T. R. M. Howard Doctor, Entrepreneur, Civil Rights Pioneer

T. R. M. Howard: Doctor, Entrepreneur, Civil Rights Pioneer tells the remarkable story of one of the early leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. A renaissance man, T. R. M. Howard (1908-1976) was a respected surgeon, important black community leader, and successful businessman. Howard's story reveals the importance of the black middle class, their endurance and entrepreneurship in the midst of Jim Crow, and their critical role in the early Civil Rights Movement.

In this powerful biography, David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito shine a light on the life and accomplishments of this civil rights leader. Howard founded black community organizations, organized civil rights rallies and boycotts, mentored Medgar Evers, antagonized the Ku Klux Klan, and helped lead the fight for justice for Emmett Till. Raised in poverty and witness to racial violence from a young age, Howard was passionate about justice and equality. Ambitious, zealous, and sometimes paradoxical, T. R. M. Howard provides a complete portrait of an important leader all too often forgotten.

David T. Beito is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and Professor of History at the University of Alabama. He received his Ph.D. in history at the University of Wisconsin, and he is the recipient of the Ellis Hawley Prize. Professor Beito is the author of Taxpayers in Revolt: Tax Resistance during the Great Depression,From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State: Fraternal Societies and Social Services, 1890-1967, and T.R.M. Howard: Doctor, Entrepreneur, and Civil Rights Pioneer (with Linda Royster Beito).

Former President of the Alabama Scholars Association and Chair of the Alabama State Advisory Committee of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, Professor Beito is the Founder of the “Liberty and Power” blog at the History News Network.

An urban and social historian, Professor Beito has published in the Journal of Southern History, Journal of Policy History, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Journal of Urban History, The Independent Review, Nevada Historical Society Quarterly, Journal of Firearms and Public Policy, and other scholarly journals. And, his popular articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Washington Times, Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Perspectives, History News Network, National Review, Reason, and elsewhere.

Linda Royster Beito is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and Professor and Dean of Arts and Science at Stillman College. She received her M.S. in criminal justice and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Alabama, and she has been Assistant Professor of Political Science and Criminal Justice at the University of South Alabama.

Professor Beito is the author of the book, Leadership Effectiveness in Community Policing, and her articles have appeared in Social Science History, Journal of Firearms and Public Policy, The Independent Review, Nevada Historical Society Quarterly, History News Network, and International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice.

FOREWORD / Jerry W. Mitchell

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Up from The Black Patch
2. The Education of a “Race Man”
3. Fraternalist, Entrepreneur, Planter, And Segregation-Era Pragmatist
4. A “Modern Moses” For Civil Rights in Mississippi
5. “The Most Hated, And Best Loved, Man in Mississippi
6. “Hell to Pay in Mississippi” / The Murder of Emmett Till
7. “Time Bomb” / Howard, J. Edgar Hoover, And the Emmett Till Mystery
8. Taking on The Machine in Chicago / A Republican Campaign for Congress
9. Triumph and Tragedy / The Friendship Medical Center

AFTERWORD / David & Linda Beito

Notes

Index

About the Author