The Newson Family Legacy — Official Book Release September 7, 2026
The Newson Family Legacy Arrives September 7, 2026
A Legacy Written. A History Preserved.
I am proud to announce the official release of my new book, The Newson Family Legacy: The Newson, Price, and Smith Family Story Before, During, and After Jim Crow, on September 7, 2026.
This book represents years of family research, personal reflection, historical records, photographs, newspaper articles, military documents, census records, marriage records, and stories passed down through generations.
More importantly, it represents a promise: our family’s history will not be forgotten.
Preserving the Newson, Price, and Smith Family Story
The Newson Family Legacy traces our family’s journey from our earliest known ancestors in Mississippi through slavery-era oral history, Reconstruction, Jim Crow segregation, military service, education, ministry, homeownership, business development, and the accomplishments of today’s generations.
The story begins with ancestors such as Poppa Newsome, York Newsome, Anna America Short, Wade Newsome, and Ruthie Haney. It continues through my grandparents, Louis and Julia Price, my parents, George L. and Mary Emma Smith, and the many branches that grew from them.
These were people who worked, prayed, endured, served, built families, and created opportunities for those who followed.
More Than a Family Tree
This is not simply a collection of names and dates. It is the story of real people whose lives unfolded within American history.
The book explores:
Our family’s Mississippi roots
The different spellings and changes of the Newsom and Newsome name
Family oral history and genealogical discoveries
Life before, during, and after Jim Crow
My childhood memories of segregation in West Point, Mississippi
My parents’ sacrifices, education, work, and determination
The Price family’s legacy of ministry, property ownership, and community building
Price Lane and the family name left upon the land
Generations of military service in the Army, Navy, and Air Force
My Desert Shield and Desert Storm deployment
The lives and accomplishments of later generations
My journey as a veteran, federal retiree, businessman, author, and founder of Basecamp United Foundation
A Family That Answered the Call to Serve
Military service is one of the strongest threads running through our family’s history.
Across the Newson, Price, and Smith family branches, approximately 23 sons and daughters answered the call to serve the United States. Our relatives served in conflicts and military eras that included World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and the modern military.
I served in the United States Army and was honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant, E-6. My twin sons, Eric and Derek Smith, also served in the Army. Other family members served in the Navy and Air Force.
Their service demonstrates that our family did more than witness American history. We helped defend and shape it.
From Jim Crow to the American Dream
I was born in West Point, Mississippi, in 1959, while Jim Crow segregation was still part of everyday life.
As a child, I saw separate entrances, racially divided public spaces, and the ways Black adults had to navigate an unequal and sometimes dangerous system. I watched my father work through rain, heat, cold, illness, and hardship. I watched my educated mother accept work below her abilities because opportunities for Black women remained limited.
Those experiences affected the direction of my life.
After graduating from high school in 1977, I eventually left Mississippi, entered the military, earned a bachelor’s degree, built a federal career with the Department of Veterans Affairs, invested in real estate and the stock market, became an author, and established Basecamp United Foundation to assist homeless and at-risk veterans.
My journey is part of the family story, but it did not begin with me. It was made possible by the sacrifices of those who came before me.
Becoming the Legacy Keeper
While gathering records, identifying photographs, confirming relationships, and listening to family memories, I came to understand that I had become a legacy keeper.
A legacy keeper is the person who collects, protects, organizes, and passes a family’s history to the next generation.
That responsibility requires more than preserving the successes. It means recording the hardships, unanswered questions, name changes, migrations, military service, marriages, deaths, accomplishments, and personal memories that reveal how a family became what it is today.
This book is my contribution to that responsibility.
Why This Story Matters
Many families possess important history without realizing it. Their stories may be sitting inside old boxes, photo albums, census records, newspaper clippings, military documents, or the memories of an older relative.
If those stories are not collected, they can disappear.
The Newson Family Legacy was written for my family, but its message reaches beyond one bloodline. It is for anyone who understands that family history is part of American history.
Our ancestors carried us farther than they could travel themselves. It is now our responsibility to remember their names, honor their struggles, preserve their lessons, and continue building upon what they began.
Official Release Information
Book: The Newson Family Legacy
Subtitle: The Newson, Price, and Smith Family Story Before, During, and After Jim Crow
Author: Willie G. Smith
Official release date: September 7, 2026
Available through: Amazon
For book announcements, release information, and updates about our work with veterans, visit:
Our Past. Our Legacy. Our Future.
This book is about faith, family, service, and perseverance.
It honors the ancestors who endured, the parents who sacrificed, the relatives who served, the ministers who led, the builders who created, and the younger generations who now carry the family forward.
We carry more than names.
We carry a legacy.
May this story inspire generations to come.
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