Episode 7: Before Fort Worth Loved Us: Slavery, Fear, and the People Who Built the City

Send us Fan Mail🎙 Episode 1Fort Worth Before the Myth: Slavery, Power, and the City We InheritedPodcast: We Got The FunkEpisode Length: ~30 minutesFormat: Audio-only📄 Episode DescriptionBefore Fort Worth became “where the West begins,” it was a slaveholding frontier town built on forced labor, silence, and selective memory.In this opening episode, we strip away the mythology and examine slavery in Fort Worth as it actually existed — not as a footnote, but as a foundation.Using court records, census data, and firsthand accounts, this episode names names, tells real stories, and confronts slavery’s most uncomfortable truths — including sexual violence, mixed-race children, and the ways power protected itself long after emancipation.This is not a general history of slavery.This is Fort Worth’s story.🎧 What This Episode Covers      •The largest slaveholders in early Fort Worth,           including E.M. Daggett, Middleton Tate Johnson, Nathaniel Terry, and Charles TurnerWhere their names still appear today — in streets, buildings, and city memoryThe lynching of white minister Anthony Bewley, and how his wife later identified local elites as ringleaders“Slavery’s dirty secret”: sexual violence, coercion, and the creation of mixed-race childrenThe life of Jeff Daggett — from birth into slavery, through violence, law enforcement, and public scandal, to his deathHow slavery didn’t end cleanly in Fort Worth — it evolved🧠 Why This Episode MattersFort Worth did not accidentally forget its past.It curated it.Understanding who held power, how they used it, and who paid the price helps explain:Why inequality persisted after emancipationWhy certain families retained influenceWhy some stories were preserved — and others erasedThis episode sets the foundation for everything that follows in this series.📚 Sources & ResearchThis episode draws heavily from:A History of Fort Worth in Black & WhiteCensus records and slave schedulesCourt transcripts and newspaper accountsReconstruction-era documentationAdditional sources and visuals will be shared on social media.🔔 Subscribe, Support, ShareIf this episode gave you language, clarity, or discomfort — that’s the point.Follow or subscribe wherever you’re listeningRate & review the show to help others find itShare this episode with someone who loves Fort Worth — or needs to understand it betterTo support the research and production of this podcast, check the links below.Support the show