Voices of Camptown
By Charles Swenson Voices of Camptown
Untold Stories from a Freedom Colony Cemetery
Voices of Camptown unlocks the stories lying beneath an overgrown cemetery in Washington County, Texas, and reconstructs the lives buried there — the churches, schools, and businesses African Americans built after Emancipation, under Reconstruction and then Jim Crow. The authors, Charles Swenson, Tina B. Henderson, and Robert R. Bubb, present more than a local history. Voices of Camptown is a celebration of community, resilience, and the enduring power of remembrance. It reveals the overlooked story of the “Birthplace of Texas Independence”— where half the population received their independence only following the Civil War.