Nothing—I mean nothing—could stand in the way of achieving my goal of preserving the history of success despite the challenges of segregation at John Jefferson High School. It didn’t matter that my resources were very limited. There was a sense of urgency! I believe God chose a “little nobody” like me to preserve this history before it is lost forever. Writing this book was no easy task; however, the research was an amazing experience. In the beginning, some former students were reluctant to talk and to share their few treasured pictures with me. On the other hand, some were excited to share. When I started on this journey, I didn’t have a computer. Also, because of arthritis, I would often have to straighten my fingers and continue to write. Pain was ignored; I was on my unstoppable mission. Another challenge I met was dealing with my job. At times, I would get so exhausted that I would have to stop working on the book for a while. When graduates finally opened up, they would talk to me on the telephone for hours. They could not stop talking. An additional problem was limited funds. I had to use paper from my old school and work tablets to handwrite information. Finally, I knew that I would need help with typing and editing, and God blessed me with Mrs. Deanna Issac, Dr. Nanthalia McJamerson, and Dr. Gwendolyn Duhon. I had faith that I could accomplish this task, this mission. Now, the rest is history.

After the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling, no state fought longer or harder to preserve segregated schools than Mississippi. This massive resistance came to a crashing halt in October 1969 when the Supreme Court ruled in Alexander v. Holmes Board of Education that "the obligation of every school district is to terminate dual school systems at once and to operate now and hereafter only unitary schools." Thirty of the thirty-three Mississippi districts named in the case were ordered to open as desegregated schools after Christmas break. With little guidance from state officials and no formal training or experience in effective school desegregation processes, ordinary people were thrown into extraordinary circumstances. However, their stories have been largely ignored in desegregation literature. Based on meticulous archival research and oral history interviews with over one hundred parents, teachers, students, principals, superintendents, community leaders, and school board members, Natalie G. Adams and James H. Adams explore the arduous and complex task of implementing school desegregation. How were bus routes determined? Who lost their position as principal? Who was assigned to what classes? Without losing sight of the important macro forces in precipitating social change, the authors shift attention to how the daily work of "just trying to have school" helped shape the contours of school desegregation in communities still living with the decisions made fifty years ago.

The South Carolina Historical Marker Program, established in 1936, has approved the installation of more than 1,700 interpretive plaques, each highlighting how places both grand and unassuming have played important roles in the history of the Palmetto State. These roadside markers identify and interpret places valuable for understanding South Carolina's past, including sites of consequential events and buildings, structures, or other resources significant for their design or their association with institutions or individuals prominent in local, state, or national history. This volume includes a concise history of the South Carolina Historical Marker Program and an overview of the marker application process. For those interested in specific historic periods or themes, the volume features condensed lists of markers associated with broader topics such as the American Revolution, African American history, women's history, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. While the program is administered by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, most markers are proposed by local organizations that serve as a marker's official sponsor, paying its cost and assuming responsibility for its upkeep. In that sense, this inventory is a record not just of places and subjects that the state has deemed worthy of acknowledgment, but of those that South Carolinians themselves have worked to enshrine.

One of America's foremost historians brilliantly brings to life the fierce struggle - both public and, ultimately, bitterly personal - between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton - two rivals whose opposing visions of what the United States should be continue to shape our country to this day.