People
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Evan M. Mack was Deputy City Marshal on May 25, 1885, and again in 1891. A brick mason and a widower with two sons, Mack was an Army veteran, enlisting as a free Black man in Company I, 116th Infantry US Colored Infantry Regiment from 1864 to 1867. From 1867 to 1874, Mack was with the 24th and the 38th US Infantry Regiments. In Corpus Christi, he was the first captain of Robert’s Rifles, the first militia company in Nueces County after the Civil War. When black militia companies were dissolved, the group was renamed Bluff City Guards, with Mack serving as their first captain. He is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery.
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Benjamin “Niny” Hardaway was Deputy City Marshal in 1886 and 1888. Hardaway arrived in Corpus Christi at seventeen years old from Vicksburg, Mississippi, and became the city’s first barber. His shop was on Mesquite Street; he lived on Blucher Street with his wife Hannah and their daughters. He is buried at Old Bayview Cemetery.
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Abe Harris was a city policeman, signing his oath of office on April 27, 1886. He was a local gardener and is buried in Houston at the Evergreen Negro Cemetery.
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Thomas Parrish was Deputy City Marshal on December 30, 1887. Living at 329 Caranchua Street in 1880, he married Lizzie Jackson in 1883 and was a carriage driver. By 1900, Parrish had moved his family to Cuero, Texas, where he became a railway porter. He passed away there on April 18, 1904.
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Abraham Coleman, a day laborer, was Deputy City Marshal on March 3, 1888. He lived on Tancahua Street with his wife Narcissi.
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Sanders Hicks was a special police officer in February 1891. Married to Ellen Newman, Hicks raised their five daughters and two sons after Ellen’s death. Hicks was a day laborer.
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Jerry Johnson was a special police officer in February 1891. He was from Mississippi and was a laborer. Special police officers were appointed as officers for specific events in the city and were not full-time police.
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Willie K. Brown served the Corpus Christi Police Department in the 1940s patrolling the Northside of Corpus Christi primarily. He is one of the first African American Police Officers photographed for CCPD.
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Deborah Johnson relocated to Corpus Christi in 1975 with her brother. In 1977 she became the first African American Female Firefighter for the Corpus Christi Fire Department. She served for 29 years before retiring; during her time with the CCFD, she supported the Corpus community through numerous volunteer activities. Her dedication to community service earned her the prestigious Paul Kelly Humanitarian Award through the Texas State Association of Fire Fighters (TSAFF).
After retirement, Mrs. Johnson served Corpus Christi as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for foster children for 14 years.
Mrs. Johnson’s son, Dwight, continues her legacy as a Corpus Christi Firefighter. -
The 1965 Solomon M Coles baseball team became the first public school in Corpus Christi to win a state championship in the sport. The team won the Class 3A PVIL State Championship featuring an all-Black team coached by John Clay. In 2015 the team was honored by the Corpus Christi Hooks, the City of Corpus Christi, and the Corpus Christi Independent School District for their achievement.
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On September 12th, 1955, 63 African American students became the first to integrate schools in corpus Christi. The students attended the following schools: Cunningham, Driscoll, Northside, Prescott, Crossley, Lamar, Southgate, and Evans. The next day newspapers reported the day passed “without incident.”
Places
Holy Cross Church and School
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The second oldest parish in Corpus Christi Holy Cross was established in 1917 as an ethnic parish for African American Catholics. Before 1917 the families of Holy Cross had no physical church building and held mass in parishioners’ homes. This changed when Mother M. Katherine Drexel, founder of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, became interested in the parish and helped purchase land to build a church and school between Lake Street and Lobo Street.
Hillcrest
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The historic Hillcrest neighborhood on Corpus Christi’s Northside was home to dozens of African American-owned and operated businesses and community hubs. Solomon M. Coles High School, Holy Cross Church, Leathers Drug Store, Bethune Daycare, and more at one point either called Hillcrest home or still do.
