How I Frolicked Around and Found Out in Fredericksburg Texas

I’m a Black writer who has confidently traveled the world. From Italy, Ireland, and France to Ghana, Belize, and Barbados — I’ve never been one to shy away from a voyage.

That is, until small-town Texas comes up. Because… history.

Even in 2024, small-town Texas traveling-while-Black can lead to feelings of anxiety over how the locals will treat you, or disappointment when history tours don’t include the many significant contributions made by Black Americans, which is why I was pleasantly surprised when I got the best kind of Black History lesson on a recent trip to Fredericksburg, Texas. 

Fredericksburg is a 90-minute drive west of the capital city, set in the vast, sprawling, picturesque, winery-rich Texas hill country. The city was founded back in 1846 by German immigrants who, I’m betting, would have been schnitzel-shook if you told them a Black woman with a silk press and camera phone would be wandering freely through their town 150 years later. As it stands today, only about half a percent of the 30,000 people who live there are African American. 

So no, I did not expect anything Blackish to blow my mind. But, guess what? I frolicked around in Fredericksburg and found out.

The town is home to the National Museum of the Pacific War, which boasts “the nation’s most comprehensive account of World War II in the Asiatic-Pacific theater.” It’s an impressive museum with huge galleries filled with tens of thousands of authentic artifacts, weapons, vehicles, a whole Japanese mini-submarine, and a truly stunning video that expertly breaks down the Pacific War in about five minutes!

But, my favorite part of the tour was:

I listened intently as retired four-star general Michael William Hagee explained how the museum is now doing more global outreach, taking field trips to promote the collections and to tell the story of the Pacific War. 

This general looked directly at me and said, “We recently went to Ghana to speak to a group of students there, and we told them about Dorie Miller.” 

(I remember thinking “Dorie Miller? Harpo, who dis woman?”)

It turns out, Doris “Dorie” Miller was a Black man who grew up over a hundred years ago near Waco. In 1941, Miller was a young U.S. Navy cook and laundryman on an American battleship in the Pacific when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Despite having had no gunnery training (because . . . racism), Miller sprang into action, took control of an anti-aircraft gun (like he’d invented the thing), and started attacking back.

According to reports, he also helped carry wounded soldiers to safety. (Miller was killed in the war two years later. He was the first Black sailor ever awarded the Navy Cross for his heroism.) Miller’s actions that fateful day sparked a transformation within the Navy around race and racism. Actor Cuba Gooding, Jr. portrayed Miller in the 2001 film “Pearl Harbor”. Right now, crews are building the first navy aircraft carrier named for an African American — the USS Doris Miller —  which is expected to officially launch in 2029. 

THIS is why I travel. To remember.

Doris “Dorie” Miller was a real one who, I admit, should have already held space in my mental Black history bank. My trip to Fredericksburg reminded me that I actually grew up right across the street from, and attended school assemblies at, the Doris Miller Auditorium in East Austin. But, that was years ago! And, I don’t recall anyone ever sitting us kids down to instill in us the history of the building’s namesake. THIS is why I travel. To remember. 

And, it’s why I suggest that as unappealing as small Texas towns may be to some of us, we visit them anyway. Because Black people — dead and alive — are there and waiting for us to come in and make ourselves at home.

CHARLOTTE’S RECOMMENDATIONS

Eats:

• Cabernet Grill
  2805 S State Hwy 16, Fredericksburg
• Eaker Barbecue
  607 W Main St, Fredericksburg
• Alla Campagna
  342 W Main St, Fredericksburg
• Chocolat
  Spirit-fllled chocolates
  251 W. Main St., Fredericksburg

Attractions:

National Museum of the Pacific War

• 311 E Austin St, Fredericksburg

Longneck Manor

• Guided experience with close-up encounters with giraffes and rhinos
• 1749 Beyer Road, Fredericksburg

Stay:

Hoffman Haus Bed & Breakfast

• 608 East Creek Street, Fredericksburg

Native Austinite Charlotte Moore is a writer, filmmaker, and world traveler. She is founder of UpsyDaisy Productions which produces multimedia stories that focus on what it can mean to be Black. Follow Charlotte on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.