In this pioneering study of the long and arduous struggle for civil rights in South Carolina, longtime journalist Claudia Smith Brinson details the lynchings, beatings, bombings, cross burnings, death threats, arson, and venomous hatred that black South Carolinians endured—as well as the astonishing courage, devotion, dignity, and compassion of those who risked their lives for equality. Through extensive research and interviews with more than one hundred fifty civil rights activists, many of whom had never shared their stories with anyone, Brinson chronicles twenty pivotal years of petitioning, preaching, picketing, boycotting, marching, and holding sit-ins. Participants' use of nonviolent direct action altered the landscape of civil rights in South Carolina and reverberated throughout the South. These firsthand accounts include those of the unsung petitioners who risked their lives by supporting Summerton's Briggs v. Elliot, a lawsuit that led to the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision; the thousands of students who were arrested and jailed in 1960 for protests in Rock Hill, Orangeburg, Denmark, Columbia, and Sumter; and the black female employees and leaders who defied a governor and his armed troops during the 1969 hospital strike in Charleston. Brinson also highlights contributions made by remarkable but lesser-known activists, including James M. Hinton Sr., president of the South Carolina Conference of Branches of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Thomas W. Gaither, Congress of Racial Equality field secretary and scout for the Freedom Rides; Charles F. McDew, a South Carolina State College student and co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; and Mary Moultrie, grassroots leader of the 1969 hospital workers' strike. These intimate stories of courage and conviction, both heartbreaking and inspiring, shine a light on the progress achieved by nonviolent civil rights activists while also revealing white South Carolinians' often violent resistance to change. Although significant racial disparities remain, the sacrifices of these brave men and women produced real progress—and hope for the future.

We must all start somewhere. In this collection of real-life stories, 25 people take readers on an inspiring journey through the struggles they have overcome in pursuit of success. From small personal triumphs, to large career goals or lifetime achievements, each success, big or small, offers an insight into the inner workings of lives from around the globe, highlighting one of humankind’s greatest traits — resilience.

“It just shouldn’t be this hard!” Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a day where everything that could go wrong does go wrong—you lock your keys in the car while it’s running, lose control with your kids, make a mistake at the office that results in hours more work. And just when you think not one more thing could possibly happen . . . well, fill in the blank. The struggle is real, friends. It may not be major stuff. Lives are not on the line here. But it makes us feel awful . . . and then we feel guilty for stressing when other people have “real” problems that are so much more serious. Yet the fact remains: We live in a world that often feels harder than we think it should be. And so it can be easy to believe the stories we tell ourselves—that we’re doing it wrong, that we’ll be stuck in this place forever, that God doesn’t love us. We struggle to practice gratitude, to make godly choices, and to live our daily lives with confidence and contentment. So what can we do? Join popular Bible teacher and counselor Nicole Unice to discover why the struggle is real . . . and what to do about it. Nicole offers practical tools to help you navigate the daily ups and downs, and ways to rewrite your struggle into a new, God-centered life story. The Struggle Is Real is an invitation to take the hard, hurtful, and confusing moments and turn them into opportunities to grow in wisdom, strength, and joy. Includes access to free online video streaming for 90 days!

Bobby Herrera has a simple leadership philosophy: -We all struggle. -Inside every struggle is a gift. -Leaders share their gifts with others. In The Gift of Struggle, Bobby Herrera, cofounder and CEO of Populus Group, lives that philosophy by telling the stories of his struggles, identifying the gifts he found, and sharing those gifts with you.

Jamel loses his friends to marijuana; Artiqua dates a boy of another race despite her family’s opposition. Youniqiue was abandoned by her mother; Charlene is raising her brothers and sisters because their mother is addicted to drugs; Craig is gay and worried about coming out. All of these teens have more than their share of troubles. And all have the resiliency needed to face them, live through them, and move forward with courage, confidence, and hope. In 30 first-person accounts, teens tell how they overcame major life obstacles. Many aren’t the everyday problems most kids encounter, which makes their stories especially compelling—and their successes especially inspiring. As teens read The Struggle to Be Strong, they discover they’re not alone in facing life’s difficulties. They learn about seven resiliencies—insight, independence, relationships, initiative, creativity, humor, and morality—that everyone needs to survive and thrive in even the toughest times. Vivid, articulate, and candid, this book will motivate readers of all ages to build the skills and strengths they need to triumph over adversity.

At one time or another, shifting seasons in family, friendships, employment, and communities will bring each of us face-to-face with the feeling of being on the outside looking in. Because we are made for connection, this will often lead us down one of two roads. Either we will hop on the popular but crowded highway that asks us to do whatever it takes to get noticed, or we'll stand still, paralyzed by the fear that we're not important, loveable, or worth other people's time and attention. But what if there is another way? With an understanding voice that will speak into your own circumstances, Kristen Strong walks beside you along the less traveled but more satisfying third way--the back road way--to belonging: remaining in Christ and relaxing into the unique role God has for you. Along the way, you will learn simple, doable actions that not only will help you feel and know that you belong but will welcome others in as well.

