1910 Lynching of Allen Brooks - Texas Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

The Marker Dedication Ceremony was held Thursday, July 27, 2023. Pastor Michael W. Waters led the dedication. Also in attendance were Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, District 3 County Commissioner John Wiley Price, and Nkeya Brooks--Allen Brooks' fourth-great-granddaughter.

Marker erected by the Texas Historical Commission

Texas Historical Commission Atlas data:
Index Entry 1910 Lynching of Allen Brooks
Address 100 S. Houston St.
City Dallas
County Dallas
Subject Codes crime; African American topics; civil rights topics; segregation
Marker Year 2020
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark No
Private Property No
Marker Location Old Red Museum of Dallas County History & Culture
Marker Condition
Marker Size 27" x 42"

Related waymark: WM158KJ (visit link)

Marker Number: 22824 Marker Text: After Reconstruction, white southerners began adopting laws and codes, known as Jim Crow laws or black codes, that affected everyday life for African Americans. One instrument of enforcement was the threat of violence as well as actual violence, including lynching. Although more often associated with rural areas, lynchings did occur in towns and cities. In Dallas County between 1853 and 1920, five white males and six African American males were lynched by mobs. The lynching of Allen Brooks on March 3, 1910, was an example of strategic Jim Crow violence. As recorded in major newspapers, court records and personal testimonies, Allen Brooks was a 60-year-old African American domestic laborer accused of assaulting a girl in the home of his long-time employer. Local law enforcement attempted to keep the time and location of the pretrial hearings secret, but a local newspaper published the information and a mob subsequently convened at the county courthouse. Measures were taken to secure the building, but the crowd which had gathered shoved past and into the building and pulled Brooks to the second-floor window. The mob placed a rope around his neck and threw him from the window. They then dragged Brooks a half a mile down Main Street where he was finally hung from a telephone pole near the prominent Elks Arch at Main and Akard Streets. Following this horrific event, witnessed by an estimated 5,000 people, many citizens called for a state special grand jury to investigate the lynching, but no court convened and no one was held accountable. Although no other lynchings were documented in the city of Dallas after 1910, other forms of racial discrimination and oppression persisted. (2020) Marker is Property of the State of Texas

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