The child of a heroin-addicted mother growing up amidst poverty, violence, and drugs in the ghetto of West Dallas, Jerrold Ladd was determined to lead a better life. Fiercely independent, he took responsibility for his future, and, with the love of his family, became the first person in his family to attend college and later a national spokesperson on inner city problems.
A raw and hopeful autobiography of a young African-American who used self-education and sheer force of will to overcome the battery of drugs, violence, and abject povery of his early life in the Dallas projects.