Episode 17: When Highways Threaten Our Legacy
In 1915, Independence Heights was the first town incorporated by African Americans in the state of Texas. For more than a decade, it was a self-sufficient town that could control its own destiny. When the City of Houston annexed the town in 1929, so began the threat of erasure of the historic neighborhood. Over the decades, Independence Heights was cut off from the rest of Houston by highways, which both segregated the area and destroyed some of its footprint. Today, another threat is imminent. TxDOT is proposing an expansion to Interstate 45. But Independence Heights will not stand for its value, legacy, and residents to be overlooked yet again. Texas Housers interviewed Tanya Debose, executive director of the Independence Heights Redevelopment Council, and the neighborhoods attorney Amy Dinn, Managing Attorney on the Environmental Justice Team at Lone Star Legal Aid, and historians Aimee VonBokel at Lone Star Legal Aid and Kyle Shelton of the Kinder Institute.
Read the complaint by Lone Star Legal Aid: https://lonestarlegal.blog/2019/06/07/txdots-historical-resources-report-omits-houstons-independence-heights/
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