We Could not Fail

A former producer of The Diane Rehm Show, Richard Paul is an award-winning independent public radio documentary producer whose work includes Race and the Space Race, about the first African Americans in the space program. Paul was the 2012–2013 Verville Fellow in Space History at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. His feature stories have appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition and PRI’s Studio 360.Steven Moss is Associate Professor of English at Texas State Technical College and a Fellow of the Kellogg Institute. His master’s thesis, “NASA and Racial Equality in the South, 1961–1968” (Texas Tech University, 1997), was one of the first academic works on the topic.

• PrefaceIntroduction1. A Man of Firsts: Julius Montgomery2. "There Was a Lot of History There": Theodis Ray3. Stronger Than Steel: Frank Crossley4. Dixie's Role in the Space Age5. First of Race in Space: Ed Dwight6. The View from Space: George Carruthers7. "Huntsville, It Has Always Been Unique": Delano Hyder and Richard Hall8. The Country Spartacus: Clyde Foster9. Water Walkers: Morgan Watson and George BourdaConclusionAppendix: Relevant Census Numbers on Employed Professional and Skilled Labor for NASA Host StatesNotesAcknowledgmentsIndex

Surprising and insightful. (New York Times Book Review) The first African Americans to join the United States space program encountered pushback both inside and outside NASA's doors. When they moved to Cape Canaveral and other Deep South pillars to work on Apollo missions, the Ku Klux Klan was there to greet them. Even history and space program buffs should find insight in We Could Not Fail's fresh look at a well-treaded era. (Esquire) This account of 10 pioneers, told against the backdrop of the civil rights era, highlights the intersection of technology and race in U.S. history, continuing innovations in technology, and the struggle of minorities to participate. (Booklist) Paul (documentary producer) and Moss (English, Texas State Technical Coll.) offer a complementary narrative to our national story about the civil rights movement, providing a nuanced look at how integration and civil rights ideals shaped and were shaped by federal employers. . . . Vital and of interest to all Americans, from history and space buffs to students, researchers, and casual readers. (Library Journal) President John F Kennedy's ambition to put a man on the moon was a key part of his legacy, but less well known is how his administration used NASA as an agent for social change during the civil rights movement. It's a nearly forgotten history that authors Richard Paul and Steven Moss investigate in their new book, We Could Not Fail. It profiles some of the first African Americans in the US space programme and the lasting impact of their work. (BBC World News) We Could Not Fail is hard to put down. Reading about the personal experiences of African Americans with technical expertise before the civil rights era resonated strongly, as it likely will for any reader with African-American ancestors. The book's discussion of free African-American communities also sheds light on an important, but often overlooked, part of American history.We Could Not Fail is not only a terrific read but also an important historical book, collecting and documenting features of life in the South for African Americans that have not heretofore been recorded.- Claudia Alexander (Science Magazine) This comprehensively researched book is replete with fascinating details about ways in which the civil rights movement influenced the space program. . . . It makes an important contribution to African American history. - Julianne Malveaux (The Washington Post)