black history – TEXAS HISTORY NOTEBOOK

Shankleville Love Story

Shankleville is an unincorporated community located about as far east in Texas as a person can go, since in that area the border follows the river which takes a bend to the east. The community is situated in Newton County, a long and narrow county that extends to the Sabine River which at that point marks the border between Texas and Louisiana. Shankleville itself sits a few miles north of Newton, the county seat, and less than ten miles west of the Sabine.

Shankleville was founded by formerly enslaved people, Winnie and Jim Shankle and their friend Stephen Alexander McBride. By this time, many people have heard the story of Jim and Winnie Shankle, but it bears repeating.

W. E. King, Publisher and Editor

William Elisha King was the publisher of the Dallas Express, an African American newspaper that existed for many years out of Dallas, Texas. Mr. King was a pioneer in this field and the Dallas Express is considered to be the first publication of note to serve the African American community of Texas.

Matthew Ringal “Bones” Hooks

Matthew Hooks was born to former slaves, Alexander and Annie Clark Hooks in November of 1867 in Robertson County, Texas. He was the oldest of their eight children. His nickname “Bones” came from the skinny build he had as a child. He became a well respected horseman and one of Amarillo’s revered residents during his lifetime.

Henry O. Flipper

Henry Ossian Flipper was born March 21, 1856 to Festus Flipper (1832 – 1918) and Isabella Buckhalter Flipper (1837 – 1887) in Thomasville, Georga, both of mixed race. Accordingly, he was born a slave. In the 1870 census, Festus was shown to be a cobbler or shoemaker. Henry entered Atlanta University, a historically Black college, in 1873. While still a freshman there, he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, said to be the the fifth such appointment of a person of African American descent. Though his time at West Point was difficult due to prejudice, he graduated in 1877 as a 2nd Lieutenant. Accordingly, Flipper was the first African American graduate of West Point and the first African American commissioned officer in the United States Army.

Bob and Almeady Chisum Jones

Clipping from Denton *Record-Chronicle*, Wednesday 14 Apr 1949

Almeady “Meady” Chisum Jones was the daughter of Jensie Moore and John Chisum. Jensie was a former slave and lived as the wife of John Chisum in North Texas. Almeady married John Dolford “Bob” Jones in 1874 (some accounts say 1869, but Almeady was born around 1857 and their first child was born in 1875) after they met at a dance in Bonham. The couple had at least ten children.