Austin Historic Preservation

Austin’s Latest Example of Whitesplained and Elitesplained History — How the Omission of One Word Reveals Much About How They View the History of Segregation

Posted on October 26, 2025November 6, 2025 by Fred McGhee

It has come to my attention that certain City of Austin officials wish to strip the word “Negro” from official designations and commemorations of the Montopolis Negro School. They prefer to refer to the school as the “Montopolis School” despite the fact that one of the most important things that makes the school historic is […]

Montopolis Wants Its $8 Million Dollar Museum and Cultural Center

Posted on August 30, 2024August 30, 2024 by Fred McGhee

Seven years ago the Austin City Council passed a resolution directing the city manager to utilize hotel occupancy tax dollars to acquire the Montopolis Negro School with the intent of repurposing this “historic asset” into a cultural center and museum. This decision did not spring up out of the political ground from nowhere; it was […]

No More Fake Austin History — The Time Has Come For Me to Take a Stand On Muny

Posted on October 18, 2022October 18, 2022 by Fred McGhee

I am a conservationist and preservationist, an environmental professional who believes in the rational planning envisioned by the authors and supporters of environmental laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Over the years I have taken pride in the fact that enactment of these […]

Upending the Neoliberal Segregation Narrative

Posted on October 2, 2020October 12, 2020 by Fred McGhee

I live and am raising my family in the Montopolis neighborhood of Austin, Texas. Montopolis, also known as “Poverty Island,” is a low-income community of families whose population is 74% Hispanic and 10% African American and whose per capita income is $18,683. The Coronavirus pandemic has hit us hard. Even worse, we are currently facing […]

My Testimony Before the Austin Historic Landmark Commission About Oakwood Cemetery

Posted on January 29, 2020January 29, 2020 by Fred McGhee

I spent the evening of Monday, January 27, 2020 before the Austin Human Rights Commission and the Historic Landmark Commission testifying about the desecration of graves at Austin’s Oakwood Cemetery. I took some of my evening time on Tuesday, January 28th to testify before the city’s Parks and Recreation Board, which actually oversees the city […]

Pomp and Circumstance is Not Historic Preservation

Posted on December 17, 2019January 7, 2020 by Fred McGhee

In a sign of how backwards and behind the times historic preservation is in Austin, the newly installed (permanent) director of Austin’s Parks department issued this memo to the Assistant City Manager about the burials desecration “burgeoning scandal” at Oakwood Cemetery. Sadly and predictably, the memo does not address the concerns and questions I have […]

Austin Doesn’t Give a Shit About Dead Negroes Either

Posted on December 11, 2019December 15, 2019 by Fred McGhee

It is a burgeoning scandal that is as unfortunate as it was predicted. The City of Austin is facing fresh questions about the handling of renovations to the “Chapel” at Oakwood Cemetery, the city’s oldest official burial ground. Facts have arisen that appear to indicate that the city not only gave the go-ahead to excavate […]

An Austin Uppity Negro Speaks

Posted on October 6, 2017August 22, 2024 by Fred McGhee

Certain members of Austin’s black bourgeoisie are perturbed. They are perturbed because the recent political fight over the future of the Montopolis Negro School has exposed some of their ruling class privileges and has also unveiled some of their neoliberal elitism. More to the point, the 2015-2017 fight to preserve the Montopolis Negro School–much of […]

Austin Needs to Fix Its Historic Preservation Problem

Posted on September 20, 2017October 18, 2017 by Fred McGhee

Map of Austin’s Urban Freedmen’s Communities, Circa 1900 Austin last took a hard look at its historic preservation program in the early 2000’s, where a joint task force made up of Planning, Zoning and Platting, and Historic Landmark Commissioners made some recommendations to upgrade but not fundamentally alter the city’s program as originally established by […]

Time for Some Real Talk about MUNY

Posted on May 2, 2017May 5, 2017 by Fred McGhee

The subject of this blog post, dear gentle reader, is a May 1, 2017 op-ed in the Austin American-Statesman by Volma Overton, Jr., son of the Austin civil rights icon: Commentary: Bills would accomplish what UT hasn’t — secure Muny’s value I have great regard for Volma Overton, Jr. But this opinion piece is not […]