DALLAS -- Each accounting of Dallas’ past tells the same story: Ever since John Neely Bryan planted his cabin on the east bank of the Trinity in 1841, land ownership has opened the door to power and prestige.
That’s why it’s so unjust that missing from those history books is the name of Anderson Bonner — a slightly built man who towered over the several thousand acres he amassed in what is today North Dallas.
His achievement is all the more consequential given that Bonner was born into slavery and, upon his 1865 emancipation in Texas, was left homeless and deprived of being taught even how to sign his name.
