Roosevelt Richards

A Long Way from Where I Been: from Jim Crow Mississippi to the Gold Coast of Chicago Roosevelt Richards

In 1952, at the age of nineteen, Roosevelt Richards left Mississippi for Chicago. Having grown up under the South's unmerciful racial injustices, he was entering adulthood with serious deficiencies in his preparedness. A Long Way From Where I Been is an exemplary story of how Roosevelt propelled himself from the cotton fields in the Jim Crow South to the Gold Coast in Chicago. Today, there is a huge number of high school and college students, as well as young and middle-aged adults who are pessimistic about a better life in their futures. As a result, they lack the inspiration and motivation to even try to reach higher grounds. For such people, this book is a must read. Roosevelt's story illustrates the importance of faith, moral values, and good character, as well as how to acquire, develop, and apply these qualities to every aspect of one's pursuit of success. Also the importance of perseverance will become crystal clear to readers as they follow Roosevelt struggling for nine years to get a college education and, afterward, striving for nearly a half century to overcome the racial injustices that stood in the way of the attainment of his life goals. Readers will be motivated and inspired by both his work ethics and achievements. They will also benefit from Roosevelt's common sense approach to success in both his professional and personal life. Of greater importance, perhaps, readers will acquire an understanding of the process of becoming an entrepreneur from conceptualizing to actualizing a successful business, and many will be motivated to do so.