The Shankleville Romance-taken from Rocking Texas' Cradle by Ralph Ramos
This is a very good time of the year for the publication of this particular article. On June 27 of this year will be the second annual celebration of the beginning of the African-American community of Shankleville in Newton County. This celebration brings together those who are descendants of Jim and Winnie Shankle, two slaves who became the founders of Shankleville in Newton County.
Jim and Winnie were slaves on a Mississippi plantation when they married. Jim was born in 1811 and Winnie in 1814. Winnie already had three children when they married. Soon after the marriage Winnie and her three children were sold to a Texan. Jim, however, did not give up. He soon ran away from the Mississippi plantation at and headed to Texas. He had heard some of the negotiations for the sale of his wife. With a price on his head, he traveled by night, swam the Mississippi River and the Sabine River at night and avoided any people on the way. When he got to Texas after the 400 mile sojourn, he began slipping into plantations at night, asking questions in the slave quarters in an attempt to find his beloved.
Finally, just before dark one evening, as Winnie went down to the spring for water, she heard a whisper from the bushes and out stepped Jim.
Jim stayed hidden for several days as Winnie brought his food. She finally raked up the courage to tell her master and he promptly negotiated a deal with Jim's former master. They worked together from then on raising the three children Winnie had plus six more she and Jim had together.
Emancipation brought them all freedom and Jim bought a league of land and Shankleville was born. The Festival is held on the same site and is well attended by a multitude of Newton County residents and officials as well as a host of people from far ranging areas. Hoover Alexander, 2015 "Restauranteur of the Year" (Hoover's Cooking) from Austin does the cooking. There is live entertainment, speakers from Texas Historical Commission and noted authors, and open air markets selling purple hull peas and blueberries among other things.
--Jonnie Miller