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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.

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With trailblazing strategies gleaned from firsthand experience and a keen perception of what approaches are effective and why, Robert L. Woodson has devoted his career to helping low-income people transcend their impoverished conditions and the obstacles that they confront. His life journey included a period as a social worker, service with the Urban League, and research with the American Enterprise Institute. With a desire to move beyond theory to action, in 1981, he created the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise (now the Woodson Center), a grassroots research and demonstration program that emphasizes the importance of empowerment and self-management as effective approaches for ending poverty. Throughout nearly forty years, he has brought recognition and support to more than 2,500 grassroots community-based programs across the nation that have transformed lives and neighborhoods with meager budgets, but with massive resolve and commitment. For his innovative approach, Woodson was awarded a prestigious ""Genius Grant"" from the MacArthur Foundation in 1990. He has written extensively on issues of poverty and empowerment, and his works include The Triumphs of Joseph: How Today's Community Healers are Reviving Our Streets and Neighborhoods. Woodson and his wife, Ellen, live in Silver Spring, Maryland. They have three children. With trailblazing strategies gleaned from firsthand experience and a keen perception of what approaches are effective and why, Robert L. Woodson has devoted his career to helping low-income people transcend their impoverished conditions and the obstacles that they confront. His life journey included a period as a social worker, service with the Urban League, and research with the American Enterprise Institute. With a desire to move beyond theory to action, in 1981, he created the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise (now the Woodson Center), a grassroots research and demonstration program that emphasizes the importance of empowerment and self-management as effective approaches for ending poverty. Throughout nearly forty years, he has brought recognition and support to more than 2,500 grassroots community-based programs across the nation that have transformed lives and neighborhoods with meager budgets, but with massive resolve and commitment. For his innovative approach, Woodson was awarded a prestigious ""Genius Grant"" from the MacArthur Foundation in 1990. He has written extensively on issues of poverty and empowerment, and his works include The Triumphs of Joseph: How Today's Community Healers are Reviving Our Streets and Neighborhoods. Woodson and his wife, Ellen, live in Silver Spring, Maryland. They have three children. Mirron Willis has narrated over 200 audiobooks across various literary genres and has won several Earphone Awards for Excellence and is an Audie Award finalist and winner. Notable works include Ginny Gall by Charlie Smith, The Smokey Dalton Series by Kris Nelscott; My Song: A Memoir by Harry Belafonte; The Long Fall (Booklist, Best of 2009) and others by Walter Mosley; Uncle Tom's Cabin, Elijah of Buxton, The Translator; and Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B Dubois. In three seasons at the Ensemble Theatre (Houston, Texas), Mirron appeared as JP in What I Learned in Paris, Malcolm X in The Meeting, Henry in Race, and as Countee Cullen in Knock Me a Kiss (2013 Giorgee Award for Best Leading Actor). Other roles include Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry VI Parts 2 & 3, and A Raisin in the Sun with the world-renowned Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He has also performed as guest narrator with the Houston Symphony. Film and TV guest appearances include Criminal Minds, Private Practice, The Exes, Monk, 24, Seinfeld, Cheers, The Parkers, Living Single, E.R., Star Trek, and Independence Day, among others. Mirron resides and records audiobooks on his family's historic ranch in East Texas.

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