In one of the poorest parishes in rural Louisiana, Mabel Lawrence Thomas taught biology in the small community of Winnsboro for over 30 years advocating diversity and individual success over the hardships of poverty and illiteracy. She challenged her students to take responsibility for themselves, work hard, and surprise everyone with what they could do. Today her students are teachers, nurses, doctors, business owners, attorneys, ministers, and a mayor. In Through a Teacher's Eyes, Mrs. Thomas shares her philosophy of instilling faith and hope in all of her students. Frederick Jones, along...

Otis McDonald, born and raised amidst the hardships of sharecropping in the cotton fields of Fort Necessity, Louisiana, overcame poverty and social prejudice to become the first in his family to earn a college degree and rise to the relative comfort of America's middle class. With drug and gang activity on the rise in Chicago, McDonald's home has become increasingly threatened by violent crime. With no other intent but to defend his family against life-threatening intrusion, McDonald encounters the dichotomy of gun-wielding criminals and a Chicago statute limiting the purchase of handguns. As...