From Wolf to Wolfwood

From Wolf to Wolfwood
Author: Gwendolyn McMillan Lawe
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2011-02-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 1456726552

Gwendolyn McMillan Lawe was born in Emory, Texas, (in the Wolf Community) the only daughter of A.C. and Modis McMillan. She attended Sand Flat School (in Emory, Texas), St. Paul High School (in Hunt County), and graduated from Rains High School (in Emory). Among the first of Sand Flat (a Rosenwald school) students to graduate from Rains High School (the countys only white high school), she graduated third in her class. Her favorite teacher, Mrs.Audie Shiflet, taught her shorthand. Because of Mrs. Shiflet, she pursued a career in teachingmajoring in business and teaching shorthand and typing. From Rains High School, Gwendolyn attended and graduated from Henderson County Junior College and East Texas State University where she received a Bachelors Degree and a Masters Degree. Following in the footsteps of her father, Gwendolyn McMillan Lawe became a teacher in the Dallas Independent School District at Hillcrest High School. She later transferred to Thomas Jefferson High School, where she is today. Being a teacher is paramount in the writers professional career; however, she co-founded and served as director of College Bound Tours. She conducted workshops and tours to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) for young people interested in attending college (1989-2003). She also co-founded the A.C. McMillan African American Museum where she serves as the director. Her volunteer work with several organizations is extensive. In 2003, she received a fellowship to study at the prestigious Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. While at the Smithsonian, in her spare time she researched her familys history and the history of African American educators in her hometown. Her assignment at the Smithsonian was to research the United States Supreme Court Decision Brown v Board of Education for the upcoming 50th Anniversary Celebration and exhibit (2004). Most recently, the writer has dedicated her time to documenting the history of the education of African Americans in Rains County and researching Rosenwald Schools in Texas and throughout the South. She has first-hand knowledge of the importance of the Rosenwald Schools in the education of African Americans prior to the desegregation of the schools. She attended two. Gwendolyn McMillan Lawe documents the advantages and disadvantages of growing up in a segregated southern East Texas town and being a part of the desegregation and integration of many institutions and organizations. In this book, she describes her travels from Wolf to Wolfwood.

Convict Cowboys

Convict Cowboys
Author: Mitchel P. Roth
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Total Pages: 449
Release: 2016-08-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1574416529

Convict Cowboys is the first book on the nation’s first prison rodeo, which ran from 1931 to 1986. At its apogee the Texas Prison Rodeo drew 30,000 spectators on October Sundays. Mitchel P. Roth portrays the Texas Prison Rodeo against a backdrop of Texas history, covering the history of rodeo, the prison system, and convict leasing, as well as important figures in Texas penology including Marshall Lee Simmons, O.B. Ellis, and George J. Beto, and the changing prison demimonde. Over the years the rodeo arena not only boasted death-defying entertainment that would make professional cowboys think twice, but featured a virtual who’s who of American popular culture. Readers will be treated to stories about numerous American and Texas folk heroes, including Western film stars ranging from Tom Mix to John Wayne, and music legends such as Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. Through extensive archival research Roth introduces readers to the convict cowboys in both the rodeo arena and behind prison walls, giving voice to a legion of previously forgotten inmate cowboys who risked life and limb for a few dollars and the applause of free-world crowds.