MOTEN FAMILY - CIRCA 1911

This art piece features a photograph of the Moten family, residents of Quakertown, the African American community forcibly relocated and replaced by a City park. From left to right in the photo: E.D. Moten, Carrie Annetta Moten, Myrtle Bell Moten and Susie Moten.

Edwin D. Moten was Denton’s first African American physician, and an early Quakertown resident. He attended Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia, later attended medical school at Shaw University in North Carolina, graduating 3rd in his class. In 1907 he married Susie Annetta Whitlock  and purchased a home at 702 Bell Avenue located in Quakertown, Denton’s first African American community. Perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, the Moten family relocated to Indianapolis, Indiana in 1920, one year before the City of Denton forcibly relocation of Quakertown homes to southeast Denton.

The Moten family became well-established in Indianapolis and Dr. Moten lived there until his death in 1955. His wife, Susie Moten passed away in 1938. Four years later, he remarried, and wedded Josephine Bramlette. Dr. Moten’s children grew up to pursue various professions. Carrie Annetta became a teacher in Indianapolis, Myrtle Bell worked in civil service in Washington D.C., and Dr. Edwin Donerson Jr. became an optometrist.