Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 16, Number 1, Spring, 2004 Page: 55
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cially, Vivian Castleberry.9 But along with profiles
and photographs of notable AfricanAmerican
women such as Craft, Flanagan, and
Pearl C. Anderson,Winegarten and Sanders also
profile less well-known women such as
Frederica Chase Dodds,Thelma Page Anderson,
and Mable Chandler.The book is very well done
and will serve as an important reference for anyone
writing a comprehensive history of African
Americans in Dallas.
Two other books on African Americans take
a different approach to the city's AfricanAmerican
history. Photographer R. C.
Hickman's Behold the People is primarily a book
of photographs of Dallas's African-American
community between 1949 and 1961. The photos
document events such as Juneteenth celebrations,
civil rights activities, and visits to Dallas by
celebrities such as boxer Joe Louis and NAACP
attorney Thurgood Marshall. Hickman accompanies
his photographs with commentary on the
civic and social lives of African Americans in
Dallas and he presents an interesting view of life
in the city during segregation. Similarly, Alan
Govenar and Jay E. Brakefield's book, Deep Ellum
and Central Track, documents the place where
blacks and whites forgot about race and came
together to socialize and enjoy the music of
notable musicians such as "Blind Lemon"
Jefferson and other blues and jazz greats who
performed at the clubs there. In addition toexploring the entertainment history of the area,
the authors document the Jewish and AfricanAmerican
businesses of the area and show how
much this once vibrant area meant to both ethnic
groups. Like Hickman, they include photographs
that complement their narrative history
of the area.'
Three books on African-American history
in Dallas published by the Dallas African
American Museum and the Black Dallas
Remembered Project provide interesting profiles
of some the city's lesser-known individuals
and families. All three books are more celebratory
than comprehensive. Nevertheless, they present
profiles of individuals who may not have
been active in the struggle for civil rights and
social justice, but who were important to the
growth and development of the city's AfricanAmerican
community. Included among the individuals
and families profiled in the three books,
for example, are A. Maceo Johnson, ministers I.
B. Loud and E. C. Estell, and the pioneer Miller
families. These three books do not address the
broader, historical context for the individuals and
families that they profile, but they provide
researchers a starting point for identifying "who
was who" among African Americans in Dallas in
the early to mid- twentieth century. They also
support the activities and events covered by the
Dallas Express newspaper in which these individuals
are often mentioned. Still, all three books
need to be updated and the activities and contributions
of recent African-American elected
officials, educators, and civic leaders included."
The works cited in this essay are not the
only sources available on Dallas's AfricanAmerican
experience. There are a number of
journal articles, theses, and several privately published
works that also provide information on
the topic.'2 But they are the best sources available
currently. As we have seen, there are virtually
no sources that address the experience of
African Americans in the nineteenth century.
This is a problem similar to that of African
Americans in other cities. With only a few55
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Dallas Historical Society. Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 16, Number 1, Spring, 2004, periodical, 2004; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth35092/m1/57/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Historical Society.