Call for Storytelling Partners: Deadline This Friday!

Are you an independent researcher, writer, artist, storyteller, etc., OR part of an organization working to preserve and celebrate the stories of North Texas freedmen’s towns and early black settlements? We’re looking to partner with you or your group for our Freedmen’s Town Stories project!

Tug of War at KB Polk 1950, courtesy of Dallas Public Library

Freedmen’s towns are communities of former slaves settled after Emancipation as a safe haven from reconstruction era violence and laws. Throughout their history, freedmen’s towns and other black communities have been under threat of redlining, city planning, racial violence, and gentrification. These formal and informal policies have led to the decline and, in some cases, the total dissolution of these historic communities. The North Texas Freedmen’s Town Stories project is combining historical research and different forms of storytelling to amplify the stories that connect the fight — from post-Civil War to present-day — against racism, gentrification, and erasure, to the story of Dallas’ historic black communities.

We are seeking up to 3 partner organizations (or individuals) who are already working to preserve and tell the stories of North Texas freedmen’s towns and early black settlements.

For more information, read the full call here. Applications are due in full by THIS FRIDAY, October 18th 2019 at 11:59 pm CST . 

Please contact Eboni Johnson, eboni@bcworkshop.org with any questions you may have about the application process.