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The Third Ward is one of the six historic wards of Houston, Texas, United States. It is located in the Southeast Houston management district. The Third Ward, located inside the 610 Loop is immediately southeast of Downtown Houston and to the east of the Texas Medical Center. The ward became the center of Houston's African American community. In rap circles the Third Ward is referred to as "The Tre'. Robert D. Bullard, a sociologist, stated that the Third Ward is "the city's most diverse black neighborhood and a microcosm of the larger black Houston community."〔Wood, Roger. ''Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues'' (Issue 8 of Jack and Doris Smothers series in Texas history, life, and culture). 2003, University of Texas Press. 1st Edition. ISBN 0292786638, 9780292786639. (71 ).〕 ==History== Soon after the 1836 establishment of Houston, the City Council established four wards as political subdivisions of the city.〔 The original Third Ward district extended south of Congress Street and east of Main Street and ended at the north shore of the Brays Bayou; what was then the district includes what is today portions of Downtown Houston and Midtown Houston in addition to residential African American area currently identified as the Third Ward, which is located southeast of Downtown Houston. As of 2003 the usage of the land within the boundaries of the historic Third Ward is more diverse than the land usage in the current Third Ward.〔Wood, Roger. ''Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues'' (Issue 8 of Jack and Doris Smothers series in Texas history, life, and culture). 2003, University of Texas Press. 1st Edition. ISBN 0292786638, 9780292786639. (72 ).〕 In the 1800s much of what was the Third Ward, the present day east side of Downtown Houston, was what Stephen Fox, an architectural historian who lectured at Rice University, referred to as "the elite neighborhood of late 19th-century Houston." Ralph Bivins of the ''Houston Chronicle'' said that Fox said that area was "a silk-stocking neighborhood of Victorian-era homes." Bivins said that the construction of Union Station, which occurred around 1910, caused the "residential character" of the area to "deteriorate." Hotels opened in the area to service travelers. Afterwards, according to Bivins, the area "began a long downward slide toward the skid row of the 1990s" and the hotels were changed into flophouses. Passenger trains stopped going to Union Station.〔Bivins, Ralph. "(ON DECK/The stadium vote/Stadium gives hope to downtown landowners )." ''Houston Chronicle''. Sunday September 29, 1996. A1. Retrieved on August 12, 2010.〕 The City of Houston abolished the ward system in the early 1900s, but the name "Third Ward" was continued to be used to refer to the territory that it used to cover.〔 Historically White people lived in the southern part of the Third Ward, while African Americans were economically segregated and lived north of Truxillo Street. By the 1930s the White and Black populations of the Third Ward were about even. After World War II White residents and the Temple Beth Israel moved from the Third Ward to newly developed suburbs on the southwest side, and the Third Ward became mostly African American.〔Wood, Roger. Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues. 2003, University of Texas Press. 1st Edition. 73.〕 In the era of racial segregation, Almeda Road, a road located in the Third Ward area that at that time served as a corridor to Downtown Houston, was a busy commercial corridor.〔Duggins, Kamilah. "Third-Ward Rebound." ''Houston Press''. November 16, 2000. (1 ). Retrieved on April 13, 2009.〕 The construction of Interstate 45 in the 1950s separated portions of the historic Third Ward from the rest of the Third Ward and brought those portions into Downtown.〔"(Study Area 11 )." ''City of Houston''. Accessed October 21, 2008.〕 The People's Party II, a community activist organization that eventually became the Houston Chapter of the Black Panther Party, Originally led by Carl Hampton a charismatic speaker who organized the PPII at 2800 Dowling Street, Third Ward in the Spring of 1970 to address police brutality and corruption towards Black and Brown people in the community. Hampton died after being shot without provocation by Police from a top of a church on July 26, 1970. Carl Hampton's contributions to the Third Ward Community was the Rainbow Coalition that included The MAYO group a Mexican community activist group and The John Brown Revolutionary League, a group of White community activists. These groups worked together to bring about positive changes in their working class communities by supporting each other's "survival" programs. Programs included free childcare, free food giveaway, free fumigation for poor people, assisting the elderly in the community and free sickle cell anemia testing. Charles Boko Freeman became the PPII/Black Panther Party Chairman in Houston and the Party kept their community organizing until membership dropped in late 1974 and early 1975 due to constant police repression.〔"(Parting shots Political activists recall the shooting death of a Black Panther leader by Houston police and the turmoil preceding it. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Third Ward, Houston」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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