Shankleville
Unincorporated community
Shankleville is located in Texas
Shankleville
Shankleville
Shankleville is located in the United States
Shankleville
Shankleville
Coordinates: 30°58′13″N 93°42′25″W / 30.97028°N 93.70694°W / 30.97028; -93.70694
CountryUnited States
StateTexas
CountyNewton
Elevation
217 ft (66 m)
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
GNIS feature ID1380524[1]

Shankleville is an unincorporated community in Newton County, Texas, United States, founded by James and Winnie Shankle and Stephen McBride.[1][2][3] It was founded as a Freedmen's town,[4] one of over 500 such "freedom colonies"[5] in Texas.[6]

James and Winnie Shankle

Jim (James) and Winnie (Brush) Shankle were the first Black couple in Newton County, Texas to purchase land.[7] The Shankles were born enslaved, Jim in Kentucky in 1811 and Winnie in Tennessee in 1814.[8] Winnie had three children prior to meeting Jim Shankle on a plantation of Isaac Rollins in Wayne County, Mississippi.[2][9] The family was later separated when Winnie and the children were sold to a man moving from Mississippi to Newton County in East Texas.[10] Following Winnie's departure, Jim self-liberated from the plantation in Mississippi, searching for his family; Jim traveled 400 miles on foot to East Texas, where the plantation owner arranged to purchase Jim as well.[9][7] Along with Winnie's three children, the couple had six of their own: George Washington Rollins, Tobe Perkins, Mary Rollins (McBride), George, Henry, Houston, John, Harriet (Odom), B.M. (Lewis).[7]

Following Emancipation, the Shankles and their son-in-law (husband of Mary) Stephen McBride began purchasing land in Newton County in 1867.[9] They eventually owned over 4,000 acres and their neighborhood would grow to include farms, churches, grist mills, cotton gin, sawmills, cotton mill, store, blacksmith, and schools. Stephen McBride gave the land for a school and cemetery and built McBride College in 1883, which remained in operations until 1909.[9][11][12]

History

Shankleville was founded in 1867 by James "Jim" and Winnie (Brush) Shankle and Stephen McBride, the first African Americans to purchase land, become leaders of the settlement, and develop the town after the Emancipation Proclamation.[2] Named in honor of the Jim and Winnie, Shankleville was one of ten freedmen's settlements established in Newton County following the Civil War, including Biloxi, Cedar Grove, Galloway, Huff Creek, Indian Hills, Jamestown, Liberty, Pleasant Hill, and St. John.[3]

The Shankles bought "a league" of land[13] and invited other families to live and create businesses there, amassing land holdings over 4,000 acres.[9][14] "Shankleville began as a rural community where African-Americans could live and farm their own land away from the violence of white supremacist activities, the strictures of segregation, and the economic enslavement of sharecropping, or working for less than subsistence wages as domestic servants and in other menial jobs," the U.S. Department of the Interior notes in its National Register of Historic Places designation of Shankleville's Addie L. and A.T. Odom Homestead.[3]

At Shankleville, a single family—the related Shankle-McBride clan—had unusual financial resources that they initially used to purchase land early on, which fostered the development of the community (Handbook of Texas Online: "Freedmen's Settlements").[15] At its peak, Shankleville is thought to have housed about 75 families.[3] The settlement prospered and included schools, churches, a cotton gin, saw mill, grist mill, sugarcane mill, store, and blacksmith.[9][12]

Stephen McBride gave the land for a school and cemetery. McBride College was a two-story structure which operated from 1883 to 1909.[11] Named after Stephen McBride, the school also served as a community center and town hall. During summer, teachers came to attend training conferences and seminars. When school was not in session, McBride College was also used to host revivals featuring traveling preachers.[16] Good Morning America host and retired NFL player Michael Strahan is a descendant of Jim and Winnie Shankle.[17]

Preservation, conversation, and media

The descendants of Shankleville are involved in historic research, community preservation,[18] and family genealogy.[19] Annual homecomings have been held since 1941 on the first weekend of August each year.[20][21]

