Thought. Activism. Love. These are three words that well characterize the life, career, and contributions of Edmund W. Gordon. Like his mentor W.E.B. Du Bois, Edmund W. Gordon has led a pragmatist line of inquiry, a concern with the practical application of ideas in a universe that's understood to be always changing but still informed by underlying persistent challenges.

Powerful prose, poetry, and jazz riffs chronicle the first 21 years of the life of Haki R. Madhubuti, formerly Don L. Lee: poet, publisher, editor, and activist. He was raised by his mother Maxine, whose life is also recounted--including gritty details of how she used her body to feed, house, and shelter her children without help from their absentee father. Despite the obstacles in his childhood, music and literature molded the young Don Lee, effectively saving his life.

Dr. Lewis gives instructions on how to teach by recounting some of her personal experiences in brief and pointed paragraphs.

Thomas Strickland Turner Sr. was born May 16, 1925 to Edward Daniel Turner and Maude Butler Turner. His struggles against racial discrimination and segregation began when he was a child. He and four of his eight siblings, Constance, Barbara, Leroy and Francis were among the African American students who were barred from attending the New Easttown Elementary School in Pennsylvania during 1932 because of their color. The discriminatory practices to institute segregation erupted into a fight for equal education for all students. Those involved in the struggle against segregation included local African American parents, the NAACP and Philadelphia lawyer, Raymond Pace Alexander. At that time, Mr. Turner’s uncle Oscar Burwell Cobb was the president of the Main Line branch of the NAACP. They won the battle and Black children were granted the right to enter and attend the new Easttown School.