Edward McCabe’s biography describes him in several ways: as a land developer and speculator, a lawyer, an immigration promoter, a newspaper owner, and a politician. But McCabe was also a key player within the Exoduster movement, the migration of African Americans who sought to live and raise families away from racial threats and discrimination.
Journalist and professor Caleb Gayle’s new book, Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State, tells the story of the man who championed the audacious idea of creating a state within the Union – specifically in Oklahoma where he lived for 18 years – governed by and for Black people.
Gayle discusses the book with investigative journalist Christopher Leonard, author of three books, including The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America's Food Business. They talk about McCabe’s political ties and influences, what led him to select Oklahoma as the site of the proposed Black state, and the racism, politics, and greed that thwarted his plans.
An associate professor in Northeastern University’s School of Journalism with a joint appointment in Africana Studies, Gayle is an award-winning journalist who writes about the history of race and identity and holds fellowships from New America, PEN America, and Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
Gayle is also the author of We Refuse to Forget, and his work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, TIME, The Guardian, Guernica, The New Republic, and The Boston Globe.
This program is part of the Watchdog Writers Group series and co-presented by the Missouri School of Journalism, housed at the University of Missouri in Columbia, where Leonard is the director.
