Jim Crow and the Gilded Age — Nancy Holder

The Rich get Richer, and the Poor get Poorer Like all of us, Will Presley would be confronted with many decision points during his 75 years.Most decisions contain no lasting impact on the course of a life. What should I wear today? Should we have chicken or beef for dinner? Should we vacation at the beach or the mountains?Some decisions consciously lead one down a chosen path. However, sometimes, a choice takes one into an unknown and unexpected future. Will's pivotal point occurred in 1861. His refusal to take arms against his country severed him from his family and the only life he had ever known.As an unintentional decorated Union soldier, Will followed his military service with an atonement tour in the Reconstruction effort. He took all that he had learned about the horrors of slavery, black codes, and persistent inequality, along with his guilt, with him as he entered the political arena.The late 19th century problems of urban industrialization, Jim Crow, and increasing economic disparity fueled the energies of Will and his new family as they found ways to live out their essential faith in the promise of the American Ideal.