This book is dedicated to Prairie View A&M University’s community, the students, alumni, and to honor of the descendants by remembering the ancestors.
“Learning from the past is a fundamental role we must pass on to younger generations.”
Aliya Beechum, PVAMU RISE Fellow, Book Designer, 2022-2023
Kirby Hall,the first Building on Prairie View A&M University Campus
Jared E. Kirby’s House
Historic Marker for Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery
Map Key
Historic Buildings Cemetery Site
Jared E. Kirby
Jared E. Kirby (1809-1865), was born in Georgia, son of Henry and Sarah Kirby. Moved from Georgia to Mississippi to Texas in the late 1848 or early 1849. His family settled in Hempstead district of Austin county. In 1850, Kirby’s Estate valued at $28,000, and was the owner of fifty-five slaves. During the mid-1850s, his first wife, Indianna Eugenia, had passed leaving Kirby with their two kids. In 1853, He ran for lieutenant governor as a candidate for the Whig party. By 1860, he became the wealthiest resident, owning more than 8,000 acres on both banks of the Brazos worth $285,000 and $175,000 in personal property, including slaves 139 slaves.
After the outbreak of the Civil war (1861-1865), Kirby was selected to help organize public defense as a member of the Austin County Central Executive committee. He joined the Confederacy at the start of the civil war. He would help supply cotton from his Plantation for the Confederacy. Kirby served as a colonel from the Texas front, and he became a Commissary General of the State. Kirby urged the state to begin the defense at Galveston in 1861. This regiment continued for 6 months. Kirby was commanding a battalion of 1000 enslaved people from Washington and Austin County that were forced to be sent to Galveston by their masters.
In 1865, Kirby came to the Provost Marshall of Houston’s Office to subscribe to a planter’s oath for cotton. After he was finished he walked out and saw a man named, John Steele, who was waiting for him with a gun in his hand. Steele proceeds to fatality shoot Kirby in-front of the Office. Steele was arrested shortly after. After Kirby’s death in 1865, 14 years later his son would seek revenge for killing his father by killing Steele in front of the Methodist church in 1879.
Numerous unmarked graves dated back to Antebellum period
The Kirby Mansion was believed to be built between 1858 to 1861
Time line
Jared E. Kirby is murdered by John Steele
Jared E. Kirby
Establishes residence in current day Prairie View
Kirby’s widow deeded the 1,434 Acre plantation to the State. This also included the burial site, located north of Prairie Views campus. Later renamed, Alta Vista Agriculture College of Colored Youth. Texas Legislature votes to establish the State Agricultural and Mechanical College for Colored Youths
Alta Vista Opens with eight male students and six teachers Mattie (Wyatt) Wells A year after Prairie View Begins granting Bachelor’s Degrees eight men and six women earn Bachelor’s Degrees
1850 Cemetery is recorded as overgrown. Latest recorded headstone from 1953. Headstones were recorded from 1882 to 1953
The oldest recorded marked grave (stone) in the Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery is the daughter of a former slave The Cemetery became associated with and named for Wyatt Chapel a nearby community + church
Approximately 4,000 students receive training certificates and 2,000 students graduate by 1925
DESIGN BRIEF
Prairie View A&M University, School of Architecture and the National Trust for Historic Preservation HOPE Crew Digital Documentation Fellow developed a semester long design competition for students in the Fall of 2022. Students participated in site visits and workshops to design and fabricate prototype signage and way-finding to demarcate and celebrate the location and history of the burial grounds on campus.
Documentary
PARTICIPANTS
Dr. J. April Ward, Faculty Advisor, Assistant Professor of Architecture, PVAMU
Aliya Beechum, PVAMU Research & Innovation for Scholarly Excellence Fellow (2023)
Fredrick Douglas Wilson III, Photographer
National Trust for Historic Preservation participants:
Milan Jordan, HOPE Crew Director
Molly Baker, HOPE Crew Manager
Gregory Grey, Trade Specialist, PVAMU Alumn
Everette Fly, Landscape Architect
Texas Cemetrey Restoration LLC
Preservation for the Future
The National Trust for Historic Preservation aided the School of Architecture at Prairie View A&M University through the HOPE Crew Fellowship program in bringing preservation minded design to campus. Texas Cemetery Restoration documented the headstones on the PVAMU Community Cemetery Site createing an up to date database for the University, with photos and a site plan.
The Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery site has a few remaining headstones that need to be protected and preserved.
Discussions for a campus wide preservation committee and a remembrance plan highlighting significant historic figures and events on campus emerged from palimpsest mapping and stakeholder engagement. Research Fellows referenced Dr. Price’s podcast, I See U, episode “Troubling Legacies”, the Ruth J. Simmons Center for Race and Justice Col. Kirby timeline (Dr. Robinson) and Dr. Moore’s website.
Meet HOPE
From Chicago, IL
Crew Participants The Latavia Latham
• Growing up in a city known for Architecture, Latavia was inspired by Chicago’s different art forms of buildings and skyscrapers.
• Latavia’s Fellowship experience developing this scope for the signage competition was a great experience for her. She got the chance to work as a project manager over undergraduate and graduate students.
• She learned so much about signage and project management through this experience from materials to machines and equipment.
Gregory Grey II
From Houston, TX
• Gregory graduated from Prairie View A&M University receiving his Bachelors and Masters degree in Architecture. He further studied Fabrication in Detroit,MI through the Fab Academy Incite Focus Lab and worked for Architecture firms in Houston.
• He started his own business (Brand Elevated) based on his creativity, passion for his community, entrepreneurship, and reflective representation for people of color.
• The opportunity for Gregory to come back to Prairie View and work with the HOPE Crew along with current Architecture students was a full circle moment for him. He is spreading his knowledge, and creativity, with a community preservation focus.
From Shreveport, LA. Donetta Cage From San Antonio, TX.
• Donetta chose Architecture because specifically to build residential homes for families to have for generations. She plans to finish her career in home renovation by flipping older homes.
• The experience with the National Trust for Historic Preservation was more than just designing a sign.
• This opportunity for Donetta was to create a design for showcasing our ancestors history with respect.
• Partnering with Chelsea on the project was a great experience.
Chelsea D. Johnson
• Chelsea chose Architecture because of her love for design.
• The Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery way finding and signage competition gave her the opportunity to meet new people and compete among some PV’s top design students.
• This project for Chelsea was important to her obtaining the history. She enjoyed working with the HOPE Crew and honoring the descendants through historic preservation.
• Partnering with Donetta to design was a learning experience for Chelsea and she enjoyed portraying the importance of the University’s history for students, learning from the ancestors of the plantation.
William S. McNeil From Detroit, MI.
• William chose Architecture because he wanted to inspire his curiosity and creativity through creating buildings.
• He had a great experience and strove to create a design that recognizes Prairie View’s history.
• In the end, he and his partner, Darwin Dawson II, created a design that helped him personally and for the Prairie View Community.
Darwin Dawson II
From Houston, TX.
• Darwin chose Architecture because every building can be designed in a creative way for a functional purpose.
• Having the experience to design with his partner, William McNeil, showed Darwin how important and meaningful design can be.
• Their way finding design explored the impact design can have on community interaction with the area.
