Significant to the antebellum period of Texas history and the tumultuous era of Reconstruction, this site hosted a sizable plantation operation and two-story Greek Revival-style house. Levi Jordan moved his family and 12 enslaved workers to Texas to establish a sugar and cotton plantation on the San Bernard River in the 1840s. The site highlights the multiple perspectives and evolving relationships of those who lived and worked on the land during the 19th century. Today, the Levi Jordan Plantation provides a unique opportunity to understand the evolving agricultural history of the South and the early African American experience in Texas.
From the Blog
On June 19, 1865, Union troops in Texas began to enforce the end of slavery following the Civil War. Approximately 250,000 enslaved Black Texans had new legal status.
Among these were people who had been enslaved at Varner-Hogg Plantation in West Columbia and Levi Jordan Plantation in Brazoria, both of which are now THC state historic sites. In this...
By William Polley, Levi Jordan Plantation State Historic Site Educator
Since Texas’ colonization, people of African descent have been contributing to the state and its history. With their arrival in Texas as early as 1528, African Americans—whether enslaved or free—were instrumental in settling Spanish Texas.
When Texas was part of New Spain, enslaved African...
By Jacob Lyons, Archeological Collections Assistant
At the Texas Historical Commission’s Curatorial Facility for Artifact Research (CFAR), curatorial staff has been working for the last two years to process and document a large artifact collection excavated from Levi Jordan Plantation State Historic Site in Brazoria County. The collection is composed of objects from enslaved people’s...
