Imperiled: The Historic J. Mason Brewer Home.(Brief Article) From: American Visions | Date: December 1, 1999| Author: | COPYRIGHT 1999 Heritage Information Holdings, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

African-American folklorist J. Mason Brewer (1896-1975) maintained, "If we do not respect our past, the future will not respect us." From the late 1920s to the 1960s, Brewer traveled throughout Texas and the South, collecting the folk wisdom of former slaves and the first generations born after Emancipation. Without his efforts, a valuable portion of their lives, beliefs and experiences would have been lost.

Like their ancestor, Brewer's descendents are striving to preserve a historical resource that is in danger of disappearing. Brewer's bungalow in Austin, Texas, which has ...