The lynching that happened on Main Street in Dallas in 1910 has been mostly ignored but a historic marker will finally be unveiled Saturday to acknowledge the act of racial mob violence.
George Keaton Junior is the founder of Remembering Black Dallas which complied history of the events that day and pushed for the marker.
“This is probably the most recorded lynching. And also there was a postcard that was a first-hand account,” Keaton said.
On March 3, 1910, Keaton said a mob entered the Old Red Courthouse and grabbed 59-year-old Allen Brooks who was awaiting trial for accusations of molesting a child, which Keaton said was disputed by evidence.
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The mob pushed Brooks out of a second-floor window and the fall killed him. Then his corpse was dragged to Main at Akard where he was strung up on a utility pole beside the welcoming arch that crossed the intersection at that time.
“People that did shameful acts don't want their grandchildren to know the shameful acts that they have done,” said Dallas City Councilman Casey Thomas.
He visited the courthouse site Friday where Brooks was pushed to his death.
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“To think that something like that would have happened, that this lynch mob would have come together on an allegation. He hadn't been tried. He hadn't been found guilty,” Thomas said.
Saturday, a historic marker will be unveiled at the corner of Akard and Main where the lynching occurred with details of the events that day.
“10 years ago, this would not have happened,” Keaton said.
In recent years, many events around the nation and in Dallas have fostered a reckoning with racial injustice.
Dallas removed a Robert E. Lee statue in 2017 and a Confederate Memorial in 2020. Councilman Thomas supported the removal of those landmarks and supported the process that led to the lynching monument.
“Dallas has changed. The future of this country is different. It will be majority people of color. And we have to accept that reality and acknowledge the wrongs that we have done before we can move forward,” Thomas said.
Allen Brooks was the father of nine children who worked as a handyman to support his family.
“This could have been me. He was no different. He was a black hard working man just as I am,” Keaton said.
The monument unveiling will happen at 11 a.m. at the corner of Akard and Main with a list of dignitaries. It will be hosted by the Dallas County Justice Initiative. A drum march will follow to the Old Red Courthouse with a closing ceremony at the location where Brooks was grabbed and killed.
