AUSTIN, Texas — This Black History Month, one Austin company is working to preserve the history of the city’s African American community — even as longtime residents continue to be pushed out.

Black Austin Tours leads walking tours through historically Black neighborhoods, highlighting churches, homes, murals, and businesses that shaped East Austin and beyond.

On a Tuesday morning, a Road Scholar tour group gathered along East 11th Street, listening as their guide pointed out landmarks and shared stories tied to the area’s past.

The tour stops included historic churches like Ebenezer Baptist Church, once a cornerstone of the community, and Victory Grill — a former juke joint where legendary Black musicians, including Tina Turner and James Brown, performed during segregation.

Along the way, participants also met people who continue to shape Austin’s Black community today, including longtime civil rights leader Nelson Linder of the Austin NAACP.

The tours don’t shy away from conversations about change. Guides encourage dialogue about gentrification and what’s been lost — and what remains — in East Austin.

“Some things change. Others remain the same,” tour guide Julia Norwood told the group.

Norwood is the operations manager for Black Austin Tours. She said research is at the core of every tour.

“We go to the Austin History Center, the Harry Ransom Center, all the different museums around and gather as much information as we can,” Norwood said. “There’s lots of reading and research.”

Black Austin Tours was founded by Javier Wallace, a native Austinite whose family history in the city dates back to the 1820s. Wallace now teaches at Duke University, but his passion for Austin history led him to start giving tours while pursuing his PhD at the University of Texas in 2017.

At first, those tours were offered through Airbnb Experiences.

“They’re taking 20% commission every time somebody comes,” Wallace said. “And I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s not gonna happen anymore. Let me do this for real.’”

Wallace officially launched Black Austin Tours in 2019. Interest surged the following year, fueled by social outrage after George Floyd’s murder and the shift to virtual tours during the pandemic.

“I was like, ‘No, this is something,’” Wallace said. “Then I had to invest in that something.”

He began studying how to run a business, enrolling in coaching programs and expanding his staff and tour offerings.

Today, Black Austin Tours leads visitors through East Austin, Downtown, along the Colorado River, and other parts of the city tied to Black history.

“My favorite part of the tours is you never know what more you’ll learn,” Norwood said. “You never know what questions you’re gonna get that push you to do more research.”

Wallace says he’s also worked to grow his business beyond tours.

“We make a lot of impact beyond walking tours, working with historical sites, working with different entities now that lean on us for our research and curation skills surrounding Black history and people,” he said.

During Black History Month, the company is also spotlighting other Austinites who have spent decades preserving the city’s Black history — work Wallace says has long been happening behind the scenes.

“People have been doing this work for decades,” he said.

Through storytelling, research, and conversation, Black Austin Tours aims to ensure those contributions — and that history — are never forgotten.