This collection was created to honor, preserve, and communicate the rich heritage of Arlington's Black community. If you can provide more details for any item in the archive or would like to partner with us to preserve your family's or group's materials too, please get in touch by email or leave a message for the Local History Librarian at 817-459-6795.
The following images are just a preview of what is to come! This archive will contain more than 100 items when the first phase of digitizing & describing is complete. So stay tuned and watch us grow!
To learn about the history behind these items, see the following:
Betty Johnson Hogg - Bible School
Nell Pointer Givens on her porch in The Hill in the summer of 1985, with neighbors in the background.
Girls ready for Easter outside the Emmanuel Church of God in Christ
Mount Olive Baptist Church, 1972.
1970s - Charles Waters and others
L to R: Mark Frederick Pointer, Mike Pointer, Monica. Early 1970s.
A guide to the ministries of the church, along with historical perspective.
Margaret grew up in The Hill roughly 1/2 mile from Arlington High (Cooper at Abram). But until segregation ended in Arlington in the mid 1960s, the closest high school Arlington's black children could attend was I.M. Terrell in Fort Worth—13 miles away by bus! That hardship made getting a diploma challenging for residents of The Hill, but dozens like her overcame the extra burden. Margaret graduated in 1957 and went on to become the first black nurse at Arlington Memorial Hospital.
Three children of Cynthia Jones and an out of town guest in their Easter best.
Cynthia Jones with red & white car in the 1960s.
Unknown child in downtown Arlington's Rogers-McKnight Store around 1902.
1950s - A performer described by photo donor as Little Richard performing in the Hill, most likely in the Dragnet Club. We are seeking to verify that claim with docmentary evidence.
Lou Henry Taylor was a pioneering business woman in The Hill. She opened a small grocery store on Taylor Street in 1946 and eventually moved her enterprise to the corner of Indiana and Houston Streets about 1957. There she developed a side-by-side grocery and lounge known as Lou's Blue Lounge or The Blue Magic Club. The building stood until as late as 2015, across from the Church of God in Christ on Indiana Street. This portrait of Lou Henry was taken in Memphis Tennessee in December 1944.
1940s - Tyree Taylor (right) with unknown woman
BACK ROW (L to R) Velma Cooper, Thelma Walker, Edith Reed, Lou Henry Taylor, Victoria Rose, Jessie Mae Ditto
FRONT ROW (L to R) Gussie Mae Gilmore, Sister Brown, Rev. Brown, Elizabeth O’Neal, Frances Psalms, Oneta Johnson, Blanche Purvis, Mattie Rea Hickey.
A paycheck from the City of Arlington for Arthur Manning. With the "Col." suffix, each check from his employer reinforced that that they saw him as "Colored" as much as they saw him as an employee…
Ticket for event in what is now Meadowbrook Park near downtown Arlington
Rare family portrait of Black mother and daughter in early 20th century Arlington
The Olivers.
Willie Strickland, a soldier during the First World War, sent this photo home to his mother in Arlington as a postcard in about 1917. It is ironic that Stricklin himself could not be served at most restaurants or hotels in the States at a time he was serving his country.