Volume 57: 2021

After a long delays caused by COVID-19 disruptions, we present Volume 57. Within, Tina M. Kibbe examines the career of Beaumont physician Dr. Edward D. Sprott Jr. and his fight for African American civil rights and equal access to quality healthcare. Hope Flores—winner of the 2020 Johnson’s Editor Prize—shows how the effort to integrate public housing in Vidor, Texas, sparked national controversy and illustrated the need for reform. Herman L. McElroy Jr.—winner of the 2021 Johnson’s Editor Prize—argues that the killing of James “Mooney” Allen does not easily fit within traditional definitions of lynching in Texas and the United States. Finally, The Record staff offers a photo-essay documenting the day in 1907 when the Forepaugh and Sells Brothers Circus came to Beaumont.

The Record Digitized--Now Available

The Texas Gulf Historical Society has partnered with the Portal to Texas History to digitize past issues of The Record. Volumes 1 (1965) through 47 (2011) are now available and fully word-searchable. The Portal is a crucial online resource offered by the University of North Texas Libraries. This partnership makes The Record accessible to scholars worldwide and preserved for future researchers. The Society will make more recent volumes available soon.

Herman McElroy Wins 2020 Johnson Prize

Lamar University history graduate Herman McElroy wins the Dr. Andrew J. and Betty H. Johnson 2020 Editor's Prize for his research essay, "The Strange Case of Mooney Allen: Lynchings in Jefferson County, Texas, 1900-1940s." The Johnson Prize recognizes the best research paper completed by a undergraduate or graduate history student at Lamar. In addition to a cash prize, the winning essay is eligible for publication in a future volume of The Record.

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