Note: This program is your last chance during Gulf Coast Reads to hear Jan Jarboe Russell speak and to get a signed copy of The Train to Crystal City
That thousands of Japanese, German and Italians were sent to internment camps as "enemy aliens" is one thing, it is another thing entirely to use those people--some of the U.S. citizens--as bargaining chips to gain the release of other U.S. citizens captured abroad during wartime. As is so movingly illustrated in The Train to Crystal City, the strain that coerced "repatriation" put on families was immense. Thursday at Texas Southern University Library, Jan Jarboe Russell will this prisoner exchange program dubbed "Quiet Passage" in context of how war intensifies painful jolts to personal, family, cultural, and national status, and stymies opportunity.
This event will take place in the Honors College Auditorium in the basement of the Robert J. Terry Library on the TSU campus, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m and will be followed by a book signing.
We are thrilled to announce that Attica Locke, author of Bluebird, Bluebird, will make three appearances this October to kick off Gulf Coast Reads 2018. 
We want to take a minute to express our gratitude to everyone who worked so hard for the better part of a year to make Gulf Coast Reads 2016 a success. Special thanks, of course, go out to our author, Jan Jarboe Russell, who traversed the region end to end and top to bottom with far more graciousness, good humor and gusto than we had any right to expect. Thanks also to Dr. Abbie Grubb, William McWhorter and our other visiting scholars whose expertise put the events described in The Train to Crystal City into other contexts both past and present. Thanks to Crystal City internee Eb Fuhr who joined us via Skype at Harris County Law Library for sharing his experiences. Finally, we want to thank all of the Gulf Coast Readers who attended programs and book discussions. It is your enthusiasm for reading and its power to strengthen communities that makes this program possible.
Writing a book takes serious committment. Think about the time and energy that goes into one, then think about the fact that in many cases, the writer has no guarantee that anyone will want to read the end product, let alone publish it. 
This is where art and literature meet! Don’t miss this unique Museum tour experience, creating bridges between the literary and visual arts by connecting the major themes and ideas found in The Train to Crystal City, to artworks in the Museum’s collection. The next tour--and your last chance for Gulf Coast Reads 2016--is scheduled for Thursday, October 27th at 6:30 p.m. Call (713) 649-7323 or email 
Beaumont-native, Jan Jarboe Russell will join a panel of 
The Harris County Law Library's 
The lessons of history would all too soon be forgotten without the dedication of people like historian William McWhorter, recently named Executive Director of the 
As most of us know from experience, external pressures on a family inevitably emerge within the family dynamic putting strains on long stable relationships in expected and unexpected ways. It is no different for the families who feature in The Train to Crystal City, and that is one of the things that make it such a compelling read. Author, Jan Jarboe Russell never lets the reader lose sight of the fact that the large tectonic movements of World War II history have very real, life-altering effects for ordinary people. In her appearance at the