Authors' Biographies

James Smallwood is a native of Terrell, Texas. He received his Ph.D. in history from Texas Tech University in 1974. He has taught at Trinity Valley College (Texas), Texas A&M at Commerce, Texas Tech University, the University of Texas at Tyler, the University of Kyoto, Japan and Oklahoma State University. He is a fellow of the Texas State Historical Association and is a member of various other professional societies.

Dr. Smallwood has written several books on Texas history. His Time of Hope, Time of Despair: Black Texans During Reconstruction (New York: Kennikat Press, 1981) won the Texas Historical Association's Coral H. Tullis Award for being voted the best Texas history book to appear in 1981. Other books include : The Struggle Upward: Blacks in Texas (Boston: American Press, 1983), and Born in Dixie: A History of Smith County, Texas (2 vol.; Austin, Eakin Press, 1999).

Dr. Smallwood has published articles on Texas history in such professional journals as Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives; The Social Science Quarterly; Civil War History; Bulletin of Negro History; The West Texas Yearbook; The Houston Review; and Journal of the West.

Dr. Smallwood is presently working on a career biography of Lyndon B. Johnson and on the "Lee-Peacock Feud", a story about the Reconstruction era in Texas.

Kenneth Wayne Howell was born in Athens, Texas. He received his B.S. degree in history from the University of Texas, Tyler, his M.A. degree in history from Texas A&M, Commerce and his Ph.D. from Texas A&M, College Station. Dr. Howell taught for 12 years as a history teacher in the Navasota and Athens school systems. He has also taught at Texas A&M, College Station and currently teaches at Prairie View A&M University.

Dr. Howell has several publications that focus on Texas history. His published works includes Henderson County, Texas, 1846-1861: An Antebellum History (Austin: Eakin Press, 1999); "George Adams: A Cowboy All His Life," in Black Cowboy of Texas, ed. Sarah Massey (College Station: Texas A&M Press, 2000); and articles in the East Texas State Historical Journal and Southern Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the South.

Stefanie Decker is a native Texan, born in Odessa. She received her B.A. from Texas Christian University in English and History in 1995, a M.A. in History from Oklahoma State University in 1998 and her Ph.D. in Modern U.S. History from Oklahoma State. She has taught high school English and World History at Lake Dallas, Texas.