deplorablepocdetejas1989 "a ignorant" lol....Make sure you say that out loud.
Because Texas is still racist
Share this I’m sharing it now
Thank you for this information on our history in Texas . Let's not erase our history, Let's learn from it and not repeat it again.
Thank you for the video filled with lots of information and great visuals. Texas is such a diverse state.
Very informative, accurate, and fascinating, as always. Thanks for the upload!
I've lived in Brazoria County most of my life, currently in Danbury, and have recently become interested in the history of slavery on the plantations in the area.
Always enjoy your take on things. Have you ever thought about visiting Fort Inge in Uvalde, TX? Basically a large mound with a Volcanic Plug atop that sits above the beautiful Leona River.
That's an interesting lead. I'll check it out.
Very informative video. This is truly one of my favorite youtube channels. Very well done!
Thanks for the visiting and the great compliment. That's what keeps me going.
Being from West Texas, seeing this verdant area of Texas was so refreshing.
I live near here and I'm still in awe at the the beauty of this place.
Excellent story. Thank you for discussing such a difficult and important subject. My family has a place in east Matagorda County on the coast. Growing up, we passed nearby this plantation each weekend going down to the beachhouse, but never stopped. Now, I want to visit. What a beautiful site.
This was good. I learned some history and have some new things to go visit
3:36 Those loopholes were indentured servitude contracts signed be people would couldnt read english. I wonder if copies of these contracts still exist or if any of the other loopholes will be publicly talked about.
Your well thought out comments on the early slave history of Texas are appropriate. As a musician who primarily works with historical music, I have had the opportunity to explain the nature of slavery at many presentations, including the “I Am”, 50th Anniversary Commemoration of the assassination of Dr, Martin Luther King in Memphis, TN. Slavery is a very complicated subject. I would like to use some of your words and logic in future presentations.
Thanks, I really appreciate that
@@secretsoftexas6872 this is not true
I have visited this plantation. Only it was know only as the Gov. Hogg plantation. Varner is the last name oh Martin Varner who came from Virginia. Gov. Hogg bought the plantation in 1824 from Martin Varner. Gov. Hogg made his wealth from the oil field.
Lived in New Braunfels all my life and I'm just now finding out about the schools, slave houses, all the little things around town that I've seen forever but never noticed
Awesome and informative video. Im planning a trip to visit here.
Wow. History is history.
I am a descendant of Charles Stevenson and John Wiley Russell some of the largest black plantation owner around La Vernia texas bexhar county. If anyone has any info on this I’d love to speak with you.
super video my friend. greetings from Poland👍👍👍
Do a video of the camino reales alot of people dnt even know what camino reales were. I love Texas history
I discuss it in at least one of the my videos about the Caddo
Wish this could be made into a into a movie starting with the freeing of the people,some had to be bad ass as fighting men of the frontier forged them as well as farming producing great men
Thank you for making this video.
My maternal family is from Brazoria County and has been there since as early as 1831. My grandma lives directly down the street from the Varner-Hogg Plantation.
Well done. Thank you
Really interesting. Subject I didnt know much about.
Thanks for visiting again. I did my best to tell the basic history with no bias.
Black people are the American Indians.
Now it’s human trafficking, drugs, violence, boarder nightmares, prisons overcrowding, and chaos. The human condition always demands improvement
Great video, thanks!
History must be shared, but history belongs to those who made it, so it's not our mistakes but their mistakes. We'll make our own.
So true as long as mistakes aren't repeated.
@briliant8 I agree! That's why we must grasp history and not erase it.
Can you do a indepth study on the black jacksons of the abner jackson plantation yes im a decendsant
I guess the bible is a thing of the past too considering it okayed slavery as long as the slaves were not mistreated or abused in any way.
Concubine relationships were prevalent too.
Owning another human being is never okay. That comment was the same comment many slave masters used to get their slaves to comply with hard manual labor. Many slaves were confined to sharing beds, lacked proper shoes and clothes, and lacked proper housing.
Is that the same Hogg family that had the Ima Hogg Mansion in Houston?
