In 2023, only a year after its creation, the Katy Texas African American Heritage Society held Katy’s first Juneteenth celebration. On June 19, a parade of children, fraternities, sororities, and elected officials danced and waved to a crowd of hundreds who came out to celebrate and learn more about the holiday.

Designated as a federal holiday in 2021, Juneteenth honors the day Union soldiers arrived in Galveston and liberated the more than 250,000 Black people who were still illegally enslaved in Texas nearly two years after the Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery.

The parade ended in a free festival with music, food, and a student-created museum focusing on Black history in Katy, including the history of the park and the community where the festival was held.

“[We held] the Juneteenth Festival to call attention to the Danover community,” said Corlice Mims, a member of the Katy Texas African American Heritage Society.

Preserving a historic community

In 1865, only months after enslaved people across Texas were freed, Milton McGinnis purchased 200 acres of land in what was then Cane Island. Soon, his siblings, who were formerly enslaved, and others moved to the area, creating a thriving Black community known today as Danover.

As the years passed, Cane Island grew. The area became home to the M-K-T railroad, oil and natural gas were discovered, and the area was officially renamed “Katy.” As Katy’s population surged, Highway 90 and Interstate 10 were built around the Danover community.

In the ‘60s and ‘70s, Danover was filled with a mix of homes and businesses. Residents could walk to their local salon, barbershop, and dry cleaners. But in the 1980s, the area was rezoned for commercial use, according to Corlice. As property values rose, many residents chose to sell their homes. Today, only 60 or so homes remain.

Sharing Katy’s little-known past

In 2022, Brenda Washington, McGinnis’s descendent and a Danover resident, heard about plans that could have affected the future of the community she loved dearly. Washington quickly called her friends, neighbors, and other organizations to see if anyone would work with her to preserve the Danover community.

“That's where everything started,” said Corlice. “It was basically to roll back all of that to make sure that her ancestors’ legacy in the community was preserved.”

After that day, Washington and fellow activist Tanya Debose created the Katy Texas African American Heritage Society with the mission of preserving the Danover community and educating the public about the city’s African American history. To them, putting on Katy’s first Juneteenth parade was the start of raising awareness about the Danover community.

In October 2024, Washington passed away. Just a few months later, Debose did as well.

“We are doing whatever we can to keep that momentum and keep the light on,” said Corlice. “Once she passed, there was not even a thought of ‘What do we do?’ No, we just picked it up and kept it moving.”

A heritage society’s future

The heritage society plans to change the way they operate. This year, the group will start charging a membership fee that will go straight back into the community.

“We want to use those funds to help our homeowners repair their homes,” said Corlice. “We want to give back to the community.”

While some things will change, the heritage society is committed to continuing Katy’s Juneteenth parade and festival. This year, the parade and festival honoring the 160th anniversary of Juneteenth will be held at Woodsland Park. The heritage society has prepaid for snow cones and works with organizations that have donated free food, so every child can have a free meal.

As the organization continues to grow, the group plans to offer scholarships that will help students fund their education while learning about the rarely discussed history of the place they call home.

Corlice hopes that as more Katy residents learn about Juneteenth, they also learn about a storied community with direct ties to the holiday right in their backyard.

“The Danover community is a testament to resilience, unity, and self determination,” said Corlice. “It deserves to be celebrated and remembered.”