A couple phrases come to the mind of anyone who has ever met Shirley Knox Benton.
Her mantra: “With God, all things are possible. It can be done.” And her motto: “In class, with class it can be done.”
Benton has worn many hats — literally and figuratively — since moving to Fort Worth in 1965. She served as a music teacher, counselor and assistant principal in all corners of the FWISD: Kirkpatrick, Eastern Hills, Northside, Southwest and Carter-Riverside high schools to name a few.
She faced down gang violence with her bike and bullhorn and improved student academics.
She’s known for her many firsts: first Black woman principal at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in 1992. The first in North Texas to receive the Reader’s Digest American Hero in Education Award in 1996 for turning a “troubled school” around. The first Black woman to hold the Texas’ High School Principal of the Year in 2001.
Then there’s the literal hats. From her analog clock hat with hands pointing to the fourth hour — she designed herself in homage to the hour of her appointment as Dunbar principal — to the black veil-hat adorned with a bow and colorful flowers that she wore Oct. 2 as city officials, church members, former students and fellow educators gathered with Benton on Thursday morning to reveal a street topper in her name.
Shirley Knox Benton holds a street topper featuring her name on Oct. 2, 2025. (Marissa Greene | Fort Worth Report)
A bicycle and a bullhorn
Crashes of cymbals and toots of a tuba from Dunbar’s marching band kicked off the celebration in the parking lot of Tarrant County College Opportunity Center.
Dunbar High School marching band performs in the parking lot of the Tarrant County College Opportunity Center on Oct. 2, 2025. (Marissa Greene| Fort Worth Report)
Fort Worth City Council approved the signs during its Sept. 16 meeting, as part of its program honoring citizens who’ve made significant contributions in their communities, District 5 council member Deborah Peoples said.
“She did when she went in with her indomitable spirit and her ability to ride a bicycle through the hall and really change the whole perception of that high school,” Peoples said.
Shirley Benton is honored at Fort Worth City Council on Sept. 12, 2025. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America)
When Benton became principal of Dunbar in the early 1990s, she faced gang violence, students struggling with academics, low teacher morale, she told attendees.
She also faced people who thought, because Benton was a woman, that she was not strong enough for the role, said Christine Chadwick Moss, who was a longtime FWISD trustee for that east Fort Worth area.
Benton trailblazed through the school halls for 12 years with a bicycle and bullhorn. She confronted gang members, enhanced the school environment and fostered a strong sense of pride and community, Moss said.
Her efforts produced tangible results, Moss added. The Texas Education Agency awarded the school $117,550 for raising student test scores in 1994. It marked the largest amount ever given to a high school in the state.
Shirley Knox Benton received Texas’ High School Principal of the Year in 2001. (Courtesy photo | Reginald Knox)
“Her leadership was characterized by a commitment to organization, discipline and compassion, qualities seen as inviting a woman’s touch,” Moss said.
Benton was “a force, a presence as somebody who exemplifies pride and dignity” for Dunbar teens in the ’90s, school alumni Royce Brooks said.
Brooks recalled her classmates not being the easiest group. “We were awkward. We were gangly. We were too shy or too brash,” she said.
But Benton always modeled how students should carry themselves and recognized their potential, Brooks said. Many fellow Panthers later went on to become doctors, lawyers, teachers and principals because of Benton’s example, she added.
“She taught us how to uplift and value each other and how to uplift and value other people through her commitment to us a bunch of rag tag kids,” Brooks said. “That is the biggest lesson right now. We are in a moment that is paved with a refusal to honor each other’s humanity.”
Royce Brooks, a Dunbar High School alum and former student talks about Shirley Knox Benton’s impact on students during an Oct. 2, 2025, event. (Marissa Greene | Fort Worth Report)
A woman of faith
Benton is a tough cookie but also one of the most influential members of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, Pastor Kraig Pullam said.
She is the first to show up early on a Sunday morning to open the church doors for worship. She sends congregants birthday cards.
She sang in the choir during Pullam’s ninth anniversary as pastor. She was a school teacher, multimedia operator, music director and historian over her 60 years as a congregant.
“To know her is to love her,” Pullam said.
In the audience Thursday was Benton’s son, Reginald Knox.
He remembers receiving the same mottos and mantras Benton would tell students as he grew up. Watching her journey from a music teacher to a principal, and the legacy she’s made in Fort Worth speaks to his mother’s faith and perseverance.
“She’ll tell you, she puts her heart into it, and the results show,” he said.
Toward the end of the ceremony, attendees gathered at the intersection of Ramey Avenue at Robert Hughes Street.
Benton pulled the black cover over to reveal one of the reddish brown-plated signs that enshrines her legacy in Fort Worth.
“I treated all of those children like they were my own,” Benton said. “With the help of God Almighty, the community, faculty, staff, students, we did it.”
Shirley Knox Benton is honored with a street sign topper in Fort Worth on Oct. 2, 2025. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America)
Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org.
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