AN INTRIGUING HERITAGE is a series of gripping true stories about resourceful individuals who stood up to life in spite of hard times and misfortunes. There are inspirational stories about:

 

• a white man who married a mulatto woman four years after the Civil War

• a farmer who became a plantation owner and sent many of his 21 children to college

• the six-year court battle involving a white father who tried to leave his mulatto son an inheritance                       

• a college president who was at the center of civil rights sit-ins at Greensboro, North Carolina                                   

• a student who started high school at 21 and became a renowned research scientist

• a black teacher who was the first to integrate an all-white public school in a small Southern town

• the remarkable educational, professional, and charitable achievements of an extended family

   

     The nonfamily, historical facts cited as background for the stories give them a wider perspective and render them of educational value to the public.

    

     The reader will learn that over 5,000 black soldiers fought in the American Revolutionary War; that West Virginia was created as a direct result of the Civil War; that a black scientist improved farming techniques and developed numerous food products; that the history of “Black Indians” dates back to 1502; that there was white Southern opposition to the Confederacy; that there were almost a half million free blacks in the United States before the Civil War; and that the “Orangeburg (SC) Massacre” occurred during the Civil Rights Movement.

 

     The author reaches out to the reader by his commentaries, original adages, and poetry such as

the following:

  

     Love is its own blessing, its own justification, its own destiny.

     We learn more by understanding than by finding fault.

     We achieve our best when we help others.

     Family history brings together the scattered pieces of our identity.

 

     In the many true stories told in this book, the readers may see the better part of themselves.