by Patricia Smith Prather, Jane Clements Monday, Dan Rather (Introduction)
(First Edition)
Patricia Smith Prather is a freelance writer, co-editor of the Texas Trailblazer series, a member of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and a second-generation Tuskegee graduate. She is executive director of the Houston Place Association.
Jane Clements Monday is a former regent of the Texas State University board and past mayor of Huntsville, Texas. She holds a degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
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This is the story of the “other” Houston, Joshua, the slave of Margaret Lea until she married Sam Houston and moved to Texas in 1840. Joshua was unique among slaves: he was taught to read and write, and was allowed to keep money he earned. The story is set in a background of historical details about southern social history before, during, and after the Civil War.
Sources include slave autobiographies and biographies; Houston family letters; oral histories of descendants of both Houston families; birth, marriage and death records; land records and deeds; church and school records.
