Most Texas history books name Norris Wright Cuney as one of the
most influential African American politicians in nineteenth-century
Texas, but they tell little about him beyond his elected positions. In
The Cuneys, Douglas Hales places Cuney in the context of his
family's generations and of his tumultous times.

     Norris Wright Cuney's father, Philip, a wealthy, politically
active plantation owner and slaveholder in Austin County, fathered
eight slave children whom he later freed and saw educated. Here,
Hales explores how and why he differed from other planters of his
time and place.

    Hales then turns to the better-known Norris Wright Cuney, who,
after Reconstruction, led the Texas Republican Party during those
turbulent years and worked tirelessly for African American
education and equal opportunity.
 
    Norris Wright Cuney's daughter, Maud, became actively
involved in the racial uplift movement of the early twentieth
century. Hales illuminates her role in the intellectual and political
"awakening" of black America that culminated in the Harlem
Renaissance.

    Through these three members of a single mixed-race family,
Hales's work adds an important chapter to the history of Texas, the
South, and African Americans.
	
_________________________________________________________

DOUGLAS HALES is a history professor at Temple College in
Temple, Texas.


Number Thirteen: Texas A&M Southwestern Studies


What people are saying about this book

“The Cuney family history demonstrates the ability of an African
American ‘talented-tenth’ family to carve out a rich and successful
life in spite of the limitations of racism and discrimination.”—Choice