Kendleton is a Freedmen's town established by formerly enslaved people who bought the land after the American Civil War in the 1860s. Mayor Darryl Humphrey said approximately 2,000 live in the small town that spans 1.1 square miles. But now, it sits in the middle of a food desert and requires traveling at least five miles to get to the nearest grocery store.
[Ads /]
READ MORE: History, unity, and social distancing: Kendleton's Juneteenth Freedom Day 2020
Hubert Walker is a lifelong resident of Kendleton and remembers going to an all-Black school when he was a kid. He said there's still a gap in equitable resources for communities of color.
"We just had hand-me-down stuff, never had enough buses, and then our learning material, reading books, and things were old," Walker said.
Fort Bend County Judge KP George expressed he doesn't want Kendleton residents to feel forgotten. That's why his office helped coordinate an MLK Day service project at the town's community garden with Humphrey and Chef Chris Williams' Lucille 1913 Foundation.
However, he emphasized that as we carry out the legacy of a great civil rights icon, we should remember to bridge these equity gaps every day of the year.
[Ads /]
"(Monday) as we celebrate the 94th birthday of a great soul, the world will never forget his vision in bringing decency and dignity to human life," George said. "We will continue to empower this community for the sake of our children growing up here so that they don't feel marginalized. They don't feel that nobody cares about them. That's the whole idea, making people feel they belong."
Volunteers help fight food insecurity on MLK Jr. Day in historic town
Humphrey said his great-great-grandfather was one of the first five formerly enslaved people to settle here, and since then, his family has never left. As he watched volunteers plant fruit trees and herbs, he said it brought back a lot of memories from his childhood.
"It takes me back to when almost every home in Kendleton had peach trees, palm trees, oranges, grapefruits, and pears. Now you don't see that as much. My grandfather had an eight-acre garden. My mom and grandmother would make preserves, jellies, and things like that. We had black-eyed peas, green peas, and anything that you could want. We raised cows, hogs, and chickens, so we were self-sustainable, and most families did the same thing," Humphrey said.
Lucille 1913, a nonprofit organization, established the garden last year to help improve the health and well-being of residents in the area. It aims to help the community become more self-sustaining, fight food insecurity, and improve access to healthy food.
[Ads /]
The garden sits on land in Bates M. Allen Park, where formerly enslaved people picked cotton and farmed produce. But soon, it will serve as a place where residents can get fresh fruits and vegetables whenever needed.
Humphrey said he expects this area to grow substantially in the next few decades, with a 2,300-home development being built a mile north of the town.
"They're going to need all kinds of stores, groceries, and things of that nature. Whether we want it or not, that development is going to push a lot of retail this way. We have different developers coming in every day, looking for land to build homes," he said.
For stories on Houston's diverse communities, follow Rosie Nguyen on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.