February 26, 2019 4 MUSIC SPECIAL SECTION 5 Photo Illustration Adrienne Aguilar RichlandStudentMedia.com 6 SPECIAL SECTION February 26, 2019 Witnessing Dallas’ hidden history Willie R. Cole would not have to attend the same park with Staff Writer its white citizens,” Pinkard said. Just a few blocks away is the YMCA built for The rich history of Dallas’ African-Ameri- African-Americans. Pinkard said the builder can community is concealed in neighborhoods would not start the process until $50,000 was throughout the city. These sites preserve the raised to erect the building. To what may have record of the first arrivals to Dallas and Texas. been the surprise of white residents, $75,000 Each site tells the story of how African-Amer- was raised to build the facility. Not only was icans shaped the city and developed a unique it a YMCA, it was also a boarding house and way of life. meeting hall. The building had 20 rooms avail- Boarding a bus in East Dallas, the Hidden able to African-Americans. The facility was History Tour began at the J.B. Jackson Bus listed in the Green Book as a location where Station. The tour guide told a story about African-Americans could stay the night. Jackson, a political activist who protested the “The Green Book was written by Victor taking of African-American property through Greens,” said Jocelyn Pinkard, also a guide on imminent domain in 1969. Jackson and then the tour. Dallas Mayor J. Erik Jonsson were involved in The Green Book listed places where Afri- negotiations to keep protesters from blocking can-Americans could find housing, gas and the annual Cotton Bowl parade. purchase goods while traveling in the South,” “Jackson received a concession in the 11th she said. The Dallas Black Dance Theatre now hour that Jackson would ride in the lead car owns the facility. with the mayor in the Cotton Bowl parade,” Entering the business district of Dallas, the tour guide Dan Pinkard said. tour bus approached the Majestic Theatre. Freedmen’s Cemetery is located at I-75 African-Americans were not able to attend and Lemmon Avenue. The site is located on performances at the Majestic until 1925. That land once owned by African-Americans on year, African-Americans were able to purchase both sides of the expressway. The cemetery tickets but had to enter through a side gate is where freed blacks were buried. Even in and sit upstairs in the balcony. That practice death, the mixing of races was forbidden in continued until the 1960s when civil rights the early years of Dallas. activist Juanita Craft made it an issue and “From 1850, there are between 2,000 and fought to change the practice. 2,500 African-Americans [buried] here,” Leaving downtown on Elm Street, just past Pinkard said. the Sixth Floor Museum, is an unmarked park The area now known as Uptown was once where three men were hung for burning down the location of the first African-American the city of Dallas in the 1860s, said George community in Dallas. Keaton, the owner of Hidden Tours. Griggs Park, south of Freedmen’s Cemetery, “On July 24, 2019, a plaque will be placed surrounded by condominiums, town-houses at the historical site to mark the event,” said and upscale homes, was originally named Hall Keaton. Street Negro Park. It was purchased for June- Pinkard pointed out two bronze statues of teenth celebrations. Reverend Allen R. Griggs prominent African-Americans downtown. A and the New Hope Baptist Church purchased statue of Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame short- the park in 1913. It was later sold to the city stop Ernie Banks is located in front of Booker of Dallas. T. Washington High School for the Perform- “[This was] one of seven parks that the city ing and Visual Arts. A statue of Rosa Parks, of Dallas purchased so that its black citizens the seamstress who took a seat at the front of the bus and sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, is at Rosa Parks Plaza on Lamar Street. It was installed to commemorate on the Staff Photo Willie R. Cole Sculpture by David Newton at Freedmen’s Cemetery in Uptown Dallas. 60th anniversary of the boycott. The tour continued across the Trinity River would come to perform for African-Ameri- The history of the struggles and celebrations to Oak Cliff, an area of town where Afri- cans in Dallas. Pinkard said Craft, the previ- are documented in the exhibits. Items on can-Americans could settle and call home. ously mentioned civil rights activist, lived on display include documents of a woman who Pinkard pointed out The Bottoms, a neigh- Warren Street, just off MLK Boulevard, and was sold into slavery, years after the executive borhood where black people got their start became the city’s first African-American city order for the Emancipation Proclamation and on the American dream. It was home to musi- council