Yes James Stephen Hogg purchased it in 1901 and his daughter is Ima Hogg
@@secretsoftexas6872 Gosh, what a name!
lol
Jim Hogg bought the old plantation because he wanted a country place. And he suspected there might be oil. His will forbade his heirs from selling it until 15 years after his death.
Indeed, oil was struck there. The Hogg children had been comfortably off but became quite wealthy -- and began serious philanthropy .
Bayou Bend, their mansion in River Oaks (which they developed) now belongs to Houston's Museum of Fine Arts and displays Ima Hogg's great collection of American furniture and art.
The plantation is also a house / museum, open to the public.
Great video! Thank you for covering this history!
come and take it. ❤
My G-Ma was adopted by the Jenkins family. I'm worried that she was adopted as a slave. 😪
What you failed to address is that in those days, there would have been no way to even maintain and farm these plantations, or settle, feed and clothe the nation without machinery, which didn’t yet exist. That doesn’t excuse slavery, racism, or any cruelty, it just gives context that it was an accepted practice of those times. Consider that today, most people of all races are literally slaves to money, which is akin to sharecropping, and without them working, the wheels would not turn and life would be far more primitive. It’s not that wealthy and successful people are bad, they just require employees to get work done to be successful. Another misconception is that the majority of slave owners were cruel. In many cases, slaves were like family and remained, after emancipation, as loyal employees. This you did partially hint at in one case. What is sad is how wokeism rewrites history and distorts into the Marxist “victim/oppressor narrative” when in reality, that’s not properly balanced in the big picture and is in itself, biased, racist and manipulative with he intent to brainwash for psychological control over the masses.
Where in Texas?
Brazoria county, southeastern part of TX, just south of the Houston area
The same Brazoria county Pearland’s in?
@@j.campbell8491 the one and only
Columbus R. Patton sounds like he needs an attitude adjustment.
It's not dark. This is USA.
As long as a Race keeps looking to it’s past for excuses, it can never move Forward!
Tell that to the confederates
They're not looking for excuses. Looking 4 answers. Put the shoe on the other foot.
In our family the first settlers arrived in 1600"s but had to work off there debt for 10 years for getting here . I guess a form of slavery .
Nothing like chattel. That’s Indentured not Enslaved.
The term is an indentured servant, not a slave.
Some day some one needs to explain that all races have been enslaved thru out history .
TRUE !
Most Americans live in our own little bubble and are just uneducated about the hardships people in other parts of the world suffered. African Americans weren’t even treated as harshly compared to other races in Europe or China or the Middle East. Not saying it wasn’t bad for slaves in America but the horrors other slaves faced is just unimaginable
@@Daniel-rc2bu BULL. SHIT.
@@Daniel-rc2bu you must be dreaming. Always trying to down play what happened in this Country by whites. Extermination of the Navites to the brutality of the African. Blacks are not concerned with happened in china or else where. Were concerned about our people. One day the shoe maybe on the other foot. And your great grandchildren will be complaining about their treatment.
So true. Women have been bought and sold across the world for most of history and still are today. Originally, the marriage contract was a contract between two men (same sex marriage lol) negotiated and signed to determine the fate of a girl who had no say in the matter. In much of the world that remains the case. Voting rights and property rights for women are, in the most enlightened societies, still only about 100 years old, if that. No right to vote, no right to own property, no right over what is done to her body---that is the history of women.
Stealing Mexican Ranch Land
Actually stolen from the Karankawas
@@secretsoftexas6872 Nope White & black history is a bunch of lies - forked tongued
A free bus ride, the whining continues....
Though wrong it was the economic practice of the day. Slavery was not wide spread. We are talking small numbers. Texas was not evil just misguided.
Why are you playing into the propagoganda?
What's a propagoganda?
@@LikeAStone1016 bullshit talking in circles..
@@kimberlylay1005 I'm still confused.
