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Acknowledgments
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In researching and writing this book I owe debts of gratitude to many people, starting with the most profound debts I owe my mentors Charles Payne, Thavolia Glymph, Barry Gaspar, Raymond Gavins, John French, Peter Wood, Edward Balleisen, Robert Korstad, Lawrence Goodwyn, Paula Giddings , Karin Shapiro, Jocelyn Olcott, and the late Jack Cell, all at Duke University, for helping me complete my training as a historian. The University of North Carolina Press provided me with so much valuable direction, especially editor-in-chief David Perry, associate managing editor Paula Wald, editorial assistant Zach Read, copyeditor Eric Schramm, editor Mary Caviness, and the anonymous readers. Thanks also to my mentor Charles Thompson at the Duke Center for Documentary Studies (cds), along with Rhonda Jones and other colleagues at the cds. There would have been virtually no story without oral history and telephone interviewees, including Countee Abbott, John Adams, and Dorothea Hoskins; Sam Armstrong and Samuel Lovett; Eleanor Bailey, Joann Flagler, Frederick John, Carlton Tilley, and Gregory Wilson; Felix Bell Sr.; William H. Burrus Jr.; Don Cantriel; Willenham Castilla; C. C. Draughn; Vivian Grubbs; Joseph Henry; Douglas C. Holbrook; Walter T. Kenney Sr.; Jimmy Mainor; Al Marino, Frank Orapello, and Vincent Sombrotto; Raydell Moore; Cleveland Morgan; James Morris; Noel Murrain; James Newman; Richard Peery; Je√ Perry and Richard Thomas; D. James Pinderhughes; George Booth Smith; Donald P. Stone; Daisy Strachan; and Tommie L. Wilson. In Washington, D.C., invaluable research guidance, resources, and encouragement were provided by National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees historian Paul Tennassee; historians Candace Rush and Nancy Dysart at the National Association of Letter Carriers; communications director Sally Davidow at the American Postal Workers Union; historians Megaera Ausman and Jennifer Lynch and librarian Earl Arrington at the U.S. Postal Service archives and library; and the Library of Congress sta√. In New York, I could not have done without the help from archivists Gail Malmgreen, Erika Gottfried , Evan Daniel, and Kevyne Baar at New York University’s Tamiment/ Wagner Archives, as well as the sta√ at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. In North Carolina, I was aided by the sta√ at Duke University xvi | acknowledgments libraries; the History Department and Shepard Library at North Carolina Central University (especially archivist André Vann); and the sta√ at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill libraries. I received fruitful feedback from my friends in Duke’s African and African American Studies Program (aaas) dissertation-writing group: LaNitra Walker Berger, Niambi Carter, Erica Edwards, Reena Goldthree, Alisa Harrison, LaShaune Johnson, Gordon Mantler, Charles McKinney, and Stephane Robolin. Thanks to Tiana Mack for transcribing help. Generous funding was provided by Duke’s Department of History, aaas, cds, and Graduate School; the Mellon Foundation; the American Historical Association; and North Carolina A&T State University, where I am also grateful for my colleagues’ encouragement and support. I am eternally grateful to Paul Jackson and Barbara Pikos; Philip Jackson and Kimberly Gladman; Matthew and LaNitra Berger; and Judy Bellin for putting me up while I was conducting research. Thanks also to colleagues and mentors at the Duke history department, aaas, and cds for intellectual and moral support; David Barber, William Chafe, V. P. Franklin, Blair Kelley, Max Krochmal, Je√rey Ogbar, June Patton, Je√ Perry, David Roediger, and Orion Teal, all of whom read and commented on chapters, spino√s, and versions of chapters; and those who provided references, connections, and resources, including Emile and Myrna Adams, Steve Alston, Leah Platt Boustan, Carl Cruz, Peter Derrick, Ajamu Dillahunt, Nishani Frazier, Mindy Fullilove, Barbara Gannon, Aryn Glazier, Robert Gabrielsky, Wellington Cox Howard, Amity Kirby, Jennifer Lee, Jimmy Mainor, Henry McGee Jr., James M. McGee , Jacquelyn Moore, Paul Nagle, Charles M. Payne, Nelson Peery, Richard Peery, Je√ Perry, Frank R. Scheer, Anne Firor Scott, Donald Sha√er, Clarice Torrence, Jenessa Kildall, Wendell Haynes, and Jonathan Wallas. Thanks to my friend Lance Hill for recommending UNC Press as a publisher . Much love to all my former coworkers at post o≈ces in Denver, Colorado , and Durham and Raleigh, North Carolina (with a special shout-out to West Durham Station!), and to family members for their encouragement— especially my wife, Paula, for her patience and moral support! ...