Frederick Douglass and the Discipline of Freedom
James Quillian,Economist, Political Analyst, Natural Law
I was born on Emancipation Day. Maybe that explains my interest in Black history, though the truth is simpler. It came from my father, Roy Quillian Jr. He was a brilliant engineer and a twenty‑five‑year vice president at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. He held a security clearance and testified before congressional committees, and I knew none of this when I was young. To me, he was just Dad, the man who could fix anything. We weren’t wealthy. Engineers in those days were modestly paid. But he carried a level of competence that didn’t need to be advertised.