Preservation Dallas, in partnership with Remembering Black Dallas and the Dallas County Pioneer Association, will be presenting “The Meaning of Juneteenth: Emancipation in Texas,” on Monday evening, June 12th, 2023 at Old City Park in the Cedars neighborhood of Dallas. The program—which will feature historians Donald Payton and Dr. W. Marvin Dulaney—will explore both the national and local contexts for emancipation, and will include visits to the Millermore Mansion and the Gano Farmstead, sites at Old City Park where enslaved Texans became free.
“Preservation Dallas is excited to join in with the community in the observance of this important celebration,” said Norman Alston, FAIA, President of Preservation Dallas. The organization, now in its 51st year, has vastly expanded programming in 2023 to engage with diverse constituencies around issues of historical memory and historic preservation city-wide, and has partnered with several other historic organizations to expand its reach. Preservation Dallas previously partnered with Remembering Black Dallas to present a tour of Joppa in Southern Dallas in February, and with the Dallas County Pioneer Association to present a tour of Frankford in Far North Dallas in April.
The program will be held next Monday evening, June 12th, at 6pm, preceded by a soul food dinner at 5:30pm catered by the renowned Chef Cassy Jones. The evening program is free; the dinner costs $20, and advance registration is required for all attendees.
The speakers who will lead next Monday’s program—Mr. Donald Payton, and Dr. W. Marvin Dulaney—are both prominent Black historians based here in North Texas.
Mr. Payton is a lifelong Dallasite whose ancestors were brought to Texas with the Miller family, and built Millermore, a plantation house which stands today at Old City Park. He will be discussing the early Black history of Dallas, using his own family’s experience to illustrate that history, from the arrival of the first enslaved Black settlers in the 1840s, through the Civil War to Emancipation in 1865; the tumultuous decade of Reconstruction; and the beginning of Jim Crow in 1877.
Dr. W. Marvin Dulaney is Professor Emeritus of History at UT-Arlington—where he served as History Department Chair, and Director of the Center for African American Studies (CAAS)—and Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Dallas African American Museum. He will be explaining the national context for emancipation in his presentation ‘The Road To Juneteenth,’ tracking emancipation from the Lincoln White House to Galveston, and across Texas to Dallas.
Founded in 1972, Preservation Dallas is dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of the city’s historic buildings, neighborhoods, and places, and to creating a ‘culture of preservation’ in Dallas. The non-profit organization is dedicated to championing initiatives that value the history and culture of places throughout the community, enhancing the quality of life and economic development of Dallas. Preservation Dallas partners with neighborhoods, local and national organizations to document through surveys and research, educate the public, and broker solutions for endangered historic properties.
