Dallas activists in 1960s
struggled against status quo
in a time of tumult, change
By ROY APPLETON/
The Dallas Morning News
rappleton@dallasnews.com
“Is this Stoney?” says the smiling man, crossing the threshold to hug his guest. “Hey, brother.”
“I bet you didn’t expect the gray,” says Stoney Burns.
“I got it too,” replies Ernest McMillan, leading the pony-tailed visitor into his East Dallas apartment and back to the past. Living now less than a mile apart, they hadn’t seen each other since those restless times. Not since the days of war in Vietnam, protests and assassinations, culture clashes and civil rights struggles, of Black Power, Flower Power and women’s liberation. When something not exactly clear was happening.
Tightly ruled, convention-numbed Dallas — still stung by the tragedy of Nov. 22, 1963 — was relatively tame for a big city in the Sixties. A vigilant police force helped see to that.
But as the peace and justice movements gained momentum elsewhere, they found voices here as well.
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