Brenda Malik is a member and former president of the Rogers Washington Holy Cross Neighborhood association. Rogers Washington Holy Cross is an East Austin neighborhood built by and for black professionals after World War Two. In this interview, Malik describes her experience growing up in Rogers Washington, the leaders that emerged from her community, and her desire to go to the original all black L.C. Anderson High School.
“Juneteenth was always a park event. So everyone in the neighborhood here joined other neighborhoods along MLK, Chicon, and Rosewood when the parade would come down the street. And then we’d all gather after the parade at Rosewood Park, which was our emancipation park, and everyone would get to see everyone that you ever knew growing up at that park.
And we love to mingle like that and know each other, and know that we’re still a family and we’re still here. And the community is still vibrant, and you get your red soda and barbecue and get to know your other neighbors. It was just all kinds of games going on. There was a baseball game in the park. There was music on the other side. And Juneteenth was such a wonderful occasion for the neighborhood.”
“We had quite a few leaders over here in this neighborhood, come from this neighborhood, including Mr. Snell, who was the first black Travis County Commissioner. But that was after his stint at the Austin City Council.
We also had the first black mayor of Dallas come from this neighborhood. Ms. Kirk’s son, Ronald Kirk, was the first black mayor of Dallas, Texas, and went on to become appointed an ambassador in Obama’s presidency. And they became good friends as well. So it was a bunch of leaders because we had the professionals come from this area.”
“Now, my brother, older brother and sister were part of the bussing that took place in the early ‘60s or the mid ‘60s, and they were bussed to Austin High. And I watched them and it didn’t feel like they were all that happy going to Austin High as part of that experiment. So when it came time for me to go to high school, I said, ‘No, I want to go to Anderson.’
Like I’ve always wanted to go to Anderson and be a yellow jacket. And I was so glad that they let me do that. Because I was able to participate in so many things. And it was a school of excellence. So all of the teachers and principals made sure that they pushed us into excellence at every level.”