The Dinkles came to the Rochester area in the 1870s from Virginia. Like many African American migrants to Rochester, the Dinkles eventually settled in the Third Ward (now Corn Hill), which had been home to a black community since the early nineteenth century. While African Americans initially chose to live in the area given the presence of the A.M.E. Zion Church on Favor Street, in the twentieth century, families such as the Dinkles often found themselves in the Third and Seventh Wards because discriminatory practices restricted their access to other residential areas.
Jonathan T. Dinkle, a star athlete in his youth, established the city’s first black-owned taxi business on Clarissa Street in the 1940s. His son Robert Dinkle Sr. also served his Third Ward community by becoming a Scoutmaster, spending 15 years leading Troop 255, the unit affiliated with Mt. Olivet Baptist Church. Robert Dinkle Sr. also served his country in addition to his community. He joined the (segregated) armed forces during the Second World War and defended the freedoms of his country abroad even as African Americans were denied many of these same freedoms at home.
Some members of Karen Dinkle Bunton’s family actively worked towards improving such racial inequities at the local level. Karen’s maternal aunt, Doris Price, was heavily involved in the civil rights movement. She co-founded the Rochester branch of the Black Panthers and helped organize Malcolm X’s visit to the city in 1965. Following Martin Luther King’s assassination, Doris Price’s other activist group, Your Neighbors, put together a silent protest march. Karen Dinkle Bunton’s mother, Muriel Dinkle, and other Third Ward residents led the procession.
Despite these connections to major historical moments and movements, the Dinkles have remained, according to Karen Dinkle Bunton, “just an ordinary family that moves along.” Because of this, the items in their collection help give insight into what everyday life has been like for African Americans in Rochester over the past 150 years.
