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Acknowledgments This work would not have been possible had my mentor Darlene Clark Hine not insisted that I look at the papers of the National Urban League. I approached this project with some reluctance and did not understand all that Professor Hine was expecting of it. I suppose she forgave my graduatestudent innocence. Words could never thank her enough for the time and energy she has devoted to this project. Her stellar mentoring continues to inspire a new generation of historians. In addition to Professor Hine, several other individuals’ scholarship and teaching assisted this project and me as a graduate student. Dr. Fred Honhart read and commented on every page of my dissertation with unwavering attention ; I thank him for his enormous support. Professors Harry Reed and David Robinson were crucial to my early development in graduate studies . Their seminars challenged me to think in meaningful and helpful ways. Professor Richard Thomas’s teachings on race relations and the black urban condition introduced me to new ways of organizing the black community. Professor Thomas, thanks for all the “self-help.” In addition to my Michigan State University mentors, a number of individuals have supported me and my work. Ms. Linda Werbish was always available to assist me and saw to it that my deadlines and timetables were appropriately met. I owe Professor Rosalyn Terborg-Penn of Morgan State University for all her continued support. Dr. Terborg-Penn first introduced me to the Jones family; I could not have completed this project without her. In addition, thanks to all of my professors at North Carolina Central University for demanding nothing less than my best. x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would be remiss if I did not thank my colleagues at Western Illinois University for all their support and encouragement from every entity of the institution. My friends and colleagues in the Department of History and African American Studies were supportive of this project from the dissertation phase onward. However, the historian Larry Balsamo read every page of the dissertation in rough draft, and his comments challenged me to think and write with greater clarity. His dedication will long be remembered. The historian Tom Watkins gave me my first lessons on Cornell University, his alma mater. Watkins shared with me his personal collection of materials on Cornell, and I truly thank him and his wife, Sharon Watkins, for sharing their library with me. In addition, I wish to thank my new family of colleagues at Buffalo State College for helping to create a conducive environment for my research. The library staff at Western Illinois University deserves more thanks than I could ever offer here for their unceasing assistance. The reference department proved to be my greatest asset. John Steinman and Kathy Dahl were always available to answer my questions, and Kathy found resources that only an excellent reference librarian could have located. No query or request was too monumental for her. The staff of the Social Welfare History Archives assisted my research with enthusiasm. The people at the Virginia State Archives were very helpful, providing me with all requested materials in a timely manner. Cornell University Archives staff also provided helpful information by revealing Eugene Kinckle Jones’s student records. Ms. Beth Howse, the Special Collection Librarian at Fisk University Archives, was helpful during my search. In addition, she is the granddaughter of one of the founding members of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers. Since graduate school, this work on Eugene Kinckle Jones has taken on new life. I have had far more conversations than I care to recall. I am grateful to many friends, colleagues, mentors, and students who had no choice but to listen. There have been many late-night talks while attending the annual meetings of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History and the Organization of American Historians. Thanks to a host of historians and colleagues for engaging me: Richard Pierce, Priscilla DowdenWhite , Elsa Barkley Brown, Stephanie Shaw, Thavolia Glymph, Freddie Parker , Leslie Brown, Annie Valk, Shirley Portwood, Stefan Bradley, Derrick Aldridge, Chana Kai Lee, Lillian Williams, Betty Gardner, June O. Patton, Wanda Hendricks, Dana Ramey-Berry, Michelle Mitchell, Carlton Wilson, Lydia Lindsey, Ula Taylor, Paul Ortiz, Nikki Taylor, Scott Brown, Allison Dorsey, Vincent P. Franklin, and Linda Causey. A thoughtful thanks belongs to my social-work-scholar sisters, Drs. Iris Carlton-LaNey and N. Yolanda Burwell. They helped me to begin thinking like social workers. A very special [18.116.36.192] Project MUSE (2024...

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