Black Heritage Tree Map

Across campus are trees that once shaded the land of the Alta Vista Plantation, bearing silent witness to its transformation in 1876 and marking the boundaries of one of the original plantation burial grounds. Though its suspected that the ancestors of Alta Vista could be laid to rest throughout campus.

The Kapok Tree at Estate Mount Victory served as a historic herbal shrine and was tended by local medicine man John Dubois during the 1940s and 1950s. He was said to dispense herbs and performed cures at the base of the tree. After Dubois’ time, the shrine fell into disrepair…

The Greenwood Legacy Tree is one of Tulsa’s most important living witnesses to the past. Located in the Historic Greenwood District on the grounds of Carver Middle School, this American Elm tree has stood for over a century, weathering fire, ice, storms, disease, and even violence. We believe that, contrary…

The Grove Place Baobab on the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. This is no ordinary tree—it’s a living monument that has witnessed nearly three centuries of Virgin Islands history. Planted around 1750 this majestic baobab has stood through slavery in the Danish West Indies, the 1848…

On September 13, 2008, Hurricane Ike slammed into Galveston Island as a Category 4 storm—covering most of the island in 15 feet of saltwater, claiming at least 59 lives, causing $29 billion in damage, and destroying 40,000 trees. In Galveston’s predominantly Black Historic East End, many of the surviving trees…

This tree, the baobab tree, originates from Africa. It symbolizes community and the African roots of the Virgin Islands.  This centuries-old baobab tree stands in front of a building where secret meetings were organized by leaders of the 1848 emancipation like Moses Robert, George William, Morse Henry, John “Buddhoe” Gotlieff…

The Angel Oak Tree on Johns Island is one of South Carolina’s most significant living witnesses to the intertwined histories of Native peoples, enslaved Africans, and Black Lowcountry communities. Estimated to be between 400 and 500 years old, this southern live oak has endured centuries of environmental stressors, colonization, plantation…

THE BEULAHLAND GUARDIAN TREE At the edge of a sacred burial ground called Beulahland founded in 1891, a massive Cottonwood tree bore witness to the earliest days of Langston, the Oklahoma Land Runs, and even statehood in 1907. In this cemetery you can find town founders, freedmen, lawmen, cowboys, business…

THE BRITTON OAKS & THE 1867 SETTLEMENT  The Britton Oaks stand as a living testament to strength, resilience, and survival rooted in the founding of The Settlement in Texas City—the only land designated for purchase by freedmen after slavery in Galveston County, Texas. These oaks rise on land once owned…

In 1865, there was an old live oak tree growing on the Patton Plantation near Varner Creek just up from its mouth on the Brazos River, deep in the heart of Texas’s Low Country in Brazoria County, where Sugar Cane grew twenty feet tall. This plantation is now called Varner-Hogg….

Did you know the oldest public park in Houston — and possibly the oldest in Texas — was founded in 1872 by newly freed Black men? This land, now known as @emancipationprkhou @epconservancy, was purchased to be a permanent home for Juneteenth celebrations just 7 years after freedom finally reached Texas. And…

The Divine Nine Trees honor the historically Black Greek-letter organizations whose chapters helped shape generations of PVAMU students and leaders. Every Greek chapter on campus as well as many other non-Greek student orgs adopt and decorate their own trees that they fiercely protect.

Domino tree at the corner of Bell and Mentor in Galveston county in the 1867 Settlement. Under this tree older Black men in the community have been gathering for generations to play games, talk, laugh, make deals, discuss neighborhood issues, and experience joy often denied to Black men as they…

We came across a beautiful American Elm tree outside the historic Eldorado Ballroom in Houston Texas in 3rd ward. This historic ballroom in 3rd ward has been home to so many major artists in Black history including performers such as Ray Charles, Etta James, Jimmy Reed, Guitar Slim Eddie Jones,…

The Bethlehem Tamarind tree is believed to date back to the era slavery and marks a historic cemetery that marks the burial plots of those once enslaved on the plantation. Preliminary survey of the Tamarind Tree conducted in 1997 revealed several potential archaeological features, prompting archaeologists to revisit the site….

The Freedom Tree in Missouri City, Texas. It was under this live oak tree that General Gordon Granger’s troops (most of whom were mounted Black Union soldiers) rode into Galveston to announce and enforce General Order #3. This order was issued by Union General Gordon Granger, on June 19, 1865…

Most people in the U.S. use the term “witness tree” to describe centuries old trees rooted in battlefield sites related to Revolutionary War or Civil War era landscapes such as the infamous Valley Forge “Pawling Sycamore” Tree. But our team at the Black Heritage Tree Project uses the term witness…

THE LANGSTON GATEWAY TREE At the old entrance gates to Langston University, a towering American Elm may predate the University’s 1897 founding—marking the gateway of not only the entrance to Langston University but also the town of Langston City, OK (founded by the Godfather of the Black Town Movement E….

THE MELVIN TOLSON TREE Beside the home of poet, professor, and civil rights leader Melvin B. Tolson—stands a resilient Hackberry tree. Tolson made history in 1935 when he led the @wileycollege1873 College debate team over 15 years losing only 1 out of 75 debates (including USC and Harvard). His legacy was later…

For generations, oral histories in Greenwood told us the truth: many of the people murdered during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre were buried in mass graves…and the largest of which was located beneath an oak tree in Oaklawn Cemetery. That story led us here. Beneath an old oak tree standing…

The Sandra Bland Tree stands as a memorial to justice, resilience, and the ongoing fight for Black lives. This tree marks the spot where Sandra Bland was arrested and the last moment the community saw her alive before she was taken into police custody. This site has now been dedicated…