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Preservation of White Dallas: Erasure of the White Supremacist Past in the Practice of Dallas Preservation. In a Dallas Morning News (DMN) article, “Here we go again: 3 Dallas landmarks are in demolition jeopardy,” by Mark Lamster, published online 5 am, Feb. 28, 2022 discusses the possible destruction of the Atlas Metal Works, Exchange Park, and the Hageman Perry House.1 A history of each building is given as to who designed it, who had it built, the people involved with the building in one capacity or another, what its use was, and how it is architecturally important. However, despite the ongoing issue of racism in Dallas history continuing into the present, the issue of race and racism is erased in Mark Lamster’s article. Art these buildings the cultural inheritance of all of Dallas or are they the cultural inheritance of white Dallas? For whose use were these buildings built? Who was allowed into these buildings? Who worked at these buildings and in what capacity? Who would have been allowed through the front door and who would have been prohibited from doing so? As for the persons involved, for whom the preservations of their buildings would be an ornament to their historical reputations and contribute to them being honored on the landscape and remembered in a positive light, what do we know about their roles in white supremacy in Dallas history? There is a tendency in Dallas history to make racism in the past something done by anonymous others or ascribed to marginal people or working-class people, but not the agenda of elites. Mark Lamster doesn’t mention the issue of race in the slightest, it is absolutely omitted in his history. In regards to the Atlas Metal Works, Lamster discusses that during World War II that it made military materials and that, “Many of its employees, during the years of World War II, were women,” to make the preservation of the building a woman history issue. So Lamster is willing to bring up the demographics of the past employment at a place when it suits his purpose. What he doesn’t say, is whether African American women, or African Americans at all, worked there or whether it was a segregated work force. Some African Americans might have been employed but segregated from the assembly workforce and confined to roles that African Americans were restricted to in the Jim
1
Lamster, Mark, “Here we go again: 3 Dallas landmarks are in demolition jeopardy,” Dallas Morning News, Feb. 28, 2022, https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/architecture/2022/02/28/here-we-go-again-3-dallaslandmarks-are-in-demolition-jeopardy/ , downloaded 3/12/2022.
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Crow industrial South. Asking historical questions like this are unlikely to generate the nostalgic syrup for sentimental preservation efforts. Given that during World War II both the Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Time Herald (DTH) was campaigning against the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC), and when the DMN was asked by the FEPC not to restrict one of its jobs opening a race, both the DMN and DTH were outraged, it unlikely that African Americans worked there in any When Lamster points out that it was founded in 1904 by real-estate Leslie Stemmons president and Millard Storey Jr. as superintendent, additional historical information about them is omitted. What is omitted is that his father John Martin Stemmons was a Confederate officer and Mrs. John Stemmons was part of the group of women who served the meals when former Confederate president Jefferson Davis visited Dallas in 1875.2 Also, not mentioned, is a 1966 DMN article titled, “Stemmons Says Bill On Housing ‘Vicious.’” The article reports that John Stemmons testified that the Stemmons said, “… that the enactment of housing provisions of the 1966 Civil Rights Bill would ‘create a Gestapo’ under the U.S. attorney general.” Also, from the same article: Appearing as vice-chairman and representative of the Texas Real Estate Association, Stemmons urged the Senate to “defeat this vicious ill which would rob us of our birthright.3 Note that he is appearing as a “representative” of the Texas Real Estate Association. It isn’t just his personal racist opinion; it is the opinion of the developers of Texas in general. This John Stemmons’ was the grandson of Col. John Martin Stemmons, and son of Leslie A. Stemmons for whom the Stemmons Expressway is named.4 From fighting for slavery to fighting civil rights legislation it seems white supremacy was a part of the Stemmons’ family tradition. Next in the article is the real-estate project of the 1950s, Exchange Park, which the according to the article is “the brainchild” of William Blakely, who we are told was the “chief executive of Exchange Bank” and board member of Braniff Airways. However, it is
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Acheson, Sam, “When Jeff Davis Came to Dallas,” Dallas Morning News, (DMN), Sept. 22, 1966, page 2. Kowert, Nancy, “Stemmons Says Bill On Housing ‘Vicious,’” DMN, June 23, 1966, page 7. 4 Acheson, Sam, “Stemmons Family as City Builders,” DMN, Dec. 5, 1966, page 4. 3
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unclear whether the proper spelling of William’s name is William Blakley or Blakely.5 Turns out that it is Blakley.6 From the DMN article by Lamster we are told that this was promoted as “America’s City of Tomorrow,” which included “a hotel” and “assorted shops and restaurants.” Were the hotel integrated, were the restaurants integrated, the answer would be no. Integration was to come to Dallas much later with the Dallas establishment resisting. So, we are told to value and want to preserve a lost white world. One thing that is touted as a feature of Exchange Park is the buildings being connected underground. This could be promoted as a think to escape the Dallas summer heat, but it also would be a way to have a segregated walkways with African Americans left on the public streets above. Was the Exchange Bank involved with red-lining? I think this question needs to be asked and it