{"product_id":"a-stone-of-hope-johnny-b-thomas-9781543457063","title":"A Stone of Hope: Rising Above Slavery, Jim Crow, and Poverty in Glendora, Mississippi","description":"\u003cp\u003eGlendora is a small rural town located in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. Th e people of the town\u003cbr\u003e take pride in living in a quiet, close-knit community where everybody knows their neighbors.\u003cbr\u003e However, like many small rural towns in the South, Glendora inherited the eff ects of slavery, Jim\u003cbr\u003e Crow, and poverty, in addition to having the unfortunate experience of being the town where a\u003cbr\u003e fourteen-year-boy named Emmett Till was brutally murdered and thrown into the Black Bayou\u003cbr\u003e that energized the Civil Rights Movement in America. Th is book tells a story about the struggle of\u003cbr\u003e this small town to rise above a \"mountain of despair\" that plagued the town for decades to a \"stone\u003cbr\u003e of hope\" that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. mentioned in his famous \"I Have A Dream\" speech in\u003cbr\u003e Washington, DC, in August 1963. For the past four decades, Glendora's hope for a brighter future\u003cbr\u003e has rested in the hands of Johnny B. Th omas, who rose from the son of sharecroppers on a local\u003cbr\u003e plantation to the mayor of the town. When Th omas became mayor, he inherited a town that had\u003cbr\u003e been ravaged by the eff ects of poverty, neglect, isolation, a heritage of plantation sharecropping\u003cbr\u003e servitude, and a culture of racial suppression of the civil rights of African Americans. Th is book\u003cbr\u003e provides a historical account of the struggles and challenges that Mayor Th omas faced in building\u003cbr\u003e the Emmett Till Museum to promote education about civil rights, and to promote cultural\u003cbr\u003e tourism to generate much needed revenue for community development in Glendora. Th is book\u003cbr\u003e also includes much information about the rich history and culture of the people of Glendora as\u003cbr\u003e they continue their journey to become one of the stones of hope in the Mississippi Delta.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Johnny B. Thomas, Thomas J. Jr. Durant\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1543457061\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781543457063\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Xlibris\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/06\/2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 192\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.97lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.56d","brand":"Johnny B. Thomas","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44067410510079,"sku":"9781543457063","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_e9bf1c3a-7a90-4c59-987e-6ece4f55a1a6.jpg?v=1685413060","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/a-stone-of-hope-johnny-b-thomas-9781543457063","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}