A.T. and Addie Odom Homestead
Before
After
The Odom Homestead was built in 1922 by A.T. Odom, a carpenter, building contractor, farmer, teacher and community leader. He built numerous structures including homes, churches, and courthouses and taught young men working for the Civilian Conservation Corps. His wife, Addie, mentored community women, ran the couple’s general store, and served as a supervisor of the Newton County WPA canning plant established for African-American women. Today, the home stands an intact and rare example of African American life in the community of Shankleville.
Shankleville is a Freedom Colony, one of over five hundred settlements in Texas that were built by former slaves after Juneteenth (Texas’ Emancipation). Freedom Colonies, also known as Freedmen’s Towns or Black settlements, are where many African American Texans gather for reunions and homecomings today. Dwindling population and loss of control over property through auctions, partition sales, tax delinquency and sometimes theft have left only a handful of these historic places intact. Still, a small number of Freedom Colony descendants retain landownership and continue to live within these settlements for generations.
UPDATE: Thanks to individual contributions and grants from the Texas Historical Commission – Texas Preservation Trust Fund and the Summerlee Foundation, work is currently underway to restore the main house and four outbuildings on the homestead to their 1945 appearance. Most of the restoration/ rehabilitation work is being completed by his grandson, Harold A. Odom, Jr., with help from a host of other descendants of A.T. and Addie Odom.
LOCATION: Burkeville (Newton County)
DESIGNATION: NRHP
CONDITION: Saved!
OWNER: Shankleville Historical Society
RESOURCE TYPE: Residence
YEAR LISTED: 2015
HONOR AWARD: 2023
