Racism and slavery was just as bad in San Antonio as in any other slave holding state during the 1800s. People often think that oppression was not as bad here as in otther cities like Houstom, Texas, Jackson, Mississippi, and Birmingham, Alabama. In fact the elite have painted a picture of San Antonio as desegregating without protest. This fabricated story ignores the protests by Re. Claude Black, Harry Burns, and other activists that actively fought San Antonio segregation. In fact, threats to blow up the Hemisphere Tower because of racism were made. However, the white elite bandied about the fake history, San Antonio style, that desegregation happened peacefully without so much as a wimper from the victims of white supremacy. The movie theatres, the swimmimng pools, restaurants, hotels, amd other places in San antonio refused to serve Black people and in some cases Mexican Americans as well.
Historically, one of the things discovered in the 1850s was the fact that the headquarters of the Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC), a pre-KKK type organization operated here and in 1931 the KKK had an active chapter in San Antonio. Slaves were sold at the Alamo, the “Cradle of Texas Slavery,” in 1861, while there were curfews against Black people after 9:30 p.m. in the 1850s. Slave auction houses engaged in the dirty business of selling human beings throughout San Antonio and several mayors owned and sold slaves. In addition, Sam Houston, David Crockett, Jim Bowie, and Stephen F. Austin owned slaves in the early 1800s, and slave sales were carried out in the downtown area of San Antonio.
Thanks to the research by Nathan Brown and others, San Antonio Mayors Carolan and King, sold ensleved Black people directly in front of San Fernando Cathedral, while two other racists sold human beings at the southwest corner of Main Plaza in the 1850s. The old Courthouse was another site that slave owner John N. Henriques sold human beings. The Menger Hotel was also another site were naked slaves were sold in private showings to psychotic racialized whites. One must also recognize that the Catholic missions were built with Native American slaves in the 1700s. Canary Islanders came to San Antonio with black Christianized Moors in 1731, and they would be sent to live on the eastern side of the San Antonio River—the first line of segregation in Bexar County.
Mayors John Frost and M. L. Finch were also slave seller operators selling human beings on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Sellers John D. McLeod and Francis Giraud sold enslaved Black people at Main Plaza and around the site where City Hall is currently located. Both of these scoundrels were white elites. McLeod was a judge and Giraud was once a mayor and surveyor. Their site would also have been around the old “Bat Cave” Courthouse as it was called in the 1850s. We know from former slave reports that they were whipped at the courthouse and perhaps hung. One slave auction house may have been located where the City Council has its “B” sessions at W. Commerce and Flores Street.
According to Nathan Brown, “Slavery thrived in San Antonio in the 1850s and 1860s, yet little recognition has been made tp apologize and seek restortive justice.” In addition, slaves were bought and sold on the Salado Creek in San Antonio and little has been said about that. It is my opinion that the ancestors of these slavers, many of whom are not even mentioned in this article, have purposefully hidden these facts for decades.
