The Search for Statehood

4:00 PM - 4:45 PM

Saturday, November 8

Capitol Auditorium (1100 Congress Ave., Austin, TX 78701)

Drawing on family memory, political history, and long-buried archives, authors Caleb Gayle and Rachel Cockerell explore parallel quests for freedom and self-determination. In Black Moses, Caleb Gayle uncovers the extraordinary story of Edward McCabe, a Black political visionary who sought to found a self-governed Black state in Oklahoma — only to be thwarted by white resistance and expansionist greed. In Melting Point, Rachel Cockerell traces her great-grandfather’s role in the Galveston Movement — an ambitious plan to create a Jewish refuge in Texas at the dawn of the 20th century. Join us for a conversation that reveals the legacies of those who imagined a different kind of America.
  • Books: Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State, Melting Point: Family, Memory, and the Search for a Promised Land
  • Book Type: Non Fiction
  • Authors: Caleb Gayle, Rachel Cockerell
  • Moderator: Ashanté Reese
  • Book Signing: 5:00 PM at The Main Book Signing Tent