Progress Denied: Quakertown, White Supremacy, and the Illusion of Democracy in Denton, Texas, 1850-1925

Sometimes, history isn’t what it appears to be. For instance, in the early 1920s, a thriving Southern Black community was literally voted out of existence by local white citizens. The North Texas city of Denton, which was sometimes described as a “Ku Klux Box,” was also home to the Quakertown neighborhood. There, Black Texans worked hard to overcome the legacy of slavery, build financial success and family stability, educate their children, and worship God as they saw fit. And they did it a...