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Preston Lauterbach

Preston Lauterbach is author of "Beale Street Dynasty," published March 30 by W.W. Norton & Co.

A line of people trying to register in a priority book to take a voter registration test in Selma, Alabama, Feb. 17, 1965. (AP)

“Dictator of the Lincoln belt”: Meet the black political operative who orchestrated one of the great upsets in presidential election history

Preston Lauterbach
Bob Church (University of Memphis Special Collections)

A real-life Lucious Lyon: The former slave who built a Beale Street “Empire” and transformed Memphis

Preston Lauterbach