What is your name? To Gordon Allport, one of the founders of personality psychology “the most important anchorage to our self-identity throughout life remains our own name.” Every time your name is spoken, your identity is acknowledged. Names are our cultural identity; your name is a fundamental part of your personal brand. When we feel compelled to compromise our identities for social acceptance, our sense of self is compromised. The historic, suburban community of Acreage Home, about 10 miles northwest of downtown Houston was once recognized as the South’s largest unincorporated African American community. Developed during the first World War, it was named Acreage Home because the properties were sold by the acre, instead of by the lot. Residents dug their own wells and built modest homes. Although many plots lacked curbs and sidewalks and there were no storm drains (deep ditches lined many of the streets) it was a place where residents could become proud property and homeowners. Sammie Mae Ford, a resident of Acreage Home quoted in the Houston Chronicle, said in the 1920s most of the residents had gardens in their yards and raised chickens and hogs. Ford described Acreage Home as “like it was the country” and “a place where people had to help each other.” The heavily pine-wooded, affordable land offered low taxes, and neighbors enjoyed plenty of room to grow gardens and raise livestock. Working class families, farmers, skilled laborers, and domestic workers bought the acreage platted for African Americans. Kristen Mack of the Houston Chronicle said that as the designation evolved into Acreage Home it was marketed as “a bit of genteel country with quick and easy access to the city.” Part of the area was annexed as part of the City of Houston in 1967. The remaining portion was absorbed by the city in 1974. Since its founding the community has nurtured artists like hip hop celebrity Slim ug who grew up in Acreage Home. Award-winning actor Loretta Devine, publisher Roy Douglas Malonson and rappers Camillionaire, and Paul Wall are from the area. Mayor Sylvester Turner and nationally renowned educator, …
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