He's literally just sharing history. If you think history is propaganda, you may just be a victim of different propaganda
Your racism is showing
Slavery was a nasty part of its history, but it weirdly enough was not a part of its war against Mexico. For some reason it’s been a big talking point in recent years as a reactionary opinion towards the lost cause of the 1860s, but the southern slavery stuff wasn’t a big thing until after Texas had joined the union in the 1840s. The Texians and tejanos (along with many of their fellow Mexicans who revolted against centralist Mexico under Santa Anna) listed out many reasons for independence, none of which were slavery, all of which were actual state’s rights (including fire arms, religion, government, education, defense, and trade). These reasons were very similar to actual complaints in the US at the same time. Slavery only became the predominant issue in both regions c.1850, which we also see in the greater south. Saying slavery was a reason why Texas left Mexico (or even that anglos were “illegals” when they were explicitly invited so that Mexico could colonize the north from American Indians) is absolutely ahistorical and a disgusting bastardization of the history.
Respectfully, please read up on the history of Texas. The colonizers were very much there illegally after Mexico gained independence from Spain.
Mexico had officially abolished slavery in Texas in 1829, and the Anglo Texans FOUGHT to maintain the institution of chattel slavery in Texas. Kept fighting through the Civil War. I often wonder if people like to duck and dodge and say it “wasn’t all about slavery” out of shame. No societal upheaval is ever about one single issue, because no society is a monolith.
Stephen F Austin was conflicted about slavery, but not because he was a noble man. He knew the the other rich Anglos and colonists (financiers of colonists / Old 300) would not support him if he cut off their free, brutal, immoral labor supply. History is complex and the victors’ / financiers’ perspectives inform our mythologizing of people who would rightly offend modern day sensibilities - resulting in the oppressive systems staying in place even now. here is a quote from Austin after Nat Turner's rebellion in 1831,
"I sometimes shudder at the consequences and think that a large part of America will be Santo Domingonized in 100, or 200 years. The idea of seeing such a country as this overrun by a slave population almost makes me weep. It is in vain to tell a North American that the white population will be destroyed some fifty or eighty years hence by the *enslaved, and that his daughters will be violated and Butchered by them."
Think he was just a “product of his time”? Check out how S.F. Austin handled the Karankawa people and ask if you’d personally want to put his name on anything today.
It isn’t fun to look at your heroes (or people you were told half truths about - I didn’t learn of much about the “Father of Texas” until I was an adult) in the modern light of day. Hopefully in 100 years people will live more ethically than us. I want next generations to marvel at our achievements - in spite of previous ethical failures, atrocities and shortsightedness. Not look at the failures without seeing them, and perpetuate the sickness of a society built on old lies driven by greed and immorality.
Our beautiful state is a tapestry of people and the foundation - the very warps and wefts if you will, are the murder, exploitation, and control by violence that actual indigenous and enslaved peoples suffered from. They contributed through farming, livestock, industry, and art while oppressed and controlled by wealthy Anglo settlers - Anglo settlers who felt (some still feel) entitled to to steal from their cultures while stepping on their necks.
I believe we forget that at our own peril. To love and know Texas is to see ALL of her aspects - all of her people.
@@Aloneandunloved after your first sentence, I’m gonna just stop reading…I’ve read up on Texas history (including first-hand documents) for 10+ years now and whatever BS you’re about to spew, I know is dumb af, reactionary, ahistorical retellings. Never once did I deny that there were slave-holders or slavery defenders in their lot, and I won’t ever defend them for their pro-slavery. But for you to pretend that that shitty aspect of themselves was the sole (or even a major) reason for their war against the proto-fascist Santa Anna and his new empire in Mexico is disgusting af. Not only do you ignore the actual plights of people who were **invited** by the Mexican government to settle those lands freely, but you also deny the same plights of the Mexicans (nowadays called Latinos, Hispanics, Tejanos, and still Mexicans) who loathes the same things (those first people I mentioned, by the way, were both Anglos and Mexicans; Mexico invited both to settle in the “untamed wilderness” that was Tejas at the time because the mexican government wanted to control the Native Americans. Direct your hate at Santa Anna, not the people who were misdirected there for a new life, you stupid dickwad)
@@AloneandunlovedExcellent description of how and why we need to study real history. It is not easy having your heroes demythologized. There is nothing hidden or secret about the correspondence and writings of historical characters, though; it's just that we tend to run away from the hard and inconvenient truths that actual historical documents tell. Sanitized history is dull, as well as being enervating. We should be strong enough to look at our past with clear eyes and no expectation of feel-good stories.