representative. South Boulevard, one a Ku Klux Klan robe that is protected behind cian T-Bone Walker, who found inspiration block to the north, was once home to a thriv- glass. to write songs like “Trinity River Blues,” and ing Jewish community. A statue of civil rights Deep Ellum, Hamilton Park, the Old Red Rafer Johnson, who won the decathlon Olym- leader Martin Luther King Jr. is located in Courthouse, Little Egypt and churches like pic gold medal in 1960. front of the community center that bears his New Hope Baptist, where African-American The historic Trinity River floods were a part name. leaders would speak on the issues of the day, of everyday life. Pinkard said African-Ameri- The African-American Museum, located in are also on the tour. African-American history cans who were able to “move up,” moved to Fair Park, offers a closer look at life in Freed- in Dallas covers the time period from the early the Tenth Street area of the neighborhood. man’s Town. The second floor exhibit gives 1800s to the present. Blacks and Anglos were buried in the Oak visitors a much better look at life in the past. “It was culturally enriching; the exhibits, the Cliff cemetery, but not side by side. Deep Ellum was an area where African-Amer- locations, the history, was really complete and The Forest Theater is a short drive from icans, Anglos, and Mexicans could meet and educational,” tourist George Gilchrist, Jr. said Oak Cliff. It’s located on the corner of I-75 socialize. It was the only place in Dallas where For more information about Hidden Tours, and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Accord- merchants would allow African-Americans to RichlandStudentMedia.com visit www.hiddenhistory.org and www.remembering- Sculpture of Rosa Parks in Downtown Dallas. ing to Pinkard, this is where the headline acts try on clothes before they purchased them. blackdallas.org. February 26, 2019 SPECIAL SECTION 7 The exhibit “Black Beauty, Glitz and Glamour” is on view at South Dallas Cultural Center through March 23. Staff Photos Trace Miller ‘Black Beauty, Glitz and Glamour’ in Dallas Trace Miller “Historically, African-American women A historic photograph of each woman was Assistant Managing Editor have rarely been the subject of discussion accompanied by a paragraph highlighting their around beauty, style and fashion in general. respective achievements, posted on the wall One mannequin wore a psychedelic pant- This was an opportunity to address that near each outfit. suit and top hat slashed by a baby-blue belt. discrepancy and highlight their accomplish- The array of styles, textures, cuts and colors Another mannequin sported paint-smeared ments,” said John Spriggins, the general was dazzling. The total number of outfits black sweats and a collared, cascading, orange- manager of the SDCC. hovers around 40—each one fresh and unique. satin robe. These two outfits were inspired Designers and fashion stylists Patrick Unfortunately, the variety is overwhelming respectively by Grace Jones, the Jamaican- Wright and Pucci Lisenbee organized and rather than informative due to a lack of coor- American actress, supermodel and Grammy- curated the exhibit. Wright and Lisenbee dination between the text, photographs and winning singer, and Iman, the Somalian fash- integrated photographs, text and clothing to clothing. ion model noted for her pioneering work in portray the marginalized beauty of African- While proximity between an outfit and ethnic-cosmetics. American women and illustrate their accom- photograph suggested a correspondence, no The outfits constitute only a fraction of plishments. particular dress is linked to a specific enter- those on display as part of the exhibition The photographs were sourced from the tainer or photo. This creates a challenge for “Black Beauty, Glitz and Glamour,” a fashion archives of the African American Museum viewers seeking information while enjoying and photography show on view at the South at Fair Park and the outfits were designed by the innovative beauty of the ensembles. Dallas Cultural Center (SDCC). This exhibit Wright and Lisenbee themselves. This exhibit is on view at the South Dallas highlights the beauty and accomplishments of Each outfit was seemingly inspired by a Cultural Center through March 23. Visit www. black, female celebrities. particular black, female entertainer or celebrity. sdcc.dallasculture.org for more information. A dress inspired by performer Eartha Kitt. Rediscovering the lost Little Egypt neighborhood “When you’re digging, you’re actually a dance hall, were built on the area sometime Dara Jones and Ryan B. Duff excited. Maybe you can find something that later. The community got its name from the Staff Writers will actually lead to something,” said Delphine Egypt Chapel Baptist Church. Tuma, one of the student anthropologists.