Lynching of Allen Brooks

Brooks had been accused of raping a young white girl, and on the day he was set to face trial at the Dallas County Courthouse, a large mob pulled him by rope out of a second-story window at the courthouse, dragged him to Elks Arch, and hanged him from a telephone pole.

The organization Remembering Black Dallas under the leadership of George Keaton, Jr., planned activities and programs for local high school students, with scholarships that support students writing on the history of racist violence and the civil rights movement in Dallas.

[2][1][7] George Keaton Jr., the director of Remembering Black Dallas, told The New York Times that there was no proof to indicate that Brooks was guilty.

[9] Around 11:15,[9] the mob forcibly attempted to overtake control of the proceedings[10] and fought with 70[10]–150[4] law enforcement officers, including Ben E. Cabell.

The officers were overwhelmed,[2] though none made an effort to use a gun in his defense,[5] and upon reaching Brooks, who was on the second story of the courthouse,[10] the mob tied a rope around his neck and pulled him out a window.

Historian Herbert Shapiro reports that by the time Dallas's undertaker arrived at the scene, he found that Brooks' body had been reduced to a "shapeless mass of flesh," with his undershirt and flannel—the only clothes still on his body—in tatters.

Erasmus Gilbert Senter, a member of the Texas Senate, wrote an open letter criticizing the mob's ignorance of the rule of law, but many in the community did not share his view.

[8] One such postcard included written commentary on the back: "This is a token of a great day we had in Dallas, March 3, a negro was hung for an assault on a three year old girl."

History professor Terry Anne Scott wrote that the postcard conveyed a "grotesque, murderous scene" as a "salutation and [...] a friendly jolt for a reciprocal jester."

[13] Amon G. Carter, of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, had written a special edition covering the lynching by 12:30 that same day.

The nonprofit Remembering Black Dallas initially requested that the Dallas city government apply for a historical marker funded by the Equal Justice Initiative in December 2018, but in November of the following year applied for funding independently of the city.