A century-old photo at the Coryell Museum ignites new discussions on forgotten Black history in Texas, highlighting overlooked contributions.
GATESVILLE, Texas — A century-old photograph discovered at the Coryell Museum and Historical Center is sparking new conversations about forgotten Black history in Central Texas and raising questions about a man whose identity may never be fully known.
The photograph shows an African-American man standing in front of the historic Coryell County courthouse in Gatesville. Behind him sits a chuck wagon. In one hand, he appears to hold a homemade walking cane crafted from a tree branch.
The image recently gained attention after KCEN morning anchor Jasmin Caldwell shared it on social media as part of her recurring “Weird Wild West” history series. The post quickly generated comments and messages from viewers trying to identify the man and piece together his story.
Several people suggested the man may have been Jim Mayberry, a formerly enslaved man connected to Lincolnville, a freedman’s settlement established outside Gatesville after the Civil War. However, no official records confirming the man’s identity have been located.
The mystery surrounding the photograph highlights a larger issue historians say is common throughout Texas and the American West — the stories of African-Americans were often poorly documented or left out of historical records altogether.
While many Black Texans worked as cowboys, laborers, farmers, settlers and community leaders during the frontier era, historians say their names and contributions frequently went unrecorded, making it difficult for descendants and researchers to trace their stories generations later.
The old courthouse visible in the photograph still stands in Gatesville today, serving as a reminder of how much of the region’s history remains physically preserved even as some personal stories have faded with time.
For Caldwell, the image became more than just a historic photograph.
“It’s heartbreaking to think this man stood there proudly more than 100 years ago, yet history may never have written his name down,” Caldwell said during her segment. “But maybe someone, somewhere, still remembers.”
The Coryell Museum and Historical Center houses numerous artifacts and photographs tied to the county’s frontier history, including materials connected to Lincolnville and other early Black communities in the area.
Caldwell is now encouraging viewers with family ties to Gatesville, Lincolnville or Coryell County to come forward if they recognize the man or know details connected to the photograph.