The Human Rights Map Project is a branch of Human Rights Dallas, a diverse effort to make our city a safer and fairer place for all residents to call home. This independent grassroots community movement, which was spearheaded by the Embrey Human Rights Program at Southern Methodist University (SMU), focuses on two related efforts: advocacy and research. The advocacy effort involves leaders from the government, business, nonprofit, education, religion, and civil sectors. It is currently seeking to have Dallas officially designated as a Human Rights City. Based at SMU, the research effort documents landmarks with human rights significance on this digital map. The map project examines the history of Dallas County since 1850 through a focus on sites where human rights have been upheld or violated.
Included in this page are articles I have written for this project.
On December 25, 1915, Henry Johnson was on his way home from his job at a Dallas post office annex when he was killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest. The shooter was Special Officer John C. Cason. At the time of his death, Johnson was not committing a crime, and there was no warrant out for his arrest. He was shot at the corner of Colonial and Forest Avenues.