In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

vii Acknowledgments My interest in Thyra J. Edwards as an important historical figure dates back to about ten years ago, when I set out to write a book on Texas labor in the Great Depression with the support of a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship. The more I studied Houston’s black longshoremen, the more I kept running into Edwards. Over time, her fascinating life story diverted my attention from the Texas labor study, and I decided to undertake a biography of her instead. I would like to thank the NEH for that fellowship. I would also like to thank the Texas State Historical Association for twice awarding me the Mary M. Hughes Research Fellowship to help fund this study. At the annual meeting of the TSHA in 2008, I presented a paper, “Black Labor Leaders and the Civil Rights Struggle in New Deal Texas,”in which Edwards figured prominently and generated a lot of audience comments and discussion. I have tried to write this book in a way that would appeal to a popular audience as well as to scholars. To the extent possible in any book, I have consciously sought not to impose my voice on the narrative too much, but rather to allow Edwards’s popular but analytical style of writing to present her voice. On the one hand, she was critical of turgid academic studies that were deeply analytical but useful only to a handful of academics and condemned to gather dust on university library shelves. On the other, she bemoaned the lack of analysis and depth in the growing spate of popular writings on the history and culture of African Americans. In my opinion, her literary style, called“fulsome” by one of her sisters, offered readers an attractive alternative. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Vikki Bynum—my wife, fellow scholar, former colleague, and now retirement companion in the land of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Edwards has been a constant topic of conversation between us for the last several years, and I have benefited a great deal from Vikki’s viii Acknowledgments insights, criticisms, and suggestions. Vikki not only read the manuscript and provided ongoing support, but also tore up the dance floor whenever my band and I—Doctor G and the Mudcats—rocked the Cheatham Street Warehouse with our swampy blues music in San Marcos, Texas. I would like to thank the Mudcats—Sterling Finlay, Big John Mills, Grant Mazak, and Kyle Schneider— for helping me to keep an edge on the beat in more ways than one. I owe a special thanks to my good friend and fellow songwriter, Kent Finlay, owner of the Cheatham Street Warehouse, for encouraging me to put on my other hat as a singer/songwriter. A couple of years ago, I had the pleasure to meet and host a dazzling performance by Gina Loring, accompanied by beat boxer Joshua Silverstein, on the campus of Texas State University–San Marcos. Loring, a slam poet, hip-hop artist, actor, and political activist, is a great-niece of Thyra Edwards’s. Loring provided me with a copy of a brief family history written in 1963 by her grandmother , Thelma Marshall, who was Edwards’s sister. She also put me in contact with one of Edwards’s cousins, Vee Edwards, of Pasadena, California, who allowed me access to the Edwards family’s website, replete with photos and snapshots of the family. I would like to thank Vee and her sister, Ann Edwards, for facilitating the reproduction of several family photos. I appreciate the research support provided by Frank de la Teja, Chair of the Department of History at Texas State University–San Marcos. Several of my former colleagues discussed my research with me or read portions of it. I would like to give a special thanks to Dwight Watson, Ken Margerison, Rebecca Montgomery , Mary Brennan, Deirdre Lannon, and Tom Alter, my final MA thesis student, who is now in the doctoral program in History at the University of Illinois at Chicago. A number of scholars have provided leads and references and shared their take on the political activism of Thyra J. Edwards. I would like to thank Gerald Horne, Eric Arnesen, Mike Honey, Beth Bates, Greg Boozell, Tom Dublin, Steve Rosswurm, and Joyce Moore Turner for their collegiality. Without the help of several outstanding archivists and assistants who facilitated access to manuscript and archival collections, this book would have taken much longer than it did. I wish especially...

Share