is a question that local nostalgists (They call themselves historians and preservationists.) would never ask. What Lamster’s article didn’t tell you was that William Blakley (proper spelling) was twice U.S. Senator William A. Blakley. In the DMN article, “Reporters give life to candid memories of William Blakley,” (Jan. 6, 1976) we find out that he was an appointed U.S. Senator twice, once in 1957 and then again in 1961 to fill out unexpired terms. In 1961 Blakley did run for election and was defeated. We also are informed that he was a conservative Democrat. The article also mentions Blakley’s business interests such as the Exchange Park development and that at one time he was the largest stockholder in Braniff.7 So. what did U.S. Senator Blakley stand for? In a DMN Feb. 8, 1961 front-page article, “Sen. Blakley Places Waver on Griddle,” we find out that he did a lot of red-baiting of African American Robert C. Weaver, in a confirmation hearing on President John F. Kenney’s appointment to the Housing and Home Finance Agency.8 In a Feb. 13, 1961, DMN article, “Blakley Protest on Weaver May Affect Senate Election,” we learn again that “Blakley was one of the outspoken few who protested the Kennedy administration appointment of Dr. Robert C. Weaver, a New York Negro, who won confirmation by voice vote as director of the Housing Home Finance Agency.”9 It seems that Robert
5
For the “Blakley” spelling there is this is one online reference from the portal of Texas history. https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1705270/ , Also, the webpage of the Dallas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. https://www.aiadallas.org/v/columns-detail/LOST-FOUND-Exchange-Park-1950sCutting-Edge/va/ 3/12/2022 downloaded as pdf. 6 No author, “Reporters give life to candid memories of William Blakley,” DMN, Jan. 6, 1976, page 11. 7 No author, “Reporters give life to candid memories of William Blakley,” DMN, Jan. 6, 1976, page 11. 8 Baskin, Robert E., “Sen. Blakley Places Weaver on Griddle,” DMN, Feb. 8, 1961, page 1. 9 Mashek, John, “Blakley Protest on Weaver May Affect Senate Election,” DMN, Feb. 13, 1961, page 4.
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Weaver was attacked by Blakley so Blakley could present himself as a pro-segregationist candidate as explained by DMN Feb. 16, 1961 article “Blakley Poses Campaign Issue.”10 Turns out that Blakley was a nasty red-baiter and a race-baiter. Though Blakley lost this battle, it seems his architectural efforts extended to the attempt to defend a segregationist landscape for the whole nation. Blakley wasn’t re-elected. It turns out even then, racists were shifting their votes to the Republicans and liberal Democrats and African Americans didn’t want to vote for a race-baiter.11 It turns out that 1961 wasn’t the first time Blakley ran a race-baiting campaign. In a July 24, 1958 DMN article on Blakley being on a television panel, when he was running against Richard Yarborough in the primary Blakley not only opposed integration of the schools, but pushed a conspiracy theory about Yarborough. The article reports: Through television he told the segregation-conscious area he favored local control of schools and difference with the Supreme Court decision requiring integration. “I don’t believe that decision should be enforced by military force in our local schools.” He declared. Blakley is referring to Eisenhower’s having to send in the National Guard when white racists were riotously resisting the court ordered integration of the schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. Then Blakley put for a conspiracy theory that Yarborough had secretly met at the Pentagon, the purpose of which Blakley stated: “I wonder, while at the Pentagon, if he made arrangements for the use of federal troops in our schools,” Blakley said.12 Lamster article in the DMN states that Blakley goal was just to make Exchange Park the “America’s City of Tomorrow,” but it seems Blakley’s goal also was to make the American city of tomorrow a segregated city. I am sure there is more to discover, but let’s move on to the Hageman Perry House. It turns out that John Hageman and Eva Perry as persons without much historical record 10
Duckworth, Allen, “Blakley Poses Campaign Issue,” DMN, Feb. 16, 1961, page 5. Grove, Larry, “Politicians Ponder How Blakley Lost,” DMN, May 29, 1961, page 1. 12 Duncan, Dawson, “Blakley, in Labor Area, Raps Yarborough’s Ties with DOT,” DMN, July 24, 1958, page 8. 11
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at all, really weren’t in the news for advancing or defending white supremacy. Eva Singlaid Perry bought the house in 1905 Andrew Clem, in his 2016 online paper, “The Filipino Genocide,” offers a short and immediate account of the atrocities of Americans. It is online and free to download here: https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1138&context=historicalperspectives However, we can get an understanding of the ordinary white Dallasite by examining the letters written home by soldiers telling of their shooting and massacring Filipinos and which were published in the DMN during the Philippine American War in 1898. When the soldiers wrote these letters, they expected popular support for their activities. When their relatives sent the letters to the DMN they expected popular approval for the contents of the letters. These would be published by the DMN, which found them acceptable and published them with the expectation of broad approval and laudation of these American soldiers. They constitute a very good indication of who the white people of Dallas then generally were. They are transcribed and online in a PDF you can download at this link. HOWEVER, before you download this document, be warned that they are just horrific. Filipinos are called “goo goos” and “niggers” in these letters and that was common among the soldiers massacring Filipinos during their failed war for independence. This is one example, “From Across the Seas: Rudolph Gunner Jr. Writes an Interesting Letter from the Philippines,” DMN, April 11, 1900, page 10. Gunner compares shooting Filipinos to squirrel