The Accomodation
By Jim Schutze (Forward by John Wiley Price)
The Tea is HOT! The Accommodation is a must read if you are from Dallas. If you do not read this book and you are from Dallas you are missing out on a public awakening. The Author of this book takes you back in time on a historical journey through Dallas. While reading this book I imagined Dallas in the, 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's. I could feel myself there, watching the rail roads being built and the economy starting to boom. I could see the City starting to form and establishing a name for itself, I could see the street signs being made and stamped with historical names, and most importantly I could see black people, my people, struggling to make lives for themselves during this white economic boom and fighting for their rights in this new city we now call Dallas.
This book was published in 1984 and immediately snatched off the book store stands. Why is that? Why wouldn't the leaders and politicians in Dallas want us to have this book? What is in this book that could cause so much uproar and confusion? I beg you to open it up and see for yourself because that is the only way you'll understand how powerful it is.
This book reminded me why I love to read! I discovered a history that has been here all along but I could never see it or understand it until I opened this book. I learned so much and I couldn't get enough, it changed my perspective of Dallas. In the excerpt below Peter Johnson, a civil rights leader from Atlanta, describes how he felt coming back to Dallas in the 80's. I think his perspective is important because it speaks to the true nature of black people in Dallas. His words lit a fire in me because they were so true. "When they stopped being Negroes and became Black people, their eyes came up level and they looked at the world differently. I have never seen that look in Dallas. To this day, I have not seen it." After reading the paragraph below on page 238, I remembered growing up in Dallas. I remember hearing my grandparents say yes sir and no sir to white people half their age. I remembered how it felt when we accommodated. I remembered growing up in South Dallas and Oak Cliff. I remembered the run down houses and shacks my grandparents worked hard for us to sleep in and I was born in 1985 a year after this book was published. I grew up in the aftermath of the Accommodation.
Growing up in Dallas I wasn't aware of the blatant racism I know and see all over the internet today. I thought racism was over and everyone was equal as I had been taught growing up but it was there and it was subtle, you could never quite put your finger on it but it was always present. When I was 13 my mom moved to North Dallas. For the first time in my life I went to school with white kids. I was amazed and I desperately wanted white friends (like on TV). I never felt any hatred towards white people, I grew up having an adoration of white people. I wanted to have the straight silky hair, wear Abercrombie & Fitch, and not have a care in the world,(which I now know is white privilege lol). I wanted everything the little white girls got because even though I couldn't describe it as racism back then I knew their lives were better and in a way I always knew their lives would always be good in a way mine would not. So there I was in 1998, a new student at Benjamin Franklin middle school in North Dallas determined to make white friends and be different from the black kids I grew up with in South Dallas and Oak Cliff. I figured if I could hang with the white kids I would have better opportunities, I could move my mom into a big house, I could do things white people do like go to college, take trips, and be rich. I wanted white acceptance and I wanted a white life. I never got into any white friend groups though, I laugh now at how ridiculous I was. I went from watching my grandparents and parents accommodate to wanting to be on the other side. I don't blame myself for how I thought back then, I blame the accommodation I now know we made.
I was a little black girl from south Dallas attending all black schools with black teachers, torn books and old lockers. Then I transferred into schools in North Dallas with better books, better school programs, and when I went to Lake Highlands Freshman Center I saw cheer leaders doing back flips and I sung opera-like songs in a mostly white choir. I was the closest I had ever felt to being like the white kids who had it all, and this was in 1999. I think about Peter Johnson's perspective when I reflect on my child hood in Dallas and I imagine how he felt moving here from Atlanta. I felt so lucky to be on the white side of town learning white things that I didn't realize we were still segregated and we allowed it. The people outside of Dallas rioted and demanded I have the right to walk through the halls of Lake Highlands High School and even witness the difference between south and north Dallas. As I reflect now I think about how different Dallas would have been growing up in South Dallas and Oakcliff if our leaders here had not accommodated. Our schools were not offering half of what I was offered in north Dallas. After a year and a half in North Dallas I learned so much that I was always 5 steps ahead of everything we did in the classroom when I returned to David W. Carter High School in Oak Cliff my 10th grade year.
