Roots of East Austin

By: Emily Andrews and Sarah Remelius

March 18, 2018

The hours spent in line at the famous Franklin BBQ could be used to discover a whole new Austin: East Austin.

For many people – tourists, especially – their first and only introduction to East Austin is Franklin BBQ. Lines starting at 6 a.m. snake around the world-renown business, but while Franklin represents growth, it also is indicative of lost culture in East Austin.

East Austin has had a large minority community since 1928, when a new creation of the city plan segregated Austin along what would become Interstate 35. The new districts caused black and Hispanic people to move East, while the west side of the city stayed majority white. However, the recent population boom in Austin and the strong differences in income of minorities versus white residents means that the minority groups are being forced out of East Austin.

According to TJ Owens, project manager of the African American Cultural and Heritage Facility, the people whose culture East Austin is desperately trying to maintain and represent “through its many revitalization projects” don’t actually live there. Over the course of 17 years, the African American and Hispanic community that once occupied East Austin has drastically diminished.

“What’s happened is there are a lot of folks that have come in, they’ve developed or they’ve been forced to sell because they couldn’t maintain the rising of taxes,” Owens said. He is a fifth-generation Austinite who lives in North east Austin. Owens, in partnership with the Austin American Cultural and Heritage Facility, is working hard to maintain the culture and roots of East Austin.

The change has been drastic. According to 2000 census reports, 67.7 percent of East Austin residents identified as Hispanic but 2016 estimates indicate the Hispanic population has dropped by 17.1 percent.

The African American community in East Austin has also reduced significantly. The number of black residents has decreased by 12.1%.

The number of white residents, on the other hand, has skyrocketed. A community that in 2000 was only 7.5 percent white is now 33 percent white.

“That is one of the sad parts of gentrification – or re-gentrification, I should say,” Owens said. “Those are the folks who were the spark to really fuel the fire here in East Austin, to make it what it was, [but] the folks who created that community feel as if they can no longer afford to live in the community that they laid the foundation for.”

The African American Cultural and Heritage Facility is a free and open resource for the community, with several areas of usable space including a dance studio, a meeting room and a computer lab for residents to come in and work on projects.

“It’s hard. It’s heartbreaking,” said Owens, glancing out the window of the facility’s conference room toward the Dedrick Hamilton House, just outside. It was the first house owned by a freed slave in Travis County, and seems to represent a lot of what Owens in fighting for. “It’s an obstacle that a lot of people from Austin face. Because those homes, they’re family homes. I personally know some folks who have had homes in their family since the end of slavery. It’s hard. Those homes are family heirlooms – how do you come to grips with that? It’s different for every single family. It’s not easy for any family.”

While some organizations work to maintain the culture and history of East Austin, according to Greg Smith, president and CEO of the Austin Revitalization Authority, there are also other groups working to pull the 11thand 12thSt. area from the “slum” it experienced in the 1990s. TheAustin Revitalization Authority is a private nonprofit created a little over 22 years ago to jumpstart the revitalizationof this area.

“This area [East Austin] was a slum. You want to revitalize and the hope is to keep the folks that are there to stay but in most cases when you fix an area up the ones who are there can no longer afford to stay because the prices keep going up,” Smith said. “When the area improves, it’s a double-edged sword because it improves but it makes it unaffordable.”

The problem also extends to businesses in East Austin. Businesses have been repeatedly closed and then reopened by new owners over the past twenty years. Not even the city’s longstanding cornerstones have been spared, including Ben’s Long Branch Bar-B-Q, an African American owned business that had been a popular landmark in Austin. It was closed and reopened as Franklin BBQ in the 2000s.

“There were probably over 40 different African American businesses in this area over here because this was the only place they could live, work and own a business,” Smith said.

“So, my theory is that coupled with fair housing, equal opportunity, and all of those types of acts that took place between 1964 and 1968, it gave folks – particularly the African Americans – the ability to go elsewhere and they took advantage of that and they started spending their money elsewhere. Folks started moving out because they had options.”

Franklin BBQ, in spite of being one of the key elements to the community, has only been residing at its current address for the past seven years. Before Franklin, Ben’s Long Branch Bar-B-Q was there for over 30 years.

As a lifelong Austinite, Owens remembers eating at the barbecue joint and values the building’s history.

“Everyone knew where it was and it was really how close you were to Ben’s when people would ask you about your location,” Owens added. “Many state politicians and legislatives would come and eat cause the state capitol building is quite close. It was a family-owned business but it was closed down around 2009.”

For Owens the closing down of businesses hit close to home.

“I have a great uncle that used to have a barber shop on 12th St. for a long time,” Owens said. “He passed away and then the property got sold and now it’s a small condo complex.”

“Stories like that – that kind of stuff happens.”

Owens believes that the largest problem the community is facing is the economy. The work done at the African American Cultural and Heritage Facility, he says, is one of the many ways the community is working to rectify that.

“We’ve been trying to use it as a birthplace to simulate the arts,” Owens said, leaning forward with serious passion. “They [the city of Austin] realized the link between stimulating the economy and the role of the creative arts in that happening. In the major flourishing economic cities, this happens – there’s a strong tie between economics and the arts.”

Owens, in partnership with the African American Cultural and Heritage Facility, is trying to encourage business and art projects in the community to simulate the neighborhood’s economy. But Owens said this has been difficult not only due to demographic change, but also due changes in the neighborhood’s socioeconomic makeup.

In 2000, the highest percentage of East Austin’s residents earned less than $10,000. 2016 estimates found that the highest percentage of residents now earn an income between $50,000 and $74,999.

In roughly the last two decades, East Austin has gone from being a lower income area to decidedly middle class. The city of Austin is attempting to maintain the culture of East Austin, through such initiatives as the African American Cultural and Heritage Facility and other city-run projects, like the Austin Revitalization Authority.

The city of Austin launched the Austin Revitalization Authority (ARA) to revitalize residential, commercial, and cultural development in the areas of 11th and 12th St. The ARA is also works to preserve the history of this area and sponsor, facilitate and co-sponsor many cultural development projects throughout the East Austin Community.

The ARA has done street scraping of the 11th St. corridor, which buried all the utilities underground, widened the sidewalks, created a plaza, developed office and retail space, and more. In the future, the ARA hopes to develop the two blocks of land on the street that are still vacant.

“This area you know folks say has been gentrified, or being gentrified, but no it has already happened,” Smith said. “The challenge for our organization is to keep our footprint and maintain our presence here.”

Still, East Austin reveals a locale rich in culture and bustling with community. Food trucks – from Jamaican cuisine to Thai – are interspersed alongside historical buildings like the Texas Music Museum, and the Dedrick Hamilton House. The area explodes with Austin artistry, including mosaics painted to represent African American culture.

“This area is special,” said Kate Chiangthueka, owner of the Thai food truck Thai Kruefha. Looking fondly out at the Kenny Dorman’s Backyard, where her food truck is located, she pointed toward the big stage and grassed area there. “This area for black people,” Chiangthueka said, “they have music, and they sing, and they have a big party with 500 people every year, and people love to dance.”

In spite of the changing community, the residents and dedicated organizations are doing their best to maintain the heart of the area.

“The growth in Austin is something we can’t stop,” Owens said. “But the community can direct the ship here.”