A Pathway to American Renewal

Red, White, and Black Volume II

Robert L. Woodson

• Publisher: Emancipation Books
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9798888454473
• Edition: 0
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Conservatism & Liberalism
• Index: History

A celebration of resilience: the inspiring story of how Black America survived unimaginable odds and an examination of the real challenges it faces today. This challenging and inspiring collection of essays constructively frames the story of Black America—not as a tragedy involving helpless victims, but as a model for the nation. Scholars and grassroots leaders recount the history—the gritty, painful, but often triumphant account of what blacks accomplished after slavery was ended. Denied access to the institutions of white America, they built their own churches, schools, hotels, and a host of other successful enterprises. Their resilience produced amazing increases in literacy, family formation, and income.Today's unsung grassroots leaders are the living evidence of the power of resilience. They use their stories of overcoming adversity and their own fallibility to help others. The organizations they create heal their communities.This volume presents the insights of scholars who warn of the dangerous forces that threaten to shackle the ability of blacks to succeed today. They warn that, by accepting the notion that black adversity continues to be the product of systemic racism and is therefore unchangeable, no one would need to step up to the realities of a responsible life. This kind of thinking has led to lowering standards in education and even in the judicial system. The scholars outline positive paths to the future.More than chapters to be passively read, A Pathway to American Renewal is an invitation and a promissory note that points directly to what American renewal might really involve.

Table of contents

• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction By Robert L. Woodson, Sr.,Founder and President, The Woodson Center
• PART I: THE HISTORY
• 1: Rebuilding What Was Lost By Rachel Ferguson, Ph.D.
• 2: Alabama’s Voting Rights Struggle, The First Reconstruction: Dreams Deferred By Janice Rogers Brown, J.D., LL.M, Retired Circuit Judge
• 3: No Weapon Formed Against You: Resilience and the Black Church By Bishop Dean Nelson
• 4: Homophily and Resilience: How Black Excellence in the Segregated South Inspired a Generation of Jewish Europeans By John Sibley Butler, Ph.D.
• 5: Building Blocks of Resiliency By Will Crossley, M.Ed., Ph.D., The Piney Woods School
• 6: Three Black Barbers Who Did Much More than Cut Hair By Cynthia Millen
• 7: Frederick McKinley Jones By Robert L. Woodson
• 8: The Resilience of TV Respectability By Yaya Jata Fanusie
• PART II: THE EVIDENCE
• 1: From Crack House to Life House—The North Hill Community Center By Gary and Patricia Wyatt
• 2: The Will to Live with Purpose By Sylvia Bennett-Stone, Voices of Black Mothers United
• 3: Reframing Broken Lives By Ron Anderson, Project Reclaim
• 4: Nature vs. Nurture: Everything Is Possible By Sheena Michele Mason, Ph.D.
• 5: My Journey From the Depths of Homelessness to the Heights of Flight By Kamia Bradley
• 6: Why Quitting Is Not an Option By Jon Ponder, HOPE For Prisoners
• 7: Stay the Course By Brian Wade, The Genesis Center and The Alpha House
• 8: Tori Hope Petersen; From Foster Child to Mrs. Universe By Charles Love
• 9: Enlarging My Humanity: How Teaching Ku Klux Klan College Students Gave Me Resilience and a Path Back to God By Jason D. Hill, Ph.D.
• 10: Law, Liberty, Love, and Land By Michael D. C. Bowen
• 11: A Personalist Perspective on Resiliency By Phillip D. Fletcher, Ph.D., City of Hope Outreach
• PART III: THE CHALLENGES
• 1: Race, Responsibility, and the Rule of Law By Glenn Loury, Ph.D.
• 2: Build Resilience and Agency, Not Lower Expectations as the Pathway to Triumph By Ian V. Rowe
• 3: Of Fireflies and Second Tries, Self-Reliance or Social Justice: The Second Reconstruction By Janice Rogers Brown, J. D., LL.M., Retired Circuit Judge
• 4: Bring Back the Rosenwald Schools By Harold A. Black, Ph.D.
• 5: Can I Live? By RW Jones, Can I Live, Inc.
• 6: A Politics of Idealism By Shelby Steele, Ph.D.
• 7: Hope Is Everything By Ismael Hernandez
• Epilogue: Recovering Hope By Joshua Mitchell, Ph.D.
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors