We Are the Wards!: A Legacy of Faith and Family - Hardcover

by Jaki Hall (Author), Ronald D. Henderson (Author)

The authors commemorate their ancestors, descendants, and heritage with honor as a memorial stone for their children and their children's children so they will know from whence they have come in this family history.

That history includes Madison and Ella Ward, both born in the mid-1800s, married in 1876, and who raised eight children on one acre with one mule. They stood on their Christian faith and believed in God.

Through their love and strength of family, they survived the degradation of post-slavery America to prosper and become - six generations later - among the most respected landowners in Alabama. We Are the Wards preserves the Ward family legacy, inspires future generations, and encourages other families to follow their vision.

The strength of the Wards, as for most black families since slavery, has been critical to surviving an inhumane system whose legacy has lived on via the Black Codes, Jim Crowism, and institutional racism.

While each generation will be bombarded with new challenges, new value systems, and new lifestyles, families can find success by refusing to compromise their Christian values - just like the Wards.

Author Biography

The Rev. Jaki Hall is an associate minister at New Shiloh Baptist Church in Baltimore, where she serves as president of the forty-member Ministers and Evangelists Council and teaches English in the Determined Biblical and Theological Institute. She also teaches composition and research at her alma mater, Morgan State University, having formerly taught at six other area universities. For nearly twenty years, she was a TV reporter, talk show host, and publisher of The Black Pages and Trés Chic Magazine.

Ron Henderson, Ph.D., earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Wayne State University in Detroit and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in educational sociology from Michigan State University. He taught sociology at the University of Florida-Gainesville for three years. He retired from the National Education Association after twenty-nine years as manager of the surveys division, associate director of research, and director of research. He previously worked for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in Washington, D.C., and the National Institute of Education. He is the author and co-editor of numerous professional publications.