“A crucial text” – Rev Bill Shaw, CEO of 174 Trust, Belfast “Touching … thoughtful collection … of rich testimonies” – Prof Maggie Scull, Syracuse University, London The working-class community of Ardoyne has been described as a Catholic and Nationalist island within the Protestant Unionist sea of North Belfast. No other community suffered as much during the Troubles as Ardoyne. During the three-day period of 14–16 August 1969, stoked by the Battle of the Bogside in Derry, long-lived tensions in the area boiled over into riots. Streets became battlefields, houses went up in fire, and the first of many lives were lost. Ardoyne ’69: Stories of Struggle and Hope explores the stories of 14 people who share one experience in common – the violence of 14, 15 and 16 August 1969. The book highlights their memories, but also asks how they interpreted the violent events they witnessed, and what impact these events had upon their subsequent lives. It illustrates how people from the one community who experienced a common event have different memories, interpretations and reactions to what they saw. Stories come from people as varied as IRA prisoners and a local teacher to an RUC officer, an Irish Times journalist, a former Director General of RTE and a former President of Ireland. Illustrated by contemporary photographs, Ardoyne ’69: Stories of Struggle and Hope is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how seismic events can shape our lives in radically different ways. Brian McKee is an Ardoyne man to the core. He has almost 40 years’ experience of teaching, retreat work and youth ministry. The majority of his work is in the field of peace and reconciliation in the parish of Holy Cross, Ardoyne, with the Passionist Peace Office. He is also manager of the nearby Passionist Retreat and Conference Centre at Tobar Mhuire, Crossgar.

I wrote this book to share what women have been through and continue to go through in their lives. Some struggles are harder than others but you can and will overcome them! No one is exempt from the troubles of this world but we are blessed with the ability to overcome them. Someone else's story may not be your exact story but I'm sure you can relate to it in some way. Some of you may not like your story or the struggles you've been through but your journey brought you this far in life and it is just that--YOUR story, YOUR journey, YOUR struggle. No one can change that, but you can turn negatives into positives and make your life better. Share your story. Embrace your story. We all have our own unique story and no one story is better than the next. Let's share our stories to uplift, encourage, and build one another up so that we don't feel like we are in this alone. WE ARE NOT!

An exceptional father-son story from the National Book Award–winning author of Between the World and Me about the reality that tests us, the myths that sustain us, and the love that saves us. Paul Coates was an enigmatic god to his sons: a Vietnam vet who rolled with the Black Panthers, an old-school disciplinarian and new-age believer in free love, an autodidact who launched a publishing company in his basement dedicated to telling the true history of African civilization. Most of all, he was a wily tactician whose mission was to carry his sons across the shoals of inner-city adolescence—and through the collapsing civilization of Baltimore in the Age of Crack—and into the safe arms of Howard University, where he worked so his children could attend for free. Among his brood of seven, his main challenges were Ta-Nehisi, spacey and sensitive and almost comically miscalibrated for his environment, and Big Bill, charismatic and all-too-ready for the challenges of the streets. The Beautiful Struggle follows their divergent paths through this turbulent period, and their father’s steadfast efforts—assisted by mothers, teachers, and a body of myths, histories, and rituals conjured from the past to meet the needs of a troubled present—to keep them whole in a world that seemed bent on their destruction. With a remarkable ability to reimagine both the lost world of his father’s generation and the terrors and wonders of his own youth, Coates offers readers a small and beautiful epic about boys trying to become men in black America and beyond. Praise for The Beautiful Struggle “I grew up in a Maryland that lay years, miles and worlds away from the one whose summers and sorrows Ta-Nehisi Coates evokes in this memoir with such tenderness and science; and the greatest proof of the power of this work is the way that, reading it, I felt that time, distance and barriers of race and class meant nothing. That in telling his story he was telling my own story, for me.”—Michael Chabon, bestselling author of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay “Ta-Nehisi Coates is the young James Joyce of the hip hop generation.”—Walter Mosley

In a place where drugs, domestic violence, Incarceration, H.I.V-Aids, and murders are found and encountered on a daily basis, America tends to omit the struggles of the ghetto.This is a book that will reveal the definition of the hood through three sentiments.Antoine is young, ambitious, stubborn, and fearless. Being the stepson of a pastor, at thirteen Antoine gets fully introduced to the street life. 70 percent of Antoine's outlook tells him to "get it how you live", while the other 30 percent says "never lose your integrity". In a world that's full of gunshots, sirens, and rap music, Antoine gets caught up - But regardless of the crime, a son's love for his mother will always be justified.Monique represents the female sentiments of the ghetto. Being from the projects, Monique and her home girls are only the typical clubbing click. Even though Monique would rather stay at home and cater to her man Lester, if Lester is never at the house himself, what else is there for her to do? While one of Monique's home girls lives the life of promiscuity, Monique only wants her man - But if Lester skeletons come out the closet, should she still want him?What's a hood without its glitter? Jersey Phat will represent the silver and gold glitter of South Side Baton Rouge. Jersey Phat theory is simple; get money, stay out of jail, and shine hard! While Jersey Phat is no doubt a trendsetter, he encounters the rich and famous, and will go down in history as another ghetto legend.