1. Descriptions of Brown's birth and Chaney Gunter based on interviews with Itsie Collins, San Francisco, Calif., Feb. 3 and 9, 1993; Lewis Brown, Huntington Park, Calif., Mar. 15, 1993; and Lovia Brown Boyd, Ennis, Tex., Feb. 22, 1993. Much of this chapter is based on the descriptions of Mineola by Collins and Lewis Brown, as well as by Willie Brown's sisters, Baby Dalle Hancock, Lovia Brown Boyd, and Gwendolyn Brown Hill; his brother, James Walton; and a number of former and current Mineola residents.

2. Popular lore put the Sabine River as the dividing line between the Old South and the new Southwest. See, for example, the fictional West of the Sabine: The Pioneers' Last Heritage , by Robert Emmet Caudle (San Antonio: Naylor, 1938).

3. "Mineola Goes after Water Again," The Dallas Morning News , July 2, 1939. The well was sunk in 1892, and the pump was powered by a windmill until 1906, when it was replaced by an electric motor. The well sanded up in 1918, and efforts to revive it were made in 1922 and 1939.

4. Details about Mineola when Brown was born from Mineola Monitor , Feb. 22, 1934; Mar. 8, 15, 22, 29, 1934.

5. The author traveled to Mineola in February and March 1993 and in July 1993, spending a total of four weeks in Mineola and the surrounding region; material in this chapter based largely on observations, primary and secondary sources, and interviews, where cited, from those trips. Historical sources were also used in the Dallas Public Library, Texas Collection.

6. Census and other demographic and economic data based on University of Texas, An Economic Survey of Wood County .

7. An Economic Survey of Wood County , p. 3.0102. The study reported that only 152 of Mineola's 1,850 adults had any education beyond high school. Only 263 adults had even graduated from high school.

8. Art Turk, interview, Mineola, Tex., Feb. 24, 1993.

9. Willie Brown, interview, San Francisco, Calif., Dec. 15, 1993.

10. Wood County Historical Society, Wood County, 1850-1900 (Quitman, Tex.: Wood County Historical Society, 1976), p. 2.

11. An Economic Survey of Wood County , p. 1.03.

15. The names of the Confederate pensioners are listed in Wood County, 1850-1900 , pp. 178-181.

12. Early history of Wood County and Mineola based on Wood County, 1850-1900 , pp. 1-8. Statistics and other historical detail based on An Economic Survey of Wood County .

13. Wood County, 1850-1900 , p. 37.

14. Ibid., p. 37.

16. Gwendolyn Brown Hill, interview, Dallas, Tex., Feb. 20, 1993.

17. Lawrence D. Rice, The Negro in Texas, 1874-1900 , pp. 95, 133-139.

18. Alwyn Barr, Black Texans: A History of Negroes in Texas, 1528-1971 , pp. 136-138.

19. Ibid., p. 136; East Texas led the state in lynchings. The peak year was 1908, with twenty-four deaths. Texas ranked third in the nation between 1900 and 1910 in lynchings, with more than one hundred, mostly in East Texas.

20. Rice, The Negro in Texas , p. 253.

21. Ibid., p. 253.

22. Barr, Black Texans , p. 136.

23. Confidential informant, Mineola, Tex., Feb. 23, 1993.

24. Barr, Black Texans , p. 139.

25. East Texas did present opportunities for blacks to own their own farms. By 1925 there were 181 blacks who fully owned their own farm in Wood County. But black tenant farmers and sharecroppers were more common, with 353 tenants and 114 sharecroppers. Farming declined throughout the Depression for both blacks and whites, but black farming nearly collapsed in World War II. By 1945 there were 135 blacks left who owned their farms, 98 tenant farmers, and 19 sharecroppers. An Economic Survey of Wood County , table 9, p. 4.0101-03.

26. Ella Robert's age and birthplace are listed on the birth certificate of her son, Lewis Brown; Bureau of Vital Statistics, Wood County Clerk, Oct. 7, 1941.

27. Interviews, Itsie Collins, San Francisco, Calif., Feb. 9, 1993; Gwendolyn Brown Hill, Dallas, Tex., Feb. 20, 1993; Pauline Ricker, Mineola, Tex., July 9, 1993.

