DALLAS, Texas — Just a few minutes from Dealey Plaza, there’s a plot of land that holds some of the dark history of Dallas.
It’s called Martyrs Park, a place that Ed Gray, President of the Dallas County Justice Initiative, described as “sacred ground.”
“All of this was covered up, this was a green space,” said Gray.
It sits near the booming construction and development of what’s to come in the city. But the past can’t be overlooked in Gray’s mind.
“This was the torture grounds,” Gray said.
In 1860, Martyrs Park is where three enslaved black men – Patrick Jennings, Reverend Samuel Smith and Cato Miller – were lynched. They were falsely accused of attempting to start a slave revolt.
Gray said it’s history that is hard to face but must be told to move forward as a city.
On March 26, the city of Dallas, along with Remembering Black Dallas and the Dallas County Justice Initiative, unveiled their way of making sure this past stays present.
A new art sculpture called “Shadow Lines” sits in the park. The sundial is etched with the names of the three men lynched at the park, and many others who were hung and lynched in the city between 1853 and 1920.
Jane Elkins’ name is also on the sculpture. She was a rape victim accused of murder, and William Allen Taylor, who in 1884, was accused of assaulting a white woman. Allen was moved to a jail in Waxahachie as word spread of a potential growing mob.
Recorded accounts say that nine masked men grabbed Allen during a police transport. A mob of an estimated 400 gathered as he was lynched, hung from a tree along the Trinity.
“We wanted to make sure that everyone understood what happened here,” said Gray.
Work started on the project nearly two years ago.
“We are here today ... to make sure history is told correctly,” Tennell Atkins, Mayor Pro-Tem and Council member said.
The sculpture was installed in September 2023 by artists Shane Allbritton and Norman Lee of RE:site Studio. A poem commemorates the lives lost. Gray hopes it provides a place for the public to understand what happened and prevent violence like this from happening again.
“We're moving Dallas forward,” said Gray.
Gray said they plan to add more historical markers around the city in the future.
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