|
Editorial Review Product Description
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. Customer Reviews (6) 
Fine biography of a flamboyant iconoclast and civil-rights activist
One of the great gifts of biography is to provide examples that confound the stereotypes that inevitably creep into our historical memory as we inevitably reduce the past to a few manageable images. David T. Beito, professor of history at the University of Alabama, and Linda Royster Beito, professor of social sciences at Stillman College, have confounded such a stereotype in their lucid and economical recounting of the life of Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard (1908-76), a black civil rights leader who bore few similarities, at least upon superficial examination, with the pious African American ministers who leap to mind when we think of the personalities who led blacks in the overthrow of segregation in the 1950s and 1960s. In addition to being the leading black activist against segregation in its most dangerous haven, Mississippi, in the early 1950s, Howard was also a wealthy entrepreneur who provided both medical care and banking and recreational services to needy black Mississippians; a physician who created successful hospitals for indigent blacks and performed many abortions long before Roe v. Wade; a bon vivant who hunted big game in Africa, roared around in the latest-model Cadillac, and fathered virtually a yard full of illegitimate children yet stayed married to one woman for forty years; and an independent thinker who always carried a gun and incurred the wrath of both J. Edgar Hoover and Thurgood Marshall. No writer of fiction would dare create a character so varied or contradictory....
Blessed with a flamboyant and iconoclastic character as their subject, the Beitos have done a highly professional job in combining interviews with FBI files, court documents, and private papers to draw a riveting and realistic portrait. They make a persuasive case that entrepreneurship and mutual aid played important roles in African Americans' economic and political progress in the years before the successes of the civil rights movement. Although Howard's personal style differed greatly from Booker T. Washington's, his emphasis on entrepreneurship, community building, and black autonomy were clearly in the famous Tuskegeean's strategic tradition. The Beitos emphasize the black middle-class origins of civil rights activism; Howard was not a minister or union activist and certainly not on the political left, which has been the profile of civil rights leaders on which historians have dwelt most often in recent years. Most early activism, of which there was much before we knew the name of Martin Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks, was the work of middle-class blacks who had a measure of independence from white authority. T. R. M. Howard clearly epitomized that reality, as the Beitos' compelling work will hereafter remind us.
From a review by Robert J. Norrell (The Independent Review, Summer 2010)
New Light on Civil Rights
This book is a prime example of how the unconventional life of one man can shed new light on an historical movement.T.R.M. Howard was a medical doctor and businessman in Mississippi.He became personally involved in the search for the truth after the death of Emmett Till in 1955.Faced with death threats, he moved to Chicago, where he opened a medical practice, got into legal trouble for performing abortions - and ran for Congress against William L. Dawson as a Republican.Howard battled at times with the NAACP, as both gave considerable attention to the positioning of civil rights activities, so that the movement would not be dragged into Cold War anti-communist politics.It is a delicious irony that records about Howard that were created under orders from J. Edgar Hoover became primary sources for this valuable biography.
Great History
The story of T.R.M. Howard sheds light on many issues neglected by historians.Entrepreneurship and mutual aid played large roles in African American economic and political progress in the years before the success of the civil rights movement.Yet these essential component of African American progress has been neglected by historians in favor, for example, of organizing attempts by outsiders, including certain left-wing CIO unions and the Communist Party.
Moreover, Howard's story reflects a time when the civil rights movement was a beacon of liberty in the oppressive Jim Crow South.The harassment and threats suffered by Howard remind us that the movement's original goal was to overthrow authoritarian regimes, in this case state and local governments, that denied liberty to their black citizens and collaborated with terrorist groups such as the KKK.Even--perhaps especially--the most successful, productive members of the African American community such as Howard were targeted by both government and private violence.Unfortunately, modern historians interpret the civil rights movement in large part as a struggle to get the government to do something for African Americans.Howard is the type of hero who reminds readers that eternal vigilance against oppressive government is the price of liberty.
Finally, Howard's story reminds readers that property rights and entrepreneurial liberty are an essential component of liberty.Without his substantial economic base, Howard could never have withstood attempts to silence him.Even the most repressive governments for African Americans, such as Mississippi, allowed some room for civil society, including the ability to acquire property and to form religious and charitable institutions.From these institutions of civil society arose leaders such as Howard, who collectively eventually proved to be Jim Crow=s undoing.
Beito's "Maverick" a landmark
I completed this book a week ago, and it is a REMARKABLE read and about an important figure in the postwar struggle for racial equality: compelling, well written, a landmark.
I think this book is going to require future historians to adopt a more sophisticated approach to the civil rights movement. As Beito shows, the battle against racial apartheid--American style--involved a lot more people than Martin Luther King, Roy Wilkins, and John Lewis.
There was a glowing piece in The Wall Street Journal the other day (August 6, 2009) about Beito's "Black Maverick". It was a great review I think did justice to this splendid work.
Forgotten Freedom Fighter -- Great Read!
I've been waiting for two books to recover lost or misremembered figures in black history: The first is Norrell's revisionist biography of Booker T. Washington (a "must read"), _Up from History_.
The second must-read in black history is this book by David Beito. A true maverick, TRM Howard combined elements of Booker T. Washingon, DuBois, and was also an ardent advocate of the "right to bear arms" (an understatement -- they not only protected blacks from vicious whites in the South but Howard also went on safaris to kill big game!).
From a small town in Western Kentucky, where he was mentored by a white man, to becoming a doctor and operating in the all-black Mounds Bayou, then on to Chicago -- Howard was the center of most major civil rights events. For example, he was the one who publicized Emmet Till's lynching.
TRM Howard was a "one of a kind" and this book deserves the attention it is receiving (I saw it on C-Span; check out the video as well).
Two thumbs up!
... Read more |
