Women's History Month & Resurrecting Capps's Story

This month is Women's History Month. We celebrate and commemorate the perseverance, hard work, and dedication of women throughout history. We remember Betsy Ross and the group who sewed the first American flag, Harriet Tubman on the Underground Railroad, Susan B. Anthony and the many women who tirelessly championed for Women's Suffrage, as well as Rosa Parks and her followers during the Civil Rights Movement. And this list barely scratched the surface, since there are countless of other extraordinary women, white and colored, who left a profound impact on American communities and the world.

My book, Sallie Brooke Capps: Education Trailblazer in North Texas, chronicles the life and times of an unknown education reformer in Progressive-Era Texas. She played instrumental roles in the creation of both the kindergarten grade in Texas public schools and the first state-supported college for women (later named Texas Woman's University). I am proud to share Capps's once-buried story with audiences after 3+ years of researching, writing, editing, as well as traveling the Lone Star State and visiting the places where Capps lived and worked at. Shameless plug: The book, which contains many black-and-white archival photographs, is now available for pre-order on Barnes & Noble booksellers. The book is published by Texas Tumbleweed History Press, and will be officially released to the public on March 26. I thoroughly enjoyed working on this book with a fantastic support team of editors (Elliott, Kelsey, and Kevin), colleagues, and family (I continue to feel giddy when holding the hardcover book, the final product looks fantastic!). I am honored to give Mrs. Capps a voice in the story of Texas, and will continue to dive deeper into the archives and resurrect memories of those we have forgotten. 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sallie-brooke-capps-joshua-chanin/1138541426?ean=9781666217353

Official book blurb from the press: Sallie Brooke Capps tirelessly advocated for better academic opportunities for young women and children in North Texas during the Progressive Era. At a time when women seldom held leadership positions and instead trained to lead lives as domestic household managers, Capps found a way to combine both. As president of the Fort Worth Kindergarten Association, Capps established a renowned teaching college and supported a large number of women in their award-winning classroom careers. During her tenure as vice president of the Texas Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Association chapter in Dallas, Capps forged lifelong connections and fought hard to persuade the State Legislature to fund after-school programs for adolescents. At the College of Industrial Arts in Denton where she served on the Board of Regents for 18 gilded years, Capps played an instrumental role in restructuring the curriculum and expanding the campus's physical plant; owing to Capps's passionate efforts, this institution soon became the largest state-supported university primarily for women in the United States. Moreover, Capps reared three children, provided assistance in her husband's professional endeavors, and presided over operations at the celebrated Queen Anne's House on Penn Street in Fort Worth. This study—crafted by an education enthusiast—attempts for the first time to analyze Sallie Capps's historical relevance in Texas's rich history.