What began seven years ago as a fun way to share the sights of Dallas with loved ones from out of town has grown into a business dedicated to educating people about the African-American history that shaped Dallas.
Dallasites and Oak Cliff natives Don and Jocelyn Pinkard were first inspired to create their own tour when friends visited from out of town who didn’t want the typical Dallas experience. Instead, they wanted to see the African-American side.
“We got in the car and drove our friends through the neighborhood that my husband and I grew up in, and my husband started to tell these wonderful stories about the different people and places that used to be there,” Jocelyn said.
The couple spent decades working in corporate America, Don in banking and investment funds and Jocelyn in debt education.
Over the years, their jobs took them to cities across the U.S., and they’d try to make time to take African-American history tours while there. Eventually, they realized that they had never taken such a tour in Dallas.
When they retired, Don and Jocelyn began working on the idea of their own tour company. The couple started out by taking their kids and grandkids on trips around the city involving their own family history, which runs generations deep in Dallas.
The Pinkards’ vision for a tour company evolved the deeper they delved. First, they contemplated a tour company focused just on Oak Cliff from the years they lived there. Then that vision grew the more that Hidden History DFW firmed up. They spent two months researching, reading books and newspapers, doing interviews and spending time at the African American Museum. Through their research, they learned more about the journey of how African Americans ended up in Dallas.
“The more research we did, we found out that it was a more interesting story to tell the background of how we ended up, where we ended up as African Americans in Dallas,” Don said. “We started to focus more on the first 100 years of the African-American experience in Dallas, and it took us back to the 1800s.”
The tour covers the time from when African Americans began arriving in Dallas, just after the city was founded in 1841, until 1960. The tour also weaves in other North Texas history, state history, U.S. history and world history.
Since the business launched, about 6,000 people have taken a Hidden History DFW tour. Every tour begins at 9 a.m. at the J.B. Jackson Jr. Dart Transit Center. The private bus tours are three hours long and and visit over 30 sites. Stops include churches, schools, parks and neighborhoods.
“I think the greatest compliment we get from people is when they say, ‘Well, I lived my whole life here and I never knew this story’ and ‘I’ve passed by this place a thousand times, but I never knew the historical significance on why it’s here,’” Don said.
Details: The next tour is Aug. 16 at 9 a.m. at J.B. Jackson, Jr. Dart Transit Center, 1423 J.B. Jackson Jr. Blvd, DART Transit Center, Dallas. Tickets are $49 for adults, $39 for seniors and $19 for children under 13.
The Go See DFW calendar is a partnership between KERA and The Dallas Morning News.
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, The University of Texas at Dallas, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access’ journalism.
