Preface p. xiii
1. Parents as Mentors Arthur Jerome and Maggie Leola Bowen Wright p. 1
2. Community Elders as Co-Parents and Mentors Miz Tee and Miz Lucy and Miz Kate and Miz Amie p. 10
3. Teachers and Their Messages p. 20
4. Spelman College--A Safe Haven Benjamin Elijah Mays and Howard Zinn and Charles E. Merrill Jr. p. 24
5. Europe p. 37
6. Martin Luther King, Jr., and a Spring of Change p. 44
7. The Yale Years William Sloane Coffin Jr. and Malcolm X p. 66
8. The Mississippi Years p. 76
9. Mississippi Mentors Bob Moses and Fannie Lou Hamer and Mae Bertha Carter and Unita Blackwell p. 83
10. Martin Luther King, Jr., and R.F.K.: A Season of Hope for the Hungry p. 101
11. Movement Time p. 116
12. Great Black Women Mentors and Movement Builders Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth and Mary McLeod Bethune and Septima Clark and Ella Baker p. 121
13. Our Children as Mentors p. 133
14. America as Mentor for its Children and the World p. 141
Afterword: A Parent's Pledge and Twenty-Five More Lessons for Life p. 153
Lesson 1 Always remember that you are God's child. No man or woman can look down on you and you cannot look down on any man or woman or child
Lesson 2 Don't wait for, expect, or rely on favors. Count on earning them by hard work and perseverance
Lesson 3 Call things by their right names
Lesson 4 Don't listen to naysayers offering no solutions or take no or but for an answer
Lesson 5 Don't be afraid to stick your neck out, to make mistakes, or to speak up
Lesson 6 Keep your word and your commitments
Lesson 7 Be strategic, focus, and don't scatter your energies on many things that don't add up to a better whole
Lesson 8 Watch out for success. It can be more dangerous than failure
Lesson 9 You can't do everything by yourself but you can do a lot
Lesson 10 Asking the right questions and measuring the right things may be more important than finding the right answers
Lesson 11 Travel lightly through life and resist the tyranny of burdensome or unneeded things
Lesson 12 Be a pilgrim and not a tourist in life and don't confuse heroism with fame or celebrity
Lesson 13 God has a job for all of us to do. Open up the envelope of your soul and try to discern the Creator's orders inside
Lesson 14 Follow the Golden Rule rather than the world's silver, iron, bronze, and copper rules
Lesson 15 Bear all or most of the criticism and share all of the credit
Lesson 16 Be real. Try to do what you say, say what you mean, and be what you seem
Lesson 17 Avoid high-maintenance, low-impact people. and life in the fast lane
Lesson 18 God did not create two classes of children or human beings--only one
Lesson 19 Don't ever give up on life. It is God's gift. When trouble comes, hang in
Lesson 20 Strive hard to be a good parent
Lesson 21 Be a good ancestor. Stand for something bigger than yourself. Add value to the Earth during your sojourn
Lesson 22 Don't let anything or anybody get between you and your education
Lesson 23 Never judge the contents of a box by its wrappings
Lesson 24 Take responsibility for your behavior. Don't make excuses, blame, or point fingers at others or hide behind "everybody's doing it."
Lesson 25 Possessions and power don't make the man or woman: principles, character, and love do
A Glossary of Mentors and Significant Others p. 169
Works Cited p. 177