- Scattered throughout the city of Dallas are remnants of its antebellum period hidden in plain sight.

There are reminders of a time when the city's elite built their wealth on the backs of the enslaved.

To some, it's a blemish on Dallas' record, but it underscores another story, one of resilience, resourcefulness, and community.

It's the story of Dallas's freed men and women and the legacy they went on to build.

- I don't understand how people feel like they can just take an eraser, just erase us side of the story.

You know, we're an integral part of the story.

We help make the story, you know, that's like leaving people out that you know, were here.

- In order to survive like the ridiculous stress of jump apartheid, you have to have some kind of humor and joy and all these other things.

How do you survive that?

Right?

- There's a larger story I think to uncover than not only the formation of these communities, but the sustaining of self-reliance and support with we other Freakness towns.

- And this is where cat here in mirror.

My dad's Granddady.

He was first generation born free.

He was born 1867, so they had been free two years when, when he was born.

My name is Donald Peyton and I am a member of the Miller family.

We were owned by a man named William Brown Miller.

My family built this mansion that we are setting in back in 1855.

- Donald Peyton's ancestors were enslaved at Miller Moore.

The plantation house is one of the few remaining fixtures from the Civil War period in Dallas.

The house was built in what's now considered Oak Cliff and was relocated to Old City Park.

- I know that my great great grandfather cut down the wood to build this mansion.

This is, this is called a spoon because spoon this William Brown Miller, - William Brown Miller was one of the most prosperous cotton planters and slave owners in north Texas.

His fortune in Miller Moore was built by the enslaved.

He brought with him to Dallas.

The small log cabin was temporary housing for the white Millers.

As construction began on the big house, once finished, Miller gave the cabin to one of his enslaved couples, arch and Charlotte Miller.

- And these are the descendants of Archie and Charlotte Miller who came to Dallas with William Brown Miller back in the 1840s.

And these are the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren of, of slaves.

And I feel like this is a tribute.

This house is a tribute to people who were uneducated, never spent a day in school, but still had enough skills to build a house that's been started in since 18 55, 10 - Years later.

On June 19th, 1865, new orders hit the shores of Galveston in accordance with a proclamation from the executive of the United States.

All slaves are free.

The Freemen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages.

They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect that military post, and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.

By order of major General Granger - Stay where you are with the same people doing the same thing, but now you become employer and employee.

- So during the early points of reconstruction, some black formerly enslaved folks were residing at their former owner's plantations where the conditions still weren't great.

Despite the presence of union soldiers and the Freedman's Bureau, - Newly freed men and women face starting a new life with nothing and from nothing together, they built tightly knit, vibrant communities called Freeman's towns.

- The Freeman's towns in Dallas, like Freeman's towns all over Texas and other places started after emancipation some immediately after some, a few years after.

Some of the first ones in Dallas were Freedman's town and the state Thomas area.

- After emancipation, Freedman's towns were popping up across the United States state.

Thomas was one of the largest in the country and it was thriving.

- That particular community formed right on the periphery of Dallas because there's a set of laws, there's break vagrancy laws and ordinances and black codes that are put in place that basically says if you're like found being idle, then you are basically put into slavery.

Again.

- The towns were safe havens for black people in a time where white hospitals wouldn't treat them and insurance companies wouldn't insure them.

They started their own towns like state Thomas contained schools, libraries, attorneys, and entrepreneurs.

And while these black settlements were physically separated, they supported one another sharing vital goods and services.

- So really there's this connection between the different Freedmans towns within Dallas, but Texas and really this larger network of communities.

What we have seen is these connections between institutions, business expansion from one - Community to the next.

What's often forgotten in the story of Dallas's first black communities is that the people knew how to have fun - In the newspapers.

It's like the social media at the time.

There's a whole column and the papers every week about what the social clubs are doing.

So it was very lively, especially in the 1920s.

They were having a good old time.

So you see this very vibrant social life.

You see a lot of businesses going on.

This is up to the 1920s, 1920s, like everything's really popping there.

And state Thomas, - As travel options expanded and housing opportunities increased for black individuals, a ripple effect occurred.

Freeman's towns in Dallas experienced a gradual erosion with many residents either relocating or facing displacement, ultimately leading to the near erasure of these communities.

Over time.

One thing that did remain of state, Thomas was a sacred resting place for thousands of freed men and women who settled around the Dallas area.

- Donald do a tour, black Dallas Forest and for the kids.

And so he took us to the cemetery and, and went and found these two or men might have been three headstones that were still there.

And again, that was just, I was just blown away 'cause it's a big empty field with no, no marking or or anything at that time.

And I, but again, I was just blown away that this was a cemetery besides Central Expressway.

Then I was also taken aback when they started widening Central Expressway and discovered all those bodies.

- Friedman Cemetery, perhaps the most unrestful resting place in Dallas, Fort Worth, maybe even the state three times In its 130 year history, someone has disturbed this burial ground for slaves.

- As early as the 1930s parts of the cemetery and a thriving black community were being destroyed by imminent domain for railroads.

By 1952, central Expressway, like in other cities across the US had unceremoniously paved over black homes, businesses, and even the sacred resting place of thousands.

- They realized what they were doing.

But by that time, you know the, there may or may not have been anybody there or around to stop them.

- They figured there'd be 150 graves and they'd end up moving 50 of them.

They couldn't have been more raw.

- It's estimated that around 7,000 people are buried in Freedman Cemetery, one of the largest in the country.

What ensued after the discovery of the desiccated graves of Freedman Cemetery was an 11 year uphill battle to exhume study and memorialize the remains.

Today a sprawling monument overlooks I 75, honoring the men and women buried at Freedman Cemetery, A warrior and a prophetess stand at the entrance.

Their clothing is inspired by that of the Benin culture of West Africa on the opposite side of the granite wall.

Two other figures sunken into the walls, appeared chained and bound representing the souls who were forced into slavery.

And through the archway at the center of the park, a freed couple embrace they bear the scars of enslavement.

It's one of the last remnants of what was state Thomas, the resilience of those who built Freetown like state.

Thomas carried on.

It became the bedrock on which future generations would stand a strength seen time and time again as their fight for equality continued on for decades to come.