The Drag: Huntsville's Black Business District
Tour Description
"The Drag" is a slang term given to Black business district, that existed primarily from the 20th-century Jim Crow Era to the 1980's (the Cox Funeral Home is the only one still standing). Located on Avenue M between 12th and 14th Street, behind the Downtown Square area of Huntsville, this area was the epicenter of the Black financial/economic life in Huntsville. A sort of mini-"Black Wall Street" of the South, Black-owned grocery stores, financial services, beauty shops, along with many other residences and businesses that primarily served the Black community before and after segregation. This tour will highlight just a very few of the most prominent people and businesses who not only served the Black community, but impacted the larger Huntsville, and even East Texas communities, and made their mark in local history.