Black Maverick

by Beito, David T.

• ISBN13: 9780252034206
• ISBN10: 0252034201
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-05-01
• Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr

Summary

In whatever role he chose--civil rights leader, wealthy entrepreneur, or unconventional surgeon--Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard (1908-76) was always close to controversy. One of the leading renaissance men of twentieth century black history, Howard successfully organized a grassroots boycott against Jim Crow in the 1950s. Well known for his benevolence, fun-loving lifestyle, and fabulous parties attended by such celebrities as Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson, he could also be difficult to work with when he let his boundless ego get the best of him. A trained medical doctor, he kept the secrets of the white elite, and although married to one woman for forty years, he had many personal peccadilloes. But T. R. M. Howard's impressive accomplishments and abilities vastly outshone his personal flaws and foibles. He was a dynamic civil rights pioneer and promoter of self-help and business enterprise among blacks.With this remarkable biography, David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito secure Howard's rightful place in African American history. Drawing from dozens of interviews with Howard's friends and contemporaries, as well as FBI files, court documents, and private papers, the authors present a fittingly vibrant portrait of a complicated leader, iconoclastic businessman, and tireless activist.

Author Biography

David T. Beito is a professor of history at the University of Alabama. Linda Royster Beito is an associate professor and chair of social sciences at Stillman College.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. xi
Up from the Black Patch	p. 1
The Education of a "Race Man"	p. 16
Fraternalist, Entrepreneur, Planter, and Segregation-Era Pragmatist	p. 45
A "Modern 'Moses'" for Civil Rights in Mississippi	p. 69
"The Most Hated, and the Best Loved, Man in Mississippi"	p. 90
"Hell to Pay in Mississippi": The Murder of Emmett Till	p. 115
"Time Bomb": Howard, J. Edgar Hoover, and the Emmett Till Mystery	p. 148
Taking On the Machine in Chicago: A Republican Campaign for Congress	p. 170
Triumph and Tragedy: The Friendship Medical Center	p. 197
Notes	p. 229
Index	p. 293
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