In this story, Progress through Struggle has been an important part of my life. I moved from mule and tractor plowing on my daddy's farm to repairing the control equipment used by air traffic controllers to control aircraft over my daddy's fields. This was accomplished by prayers and believing and loving God! This is the power in prayer!
This book is written about an African American man that was supposed to become a cotton and corn farmer. The main part of the story was to demonstrate how the young man did not allow cotton farming, cutting pulp wood and logs, and other things with low-paying jobs stop him. At the time of my boyhood, these were going things in Kemper and Lauderdale counties. I was one that slipped through the crack!
Progress through Struggle started long before I was born with my great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents. You will see my grandparents struggle to make ends meet and then almost fail. I will discuss in this book how I got started and struggled as my great-grandparents, grandparents, and my parents and I was determined not to fail. As I started my electronics career in the US Army Signal Corps, I prayed and studied. I didn't want to fail, and to keep from failing, I studied much harder!
You will see several times I attempted to learn something and was turned down or said it was not true information. It was much segregation occurring in the late '40s, '50s, and '60s. I was not going to allow that change my course of action.
As I was getting older and out of high school, I was turned down many times. After obtaining a job out of high school, I was not allowed to train in a job of the highest pay. That didn't change my mind because God will get me in the right place at the right time. After getting in the US Army Signal Corps was an assignment from God! The US Army was the beginning of my electronics training and career. After receiving the electronics job, I became well qualified because I studied to pass the licenses. After my first electronics job, I was ready to move on because I had master skills within the job. On the second electronics job and after learning it, I was ready to move on after mastering the skills. These jobs were not top-of-the-line electronics analysis or an in-depth level. After receiving an electronics job with FAA, it was a challenge! No, I will not fail because of a challenge, and I studied more, more to pass the courses required. I noticed I am sitting beside electronics technicians and electronics engineers with more experience than me. This required me to study harder because I was doing as well as them and sometimes better, and I was an African-American man.
I felt some of the FAA managers thought the Africans American would fail. I determined this would never happen in my case! The word was out on me as once I was assigned to courses, I start studying before I depart Memphis for the FAA Aeronautical Academy. Failure was not in my DNA, and I knew the solution was study and more study. I completed 162 weeks of electronics equipment and analysis courses at the FAA Aeronautical Academy. Yes, I believe God was in the plan! Yes! John 3:16!
