TCU Press

Texas native James Farmer was one of the "Big Four" leaders of the civil rights movement, along with Martin Luther King, Jr., Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young. Farmer might be called the forgotten man of the movement, overshadowed by King, who was deeply influenced by Farmer's application of Ghandi's principles of nonviolent protest. Born in Marshall, Texas, in 1920, Farmer was the founding director of the Congress of Racial Equality in 1942. Under Farmer's direction, CORE set the pattern for the Civil Rights movement by organizing sit-ins and peaceful protests, beginning with a 1942 sit-in at a coffee shop in the University of Chicago area. In Lay Bare the Heart Farmer tells the story of the heroic civil rights struggle of the 1950s and 1960s. This moving and unsparing personal account captures both the inspiring strengths and human weaknesses of the movement.

As a slave, Isaac Jefford went to war and saved the life of his master, Major Lytton. As a free man, Isaac became one of the major's top cowhands, respected--but never totally accepted--by fellow cowboys: when they gathered around the fire to eat their dinner, Isaac took his food and sat on the wagontongue alone. When Pete Runyan, a bitter southerner, joins the crew, Isaac has to swallow his rage more than once. But then Pete and Isaac are assigned the task of getting cash--profits from the sale of the herd--safely to the Fort Worth bank before a foreclosure deadline. Time and three gunmen on their trail are against them, and their journey becomes a race to prove who is the best man. First published in 1972 by Bantam as a mass market paperback, Wagontongue is one of Elmer Kelton's classic novels, exploring racial relations on the West Texas plains in the low-key, wry, and compassionate voice that characterizes Kelton's novels. The novel grew from a short story, included in this volume.