Little Egypt was an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

community in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

which was founded after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

and continued until the sale of the land in 1962. The roughly thirty-five

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

was located within

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

city limits, north of Northwest Highway. Large homes and the Northlake Shopping Center currently occupy the site. Professors Clive Siegle and Tim Sullivan of

Richland College Dallas College Richland Campus (often stylized as Richland or RLC) is a public community college in Dallas, Texas. The school was founded in 1972 and is part of Dallas College. It is the largest campus in the college, featuring about 20,000 st ...

led a project to discover what happened to the families after they left Little Egypt. Some of the original settlers were tracked to an neglected and vandalized cemetery in the area. The project also included an archeological survey of the only lot that had not been built over since the two houses that once there were bulldozed away. Siegle has found a few artifacts on the site.

History

The land was originally deeded to newly freed

forced laborers Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

after the end of the

. Jeff and Hanna Hill, the former slaves receiving the land, were released from chattel slavery when the

Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War. The Proclamation changed the legal sta ...

was read out in Galveston on June 19, 1865. The community's name alludes to the Biblical story of

the Exodus The Exodus (Hebrew language, Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yeẓi’at Miẓrayim'': ) is the founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four books of the Torah (or Pentateuch, corresponding to the first five books of the ...

of Jews from Egypt where they had been slaves. The Little Egypt Baptist Church was built in 1870. The community's single school taught all grade levels. From early on, people in the community farmed as

sharecroppers Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

or worked on nearby

plantations A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

. The McCree Cemetery served the residents of Little Egypt. As time went on and other neighborhoods got services like municipal or county services like running water, waste disposal systems, gas lines, paved roads and electricity, Little Egypt only got electricity. Rain could make the roads impassible, even though residents hauled discarded rocks in the attempt combat the mud. The church had no

central heating A central heating system provides warmth to a number of spaces within a building from one main source of heat. It is a component of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (short: HVAC) systems, which can both cool and warm interior spaces. ...

or restrooms. Eventually, a wealthy white neighborhood surrounded Little Egypt and on November 1961, Little Egypt was rezoned for

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

use. In 1962, a consortium that wanted to build a

shopping center A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

on the land paid residents cash for their ramshackle homes. The group also paid for the residents' moving costs. Sarah Robinson, a trustee of the Little Egypt Baptist Church, advised residents to sell their homes in order to get a better deal than if they held on until they were forced out. The

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

deal took a year to finalize. All 200 residents moved away in a single day in 1962. Because race-based housing discrimination was still legal and barred them from moving to white neighborhoods, residents either moved to the nearby Cedar Crest neighborhood in Dallas, to

Oak Cliff Oak Cliff is a neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, that was formerly a separate town in Dallas County; Dallas annexed Oak Cliff in 1901. It has since retained a distinct neighborhood identity as one of Dallas' older established neighborhoods. Oak Cl ...

or into

Rockwall County Rockwall County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. At 149 square miles, Rockwall County has the smallest area of any Texas county. Per the 2020 Census, its population was 107,819. Its county seat is Rockwall. The county and city are named ...

. Many residents apparently left eagerly because they were able to purchase modern homes with the money given them by the development group.

References

External links

News Script: Little Egypt
( WBAP-TV) {{Authority control Unincorporated communities in Dallas County, Texas Neighborhoods in Dallas 1865 establishments in Texas 1962 disestablishments in Texas Populated places established in 1865 Populated places disestablished in 1962 Cultural history of the American Civil War Unincorporated communities in Texas Populated places in Texas established by African Americans