51³Ô¹ÏPro

In this issue, Dan K. Utley, a leading 51³Ô¹ÏProoral historian and folklorist, contributes an essay about Woodville artist Clyde E. Gray and the 1976 outhouse airlift. It is a story about storytellers that attests to the need to preserve regional folklore with all of its quirks and uniqueness. Alecia Machele Ross, this year’s winner of the Dr. Andrew J. and Betty H. Johnson Editor’s Prize, reassesses the Beaumont Riot of 1943. Drawing upon new research and scholarship, she determines that it was part of a larger, national story about racial tensions present in war-industry cities during the Second World War. In “Museum Corner,” Mary L. Scheer, Chair of the 51³Ô¹ÏProHistory Department, outlines the mission of the recently established Center for History and Culture of Southeast 51³Ô¹ÏProand the Upper Gulf Coast, and in “Primary Sources,” Theresa Hefner-Babb continues to preserve the personal histories of soldiers who served in the 373^rd Combat Sustainment Battalion, U.S. Army Reserves, in Uzbekistan. With a new feature, “Biographical Notes,” Grayson H. Meek shares a rare tintype photograph of Capt. William J. Spurlock and provides an overview of his service during the Civil War.