A #ltOWrY Of
DALLAS
FROM A
DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE
they attempt to show the ongoing racial injustice
in the city and how African and Mexican
Americans had to struggle to challenge that
injustice. While they succeed in documenting
the ongoing struggle ofAfrican Americans in the
city for voting rights and equal justice, they do
not address the social history of African
Americans. There is also a dearth of factual
information on other aspects of the AfricanAmerican
experience in Dallas. Essentially,
Williams and Shay conclude that the AfricanAmerican
experience in the city has been characterized
by an ongoing struggle against injustice
and white racism.4
Dr. Prince's history also presents a "different
perspective" on the city's history. Drawn largely
from his own experiences as someone who grew
up in Dallas, Prince documents what it was like
to be a child and a teenager in a city dominated
by white racism. Prince attempts to write a narrative,
chronological history of African
Americans in Dallas, but he infuses his history
with so many personal asides and observations
that the narrative loses coherence at times and
becomes more of a personal view of AfricanAmerican
history in the city than a factual one.
Dr. Prince does a credible job of documenting
the lives of A. Maceo Smith, Maynard Jackson,
and other African-American notables who had
an impact on his life and who served as role
models for him.5
One of the better histories written on
African Americans in Dallas focuses on race relations.
In 1988, Dallas Times Herald reporter Jim
Schutze wrote The Accommodation, a book that
sought to analyze and explain the background of
the city's modern racial strife. Schutze utilized
many of the techniques of historians by examin
,D1 gsRln~l~.n~RbI
Jim Schutze
52
