HPL News

Scout's Honor: Black Boy Scouts in Houston, 1940s - 1970s

November 12, 2022 - January 28, 2023

The African American History Research Center at the Gregory School

1300 Victor St., 77019 | 832-393-1440

Founded in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) emerged when the country was transforming from an agrarian society of farmers to an industrialized nation of factory and office workers. The BSA’s goal was to teach boys “patriotism, courage, self-reliance, and kindred virtues,” as well as outdoor skills, values that critics thought were lost as families moved to cities.

The first Black Boy Scouts in Houston were organized in 1935 by Reverend J. H. M. Boyce. The following year, about a dozen men completed a training course for leaders and formed seven or eight troops in the city. Although interest in Scouting started small, with only about a dozen Black Boy Scouts per troop, by 1947, their numbers grew to almost 3,000 throughout Houston.

This exhibition features photographs, ephemera, and newspaper clippings from the Harrison Family Collection. Edwin Stafford Harrison (1912-1979) was a civic leader, Methodist minister, and the first Black Precinct judge and poll tax writer in Harris County. Harrison was a Scout Executive from 1944 until his retirement in 1975.

This exhibition is free and open to the public. Dates are subject to change.