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Acknowledgments Many have stood with me in what I have done with my life, and so they are all in some way coauthors of this book. But these thoughts would have never become a book had I not had the good fortune of Nancy MacLean showing up on my doorstep. Until then they were nothing but an idle stack of misshapen and disjointed vignettes. She read some of them, and before I knew what happened, she had adopted me as perhaps the oldest graduate student she ever had. Since then her generous gifts of time, talent, encouragement, advocacy , line-by-line editing, and her vast knowledge of the historical context for my stories have been boundless. But her investment in this project went far beyond creating a book; it was the first real affirmation for me of my life’s work. My hope is that this revelation will persuade others who served without recognition in the civil rights and human rights movements also to record their experiences. Treasured, too, have been the generous and substantive contributions, encouragement , and friendship of historian and fellow Virginian Jim Hershman, who has brought so much important historical sinew to this project. The rich contextual embrace of my story between MacLean’s introduction and Hershman ’s afterword makes this book more than a mere memoir. They provide the panoramic view of the long march toward “justice for all” while I provide a close-up shot of one marcher and his comrades. Their penetrating contributions do me great honor. For bringing me to the place where I could write this book, much praise is due to those special individuals in my higher education who opened up the world and gave me the chance to do what I have done. First were Dr. Alice Davis and the other educational missionaries at the Richmond Professional Institute, who, it should be said, saved my soul. Later were Martin P. Chworowsky at the University of Pennsylvania, Robert Straus at the University of 202 Acknowledgments Kentucky, and Frederick J. Spencer, many years my department chair at Virginia Commonwealth University, each truly a patron saint. I am also much indebted to those living and passed who mentored me, inspired me, or gave me strength along the way: Bill Bagwell, Helen Baker, Lester Banks, Algernon Black, Jean Fairfax, Rev. L. Francis Griffin, June Purcell Guild, Oliver W. Hill, Rev. Miles Jones, Henry Marsh, Joyce Miller, Barbara Moffett, J. Kenneth Morland, Gordon Moss, Ethel Overby, Rev. Eugene Pickett , Rupert Picott, Harry Roberts, Spottswood W. Robinson III, Dr. J. M. and Mrs. Ruth Tinsley, and Samuel W. Tucker, among many others. I am grateful too for the sustenance offered so generously by many of my lifelong and latter-day friends, collaborators, and comrades, such as: Les Simpson , Bob Young, Vincent Wright, Doug Kelley, Ruby Clayton Walker, Willie Dell, Evans Hopkins, John Stokes, and Brenda Edwards, to name but a few. I am also indebted to good friends and colleagues, John Moeser, Beth O’Leary, Brian Grogan, Chris Bonastia, Brian Daugherity, John Kneebone, David Bearinger , Gregg Kimball, and Brent Tarter, for their varied and specific ways of supporting and encouraging my efforts in this project. Likewise, a great debt is owed to the Reverend Dr. Wallace Alcorn for bringing me along on his scholarly journey through the world of our heroic common ancestor, William Henry Brisbane. As for the exemplary and encouraging efforts of Dick Holway , Raennah Mitchell, Morgan Myers, and the other staff at the University of Virginia Press, all expressions of my gratitude and praise can only fall short. Much credit is also due for indispensable manuscript refinements made by my anonymous readers and by Michael Rackett, my independent editor. Thanks also go to the Wisconsin Historical Society collections and staff for their contributions to this project. Regrettably the individual who most inspired me to write this book is no longer here to see the result of his faithful support. Ted Allen, the author of the two-volume racial myth-spoiler The Invention of the White Race, and my dear friend since the early seventies, died in 2005. (A summary of the books can be seen at http://clogic.eserver.org/2005/editors.html.) A very special thanks must also go to Ray Bonis, Jodie Koste, Yuki Hibben, Wesley Chenault, and the other dedicated present and past professionals at the James Branch Cabell and Tompkins-McCaw libraries at Virginia Commonwealth University. Under the visionary leadership of University Librarian John Ulmschneider, they have assembled a...

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