African Americans in South Texas History

Acknowledgments

xi Acknowledgments AT A FAll 2008 luNCH GATHErING OF sOuTH TExAs historians, aka the Victoria secrets, the question raised was “Where/what is south Texas?”The essential element to this question, we determined, was “What are the boundaries of southTexas?” upon perusing a map, and with considerable discussion, some of it knowledgeable , some from former yankees, the conclusion—although not unanimous—was this:southTexas is that portion of the lone star state reaching from Eagle Pass on the rio Grande to san Antonio, thence following a line along today’s Interstate 10 to the Brazos river; the eastern border then follows the Brazos down to the coast,and includes everything between there and the rio Grande.The southern boundary then follows the rio Grande westward to Eagle Pass.This, then, is the south Texas described in African Americans in SouthTexas History. African Americans in South Texas History was not completed without assistance and encouragement from a number of people.As noted earlier, the group of historians composing the closely knit group, the Victoria secrets, supported and aided in the preparation of this volume . Thanks, friends. Too often do I fail to acknowledge the editorial debt I owe to my wife, Pearlene Vestal Glasrud.Thanks, Pearlene. The staff at the seguin Public library enthusiastically and quickly filled my numerous requests for an article or a book. The late Bill stein, director of the Nesbitt Memorial library at Columbus, Texas, invited me to the library and kept bringing books and journals to me while at the same time asking either “Why?” or “Do you know what that means?” Prior to his questioning, I did not always know the xii ACKNOWlEDGMENTs answer. Many others listened to and answered my questions, including T. lindsay Baker, Cary D. Wintz, Jerry D. Thompson, Ed Byerly, l. Patrick Hughes, James M. smallwood, Tom Britten, Alwyn Barr, CeceliaVenable, and Tony Knopf. I wish to thank the staffs at the Journal of SouthTexas, the Journal of Southern History, and SouthTexas Studies for granting me permission to use articles published in their respective journals.As always,the authors particularly deserve my thanks and respect, first for the effort and skill necessary to write and publish the articles, and second for allowing me to use them in this book. Janice sumler-Edmond and rebecca Kosary wrote articles for this project.This book would not be complete without their original work.Thanks, Janice and rebecca. Mary lenn Dixon, editor-in-chief at Texas A&M university Press, once more listened , encouraged, and supported; the staff at the Press brought the manuscript into book form. On the other hand, any errors or omissions remain my responsibility. —Bruce A. Glasrud AfricAn AmericAns 6 in 7 south texAs history ...