The Accommodation: The Politics of Race in an American City
Jim Schutze (Dallas Observer) & Will Evans (Deep Vellum Books)
SMU Clements Center for Southwest Studies
Free and open to the public
6 PM lecture followed by Q&A and book-signing
McCord Auditorium, Dallas Hall, 3225 University Blvd., SMU
Co-sponsored with the Friends of SMU’s Libraries
Written by longtime Dallas political journalist Jim Schutze, formerly of the Dallas Times Herald and Dallas Observer, and currently columnist at D Magazine, The Accommodation: The Politics of Race in an American City (Deep Vellum Books, 2021), details the violent and suppressed history of race and racism in Dallas from slavery through the Civil Rights Movement, and the city’s desegregation efforts in the 1950s and ‘60s.
Known for being an uninhibited and honest account of the city’s institutional and structural racism, Schutze’s book argues that Dallas’ desegregation period came at a great cost to Black leaders in the city.
“The Accommodation is one of the first major works about the history of race and racism in Dallas, and its importance to the counter narrative of ‘Dallas as a great city for all’ can’t be understated,” shares Jerry Hawkins, Executive Director of Dallas Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation, who also serves on the Deep Vellum board of directors. “The telling of a Black story by a white author deserves continued critique and interrogation, however with The Accommodation, Jim Schutze delivered a must-read treatise about racism in Dallas that was both eye-opening and prophetic.”
The Accommodation was originally set to be published by Taylor Publishing Company of Dallas in 1986 before being dropped from publication. It was then published by Citadel Press of New Jersey in 1987 before rights were purchased by Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price.
While long out of print, this title has seen repeated waves of interest among Dallas residents since its original publication. Most recently, it has been called “The Most Dangerous Book in Dallas” by Peter Simek of D Magazine and “essential reading to understand Dallas” (Tim Diovanni, Dallas Morning News) and has been distributed digitally and in samizdat printouts among Dallasites interested in learning more about what makes Dallas the city it is, and how to address that history to build a better, more inclusive city together.