J. Milton Turner, a towering figure in advancing human rights, is an inspirational story for all people. In order to tell his story, we have used 19th century documents such as letters and government dispatches, newspaper interviews and journals. But throughout this story we have also created some dialogue so the young reader has a stronger sense of Turner's personal experiences. We refer to Turner throughout the book as James or J. Milton. When Turner was born, slaves were commonly called by their first name. As an adult he referred to himself as J. Milton Turner. At the end of the book we have included questions for readers meant to encourage additional learning and discussions about James Milton Turner and the time in which he lived.

James Milton Turner, Missouri's most prominent nineteenth-century African American political figure, possessed a deep faith in America. The Civil War, he believed, had purged the land of its sins and allowed the country to realize what had always been its promise: the creation of a social and political environment in which merit, not race, mattered. Born a slave, Turner gained freedom when he was a child and received his education in clandestine St. Louis schools, later briefly attending Oberlin College. A self-taught lawyer, Turner earned a statewide reputation and wielded power far out of proportion to Missouri's relatively small black population. After working nearly a decade in Liberia, Turner never regained the prominence he had enjoyed during Reconstruction.

Born to wealth, adventuresome in spirit, shrewd in business, gallant in war, and a beau ideal of his class, Tommy Hitchcock was the epitome of the American hero, a legend even in his own time. To Scott Fitzgerald, Tommy embodied the ideal of the aristocratic man of action, basing two of his characters loosely on Tommy. Tommy joined the Lafayette Escadrille during WWI at the age of 17. He was shot down, captured by the Germans, and then made a dramatic escape to Switzerland. Within a few years after the war, he had become one of the stars of the “Golden Age of Sport.” In the 20s and 30s, Tommy dominated polo more decisively than Bobby Jones did golf or Babe Ruth did baseball. Settling in New York with his growing family, he became an investment banker and threw famous parties in Great Neck, Long Island, which attracted the rich and famous as well as celebrities such as Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Always impecunious, the Fitzgeralds were easy to attract to a lavish party, but not so easy to convince to leave. When America entered WWII, Tommy re-entered the service, but was told he was “too old” for combat flying. He became the biggest booster of the new P-51, then in development, becoming instrumental in convincing the Army to build it to protect Flying Fortresses on their bombing raids over Germany. We were losing hundreds of the heavy bombers to Luftwaffe Messerschmitt’s because we didn’t have a fighter that could reach Germany with the bombers. The P-51 was a game-changer. Hermann Goering, commander of the Luftwaffe, told his American interrogators after the war that when he saw P-51s flying unopposed in the skies over Berlin, he knew the gig was up and Germany would lose the war. Tragically, on April 18, 1944, Tommy died test-flying one of the new P-51s in England. He will forever be an American hero.

This book explores twelve related research topics, each constituting a chapter. These chapters reflect the magnitude of the problems facing the African-American male. The book also documents the success stories of African American men and how they have lived beyond stereotypes and other odds. These issues are not likely to go away in the 21st century. They require government action and individual initiative toward a civil society in which America's promise can be a reality for all Americans, thus making sure that no single American will be left behind. Contents: Preface; African-American Males in Kindergarten; African-American Males in Higher Education; African-American Fatherhood; Theatre and the Re-Creation of the Black Experience; Contributions of African-American Males to the Sciences and Medicine; The African-American Male in American Journalism; African-American Males and the Economics of Poverty; The Black Male in the Clinton Administration; Transitioning African-American Men From the Prison Back to the Community; African-American MSM & HIV: Unfulfilled But Urgent Needs; The Black Male and Recent U.S. Policy Toward Africa; Foreign-Born Black Males: The Invisible Voices; Towa

Two letters written by James Milton Turner, offering his services for the 1884 U.S. presidential campaign of Republican James Gillespie Blaine (1830-1893).