James Lee Dickey: An Analysis of One African-American's Leadership in Jim Crow Texas

Author's Note

My family moved to Taylor from Dallas in 2000. Adjusting to small town life from a large metropolitan area took some time. I learned quickly, however, that a single voice is louder here than in the city. Individual participation seems more important here than in Dallas. One vote can build a library. Perhaps that is why Dr. Dickey's life was so significant. During his life, Taylor, Texas was the largest town between Waco and Austin but his role in it changed the lives of many thousands.

While interviewing citizens of Taylor that had known or knew of the wonderful physician, I was curious to find anything negative about him. If my interviewees were alive today and they knew Dr. Dickey in the 1950s, they had to have lived through the modern Civil Rights Movement with Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the March on Selma. I wondered if anyone resented the slow, conservative method Dr. Dickey had employed to initiate improvements. With no exception, each person vehemently shook their heads and responded, "Dr. Dickey was a great man."

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