African American Bexar County Infographic

African American history in bexar county

In 1860, African Americans in Bexar County, Texas, faced a complex social landscape marked by a blend of enslavement, limited freedom, and cultural interactions, which collectively shaped their community's unique identity and resilience.

Percentage of Farms by Agricultural Acreage

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Occupations, Afro-American Males San Antonio, 1870

San Fernando Baptismal Records, 1970-1820

Percentage of Enslaved Persons by Occuppation of Large Slaveholders

Percentage of Bexar County Slave Holders by Number of Enslaved Persons Held

One in five African Americans pursued a skilled or non manual occupation that offered an income that might allow for entry into the middle class. The freedmen and freedwomen found themselves clinging to the bottom rung of the socio-economic ladder.

Slaveholders in an occupational grouping are reported along with the number of enslaved persons they possessed. In 1860, the size of the cotton crop for the county was too small to require a large labor force to exploit these bondsmen/bondswomen.

These enslaved African Americans most likely served as farm hands, cooks or other such domestic servants. About one third of the slaveholders operated households and businesses with three to ten persons in permanent bondage.

The classification of an infant’s race or castas status was a subjective exercise on the part of the priest. An individual might be born classified as a mulatto and buried as a Spaniard.

Large ranches of 100+ acres represented 28% of all farms surveyed in 1860 but shrunk to 9% ten years later. In their stead was a expansion of small farms. Many freedmen working as ranch or farm hands were displaced and ventured to the cities.