The Shankleville Historical Society was founded in 1988 to "preserve the heritage", "document the history", and "propagate the legacy" of Shankleville. The society hosts many cultural events in honor of Shankleville, including the annual Texas Purple Hull Pea Festival[22][23] which celebrated its sesquicentennial homecoming in 2017. The festival features cultural events commemorating different historical aspects of the settlement. Purple-hull peas were a historic cash crop and a staple of the local economy.[24][25][26][27][28][29] Currently,the Shankleville Historical Society and the Texas Freedom Colonies Project are working to raise awareness of Shankleville and other similar settlements.[5]

Good Morning America host and retired NFL player and Hall of Fame Defensive End Michael Strahan is a descendant of Jim and Winnie Shankle.[17] The show Finding Your Roots, confirmed the Shankles were Strahan's 3rd paternal great-grandparents.[17]

References

a

  1. 1 2 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Shankleville
  2. 1 2 3 "Shankle, James and Winnie [Shankleville, Texas] · Notable Kentucky African Americans Database". nkaa.uky.edu. Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  3. 1 2 3 4 National Park Service, NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES (2012-05-31). "United States Department of the Interior" (PDF). United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service: NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES.
  4. ↑ "African Americans In Texas: A Lasting Legacy" (PDF). Texas Historical Commission.
  5. 1 2 "Addie L. & A.T. Odom Homestead – Preservation Texas". www.preservationtexas.org. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  6. ↑ "THE TEXAS FREEDOM COLONIES PROJECT ATLAS & STUDY". spark.adobe.com. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  7. 1 2 3 "Shankleville Historical Society, Inc. – Historic Texas Freedom Colony". Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  8. ↑ "TSHA | Shankleville, TX". www.tshaonline.org. Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Shankleville Community". Texas Time Travel. Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  10. ↑ "Craddock: Jim and Winnie: A true love story". Longview News-Journal. Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  11. 1 2 KERR, SHARON (2009-01-13). "Historical marker honors Shankleville founder Stephen McBride". Beaumont Enterprise. Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  12. 1 2 ROBERT, WOOSTER (2010-06-15). "SHANKLEVILLE, TX". tshaonline.org. Retrieved 2018-07-14.
  13. ↑ "Confronting Urban Design's Diversity Crisis With a Return to Black Places". nextcity.org. Retrieved 2018-07-14.
  14. ↑ "Your Family Tree". Houston Chronicle. 2004-06-19. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  15. ↑ Overreached on all sides: the Freedmen's Bureau administrators in Texas, 1865-1868. 1992-07-01.
  16. ↑ "Shankleville History – Newton County Texas". www.toledo-bend.com. Retrieved 2018-07-14.
  17. 1 2 3 "S5 E5: Freedom Tales | Finding Your Roots". PBS SoCal. 2016-10-17. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
  18. ↑ "shankleville Texas historical society presents purple hull pea festival 2014". Scrumptious Chef. 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  19. ↑ Johnson, Brittney (February 2014). "The Community That Love Built: Shankleville" (PDF). Deep East Texas Electric Co-Op.
  20. ↑ Texas Historical Commission (2015-09-17), Shankleville's Homecoming, archived from the original on 2021-12-21, retrieved 2018-07-14
  21. ↑ "Upcoming Events Purple Hull Pea Festival & Symposium, Shankleville Texas". tonitiptonmartin.com. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  22. ↑ Andrea Roberts (2014-06-26), Purple Hull Pea Festival Held at Settlement Founded by Ex-Slaves in Shankleville, TX., archived from the original on 2021-12-21, retrieved 2018-07-14
  23. ↑ 12NewsNow (2018-06-24), 12News pea competition in honor of the 'Texas Purple Hull Pea Festival' in Shankleville, archived from the original on 2021-12-21, retrieved 2018-07-14{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  24. ↑ "Fifth annual Purple Hull Pea Festival gets underway on Friday". The Lufkin News. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  25. ↑ "Purple Hull Pea Festival is June 25th!". Edible Houston. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  26. ↑ "Texas Purple Hull Pea Festival is Coming to a Community Near You". The Newton County News. Retrieved 2018-07-14.
  27. ↑ "Turn out good for Texas Purple Hull Pea Festival in Shankleville". KJAS.COM. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  28. ↑ "Texas Purple Hull Pea Festival w/ Sis Lareatha Clay". BlogTalkRadio. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  29. ↑ Bashaw, Robert (June 19, 2016). "TEXAS PURPLE HULL PEA FESTIVAL – JUNE 27TH". East Texas Press.
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