Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church - Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church - Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church is a Black Catholic church in Frenchtown, an area within the Fifth Ward of Houston. It was the second Black parish to be established in the city and the first established by Louisiana Creoles.Catholic Youth Organization, Diocese of Galveston. Houston District. Centennial: The Story of the Kingdom of God on Earth in that Portion of the Vineyard which for One Hundred Years Has Been the Diocese of Galveston. Catholic Youth Organization, Centennial Book Committee, 1947. p. 76. "Our Mother of Mercy Church, the second Negro parish to be established in Houston, was founded in June, 1929. Bishop Christopher E. Byrne purchased two city blocks, on Sumpter Street, and ground was[...]" ("Negro" is an outdated term for African-American).Evans, David. Ramblin' on My Mind: New Perspectives on the Blues (African American Music in Global Perspective). University of Illinois Press, January 2, 2008. , 9780252091124. p. 363. It was also the first institution created by non-Anglophones in an African-American neighborhood in the city.Steptoe, Tyina L. Houston Bound: Culture and Color in a Jim Crow City (Volume 41 of American Crossroads). University of California Press, November 3, 2015. , 9780520958531. p. 117. It is a part of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and its membership has included both Creole and non-Creole African Americans.Steptoe, Tyina Leaneice (University of Wisconsin-Madison). Dixie West: Race, Migration, and the Color Lines in Jim Crow Houston (PhD thesis for a history degree). ProQuest, 2008. , 9780549635871. p. 202. "Our Mother of Mercy Catholic church, began as a space of autonomy for Creoles but became a contact zone as a result of intermingling between the groups. Black Texans attended school and mass at Our Mother of Mercy and [...]" Read more on Wikipedia
Source: en.wikipedia.org