Jack Yates

John Henry "Jack" Yates (July 11, 1828 – December 22, 1897) was an American freedman, minister, and community leader.

When her enslaver moved his plantation to Texas to avoid emancipation, Yates, then a free man, asked to be re-enslaved in order to stay with his family.

The family then relocated to Houston, where he helped establish Freedman's Town, purchased property, and began ministering to the community.

Yates, a free man at the time, convinced Willis's enslaver to re-enslave him so that he would not be separated from his wife and three children.

Yates's enslavers presented the family with two options: Stay and work for free, or leave without resistance.

[1][2] As one of the first Black freedmen in the city,[5] he helped establish Freedman's Town, now Houston's Fourth Ward.

[4] In 1869, less than five years after his emancipation, Yates purchased property on Andrews Street[1] where he built and designed the first two-story house in Black Houston.

[6] He began receiving attention from visiting missionaries for his literacy and ability to teach and preach.