Do I think we accommodated? Hell yes! I am the after math of a city who never stood up to it's oppressors, killed JFK because he wanted equal rights, and continued to segregate us after segregation ended. I remember my last couple years of high school we moved to Lancaster, Texas, a suburb south of Dallas. We were told not to speed in Lancaster especially at night and I was told on two different occasions by my father and an older co-worker their experiences with Lancaster police, both gave me a warning to stay out of there way. I remember that mostly because I was a teen and learning how to drive, it stuck with me because we had to know "the rules"and how to survive being black in Dallas. We made the most of what we were given but we never fought for what was ours or refused to tip toe around their whiteness. Our history is hidden in this city and buried under freeways and roads that our ancestors built. If you don't search for it you will never find it. Why is that? Why doesn't every black person in Dallas know our history? I shared details with my mom about this book and she never knew all the while she was growing up in the late 60's and 70's she was surviving the accommodations being laid out for us, but I know she felt it.
I got this beautiful book from my great friend Dr. Ashley Wade and I began to read along with her after she invited me on a hidden history tour in Dallas and it felt so adventurous I wanted to know more. Our tour guides and the founders of the Hidden History Tours in Dallas (hiddenhistorydfw -IG), Mr. and Mrs. Pinkard, (Pinkston HS Alumni) informed us about this book while touring and letting us in on the secrets of Dallas. This tour was the beginning for me, learning about Dallas unlocked a passion for history I never knew was there. Seeing all the historical sights on the side of streets I have driven down every day and hidden in old neighborhoods that used to be filled with important black people, now run down or gentrified for white enjoyment, got my wheels turning. When I met with Dr. Wade in early October and she handed me this book I never knew it would change my life, but it did. I did another tour hosted by Deah Berry Mitchell (SoulofDFW- IG) shortly after starting this book and found even more historical sights in Dallas. The names of the major freeways, the court buildings, and historical sights are apart of me now. I remember the political leaders of the civil rights movement, black and white and I see their names on the streets and signs as I drive through Dallas and I laugh to myself now, like an insider joke that only the ACCOMMODATION readers know. Knowing your history is the best gift you can give yourself
Here are a few recent pictures of me exploring Dallas and learning our history, I love the new view:
Henry Wade- Dallas District Attorney in late 1940's until sometime after Kennedy was Assassinated. Worked with black leaders in Dallas to fight for convictions of black people who killed other black people. Before Wade blacks killing blacks was a misdemeanor or punished with short or suspended sentences.
Morney Berry Farm. First black owned farm in Texas. Purchased in 1876.
Black people owned businesses and had a community in the area we now know as Uptown in Dallas. Jamie Foxx took his first piano lesson right here in Dallas. It was the first upper class black town in Dallas with Lawyers, doctors, and business owners thriving in the community.
Luxury Hotel in Downtown Dallas designed by a black architect in 1916. Staycation anyone?
I met the owner of Henderson Chicken in Dallas. I learned that she is the apart of the family that bought the Morning Berry Farm in 1876. I observed from this part of the tour that when most negroes become black people, they have land and own business. She served us chicken from her restaurant and allowed us to tour her family farm.
We enjoyed every minute of this time capsule. They have preserved so much black history on this farm.
We were able to go into this small shack and see how they lived and the little black dolls inside.
Mr and Mrs Pinkard (Tour Guides and Lovely People). Here they were telling us the history of the first black owned YMCA building in Dallas not far from Uptown. Mooreland YMCA Building. Black people raised 75,000 dollars to build this historic site for our people.
Don't ignore the signs... google Ann Williams !!!
The Pinkards showed us copies of the Green Book on their Hidden History Tour. This was my first time ever seeing one. The Travel Guide for our people to ensure we made trips safely.
This was my favorite part of both tours I attended, Freedman's Cemetery in North Dallas. This memorial was created for all of our Ancestors who died working the railroads and cotton fields in Dallas, they were never given a proper burial. It's a real hidden gem in Dallas and I never knew this existed in all my years growing up here. While visiting, I read the walls and plaques, I felt the ancestors surround me, and I truly begun to understand black history in Dallas.