28. Itsie Collins, interview, San Francisco, California, Feb. 9, 1993.

29. See, for example, Robert Scheer, "Mr. Speaker: The Flash," Los Angeles Times Magazine , June 23, 1991.

30. Gwendolyn Brown Hill, interview.

31. James Walton, interview, Tacoma, Wash., Nov. 15, 1993. Descriptions of Anna Lee Collins also based on interviews with all of her grandchildren and many of her former neighbors elsewhere noted.

32. Associated Press photo caption of Willie Brown and Minnie Collins Boyd, May 23, 1970.

33. Marcus McCalla, interview, Mineola, Tex., Feb. 23, 1993.

34. Patty Ruth Newsome, interview, Mineola, Tex., Feb. 23, 1993.

35. Gwendolyn Brown Hill, interview.

36. Interviews, Gwendolyn Brown Hill; Lovia Brown Boyd, Ennis, Tex., Feb. 22, 1993.

37. Itsie Collins, interview, San Francisco, Calif., Feb. 9, 1993.

38. Family Census Blank. For Negro Scholastics Only , Mar. 27, 1944, signed by "Mrs. Anna Collins," Wood County Clerk, Quitman, Tex. The form listed Minnie Collins as mother, and three children: Brown, Willie Lewis; Brown, Gwendolyn; Brown, Lovia C. The school form listed his birth date as Mar. 20, 1934.

39. Probate Court Record of Births Not Previously Listed , Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics, Apr. 28, 1952, Wood County Clerk, Quitman, Tex.

40. Lewis Brown, interview, Huntington Park, Calif., Mar. 15, 1993.

41. Nicknames based on interviews with each of the "I. E. Boys": Willie "Brookie" Brown, Clarence "Cookie" Slayton, Frank "Jackie" Crawford, and Edward "Bootie" Dickie, all in Mineola at their high school reunion, July 9, 1993. Not everyone could recall that Brown was nicknamed "Pete," but Brown confirmed use of the name in an interview.

42. Frank Crawford, interview, Mineola, Tex., July 9, 1993.

43. Ibid.

44. Itsie Collins, interview, San Francisco, Calif., Feb. 3, 1993.

45. Ibid.

46. Interviews, Gwendolyn Brown Hill; Lovia Brown Boyd.

47. Confidential informant, Mineola, Tex., Feb. 1993.

48. The author extensively searched court records in Quitman and all existing microfilmed editions of the Mineola Monitor and the Wood County Record from 1934 to 1951 and could find no record or newspaper account of Chrieztberg standing trial.

49. Descriptions of the Shack based on interviews with Itsie Collins, San Francisco, Calif., Feb. 3 and 9, 1993.; Marcus McCalla Jr. and his aunt Jewel McCalla, Mineola, Tex., Feb. 23, 1993; Patty Ruth Newsome, Mineola, Tex., Feb. 23, 1993. Marcus McCalla played guide to the author, showing various landmarks including the site of the shack. See also Rice, The Negro in Texas , p. 268: "The press constantly complained of intemperate habits among Negroes, particularly whisky drinking, probably from illicit stills, although beer or home brew and wines were also favorites. Negroes owned and operated saloons in most of the towns and cities, and it was here that blacks congregated on Saturdays and at night."

50. Patty Ruth Newsome, interview.

51. Jewel McCalla, interview.

52. Susan F. Rasky, "In California, Political Prestidigitation," The New York Times , Jan. 8, 1995.

53. Itsie Collins, interview, San Francisco, Calif., Feb. 3, 1993.

54. Confidential informant, Mineola, Tex., Feb. 26, 1993.

55. The State of Texas vs. Son Collins , Case No. 6216, Wood County District Court. Charge filed May 17, 1933; Collins stood trial in the February 1934 term.

56. Details on the illicit whiskey business based on interviews with Itsie Collins, San Francisco, Calif., Feb. 3 and 9, 1993; Marcus McCalla, Mineola, Tex., Feb. 23, 1993.

57. Marcus McCalla Jr., interview.

58. Baby Dalle Hancock, interview, Mineola, Tex., July 9, 1993.

59. James Walton, interview, Tacoma, Wash., Nov. 15, 1993.

60. Rick Kushman, "What Does Willie Brown Want?" The Sacramento Bee , Aug. 8, 1993.