hunting. W.F. Somers of this city has received the following letter from Rudolph Gunner Jr. of Dallas, who is a member of the American army in the Philippines: Cabegao, Luzon, P.I., Feb. 22—My Dear Friend Somers: I have no doubt you will be surprised to hear from me, but having some spare time after several months of fighting and marching, I thought I would let the “boys” know that I am still alive. You have heard of people going out to see the world? Well, I have surely seen my share of it. The Thirty-Third, as you must have heard from the papers, has had the hot end of it every since we landed. We first landed at Manila and stayed near Manila for about a week and were shipped to the northern part of Luzon. We landed at San Fabian under fire, after four American warships bombarded the place. That was one of the prettiest sights a man could imagine, to see four gunboats shelling a town. We laid off about a mile from shore and watched it. It is a sight which will always stay very vividly impressed on my memory. The flying of explosive shells through the air, and watch them burst over the town and trenches
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and hear the noise of them, and the small boats turn loose their rapid-fire guns was worth the trip alone. After the bombardment Gen. Wheaton ordered us to embark. We embarked in a hurry, as everybody was looking for “gore,” and we got it too. The negroes began firing on us before we landed, but thanks to their bad marksmanship, only hit one man. We cleaned them out in short order and took the town, liberating twenty-seven Spanish prisoners, who dropped on their knees and thanked us for their deliverance. Some of them had been in captivity over a year. We stayed at San Fabian over night, sleeping out in a drenching tropical rain, and marched early next morning toward Santo Tomas; found insurgent barracks there, but the “Goo Goos” must have gotten wind of our coming, for the place was deserted. Major Logan ordered us to burn the barracks, and we did so. They made an elegant bonfire. We returned that night to San Fabian, pretty well worn out, hungry and footsore. A few days after that we received orders to get two days’ rations and 140 rounds of ammunition and be ready by 6 o’clock next morning to march. We had not gone more than two miles from town towards San Jacinto, when we could hear the “pop-pop” of the Mauser and the long “wheez” of the Remington. My company was ordered to deploy as skirmishers to the left. Well, we did the best we could, but as the road that we had passed over was kneed deep in mud you can form an idea of what the rice fields were like. As the rice needs plenty of water, we were often more than waist deep in mud. In fact, one of our boys had to be pulled out of the mud. The first thing I did was to throw away my blanket roll and haversack, stuffing the extra ammunition in my shirt, for I figured if we took the town we would find places to eat and sleep. You have no idea how fast a person thinks when he hears whizz-whizz, pop, whizz, all around him. The worst of it was, you could only see an occasional head sticking out here and there, but they soon disappeared after “Johnny Krag” spoke to them. Most of the damage inflicted upon us was from sharpshooters hidden in cocoanut trees on the road. But we soon found that out and poured volley after volley into them, and you should have seen the niggers drop out of there. It reminded me of squirrel hunting. We fought them for four hours. They put up one of the most stubborn fights that was ever fought on the island. About noon we got into town and found that we eight killed and fourteen wounded, among the killed being the famous Major John A. Logan (Major of my battalion), son of the late Gen. John A. Logan, and one of the most popular officers in the regiment. He was shot through the forehead while stooping over one of the men of my company who was shot through the breast. Two men rushed to his assistance, one a Sergeant Major (one of the best friends I had) and the other a hospital steward, and both were shot down. By the way, you very likely know the hospital steward. His name was Mercier, and he ran a detective agency in Dallas several years ago. We stayed in San Jacinto that day,
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waiting for our rations to come up, but they did not come up for two days, so you can imagine how the road was, the distance being only five miles. https://issuu.com/edwardh.sebesta/docs/race_war_the_philippines_insurrection_ragi ng_vicio The Dallas past as put forth is but some hazy gauzy sentimental and nostalgic imaginings of the white Dallas past, punctuated with occasional breakouts of things like the KKK which are successfully resisted. However, these letters home from the Philippines as well as the enthusiastic reception of the movie “Birth of a Nation,” called “immortal” by the DMN as late as 1936, should make us realize that perhaps the Dallasite of the past is more horrific than we would like to imagine. These so-called history pieces that are published here and there by some preservationists and local “historians” should be seen as the nostalgic puff pastries that they are. The first question any landmark commission or other board of the City of Dallas should be asking of a preservationist, was whether the place was segregated, who was allowed to be there. It should be understood whether it was a place for everyone or whether we are preserving white Dallas. These old buildings are like the horcruxes in a Harry Potter novel. In their preservation each hold a little bit of Dallas’ white supremacist past and represent the past unhistorically and through the lens of nostalgia. Their preservation is advocated by those who are willfully blind to that past. As a group these old places serve to encourage the old guard of Dallas, a class that would bid millions for a Confederate statue, to imagine that they represent the spirit of Dallas. With only a few exceptions, every old building that is destroyed is a blow against white supremacy, and every old building that is destroyed is a blow for civil rights.