If Dallas Hates Erasing History So Much, Why Doesn't Anyone Know About the Park Where Three Slaves Were Hanged?

Wednesday afternoon Dealey Plaza was teeming, as ever, with photo-taking, pamphlet-buying, theory-trading tourists gawking at the spot along Elm Street where a president was murdered. Meanwhile, but a few feet away, a half-acre, triangular-shaped slice of highway easement went, as ever, disregarded, even though men died there, too. Three slaves, hanged for a crime history does not show they committed.The spot -- an official city park, though you would never know it -- is easy to access if you're willing to walk beneath the foul-smelling, trash-strewn Triple Underpass. But it took me a long time to figure out exactly where it is: The Park and Recreation Department's website lists a Commerce Street address -- Dealey Plaza, wrong -- and has photos from the Elm and Commerce sides of the underpass.My confusion, and that of the parks employees who also had trouble pinpointing its location, stemmed from the fact there is no signage noting the existence of the place called Martyrs Park, nor any plaque that recounts the horror that took place along the former Trinity River bottoms 157 years ago. Nothing.  Continue reading...